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Frozen Pond Diary: Opening Week
A Clipboard exclusive – we get an inside look at North American Junior hockey through the eyes of Mike Gionta. While playing for the Queen City Steam of the Central States Hockey League, Mike will share his weekly experiences with the Clipboard. He doesn’t mind being called the cousin of Brian or Stephen, but on the Clipboard he is Mike Gionta.
The First week of training camp has just passed. It has been hectic to say the least. Between moving in to my billet house and long grueling days at the rink and gym, there is very little time to relax. 
Right now it feels like a long vacation. I am still trying to get used to the thought of being in a new town for the next eight months. Hockey does keep me busy though, and once school starts I will begin to get into a groove and get used to all the changes.
Everyday practice starts at two o’clock and usually runs to about three-thirty, maybe four, depending on the day. Afterwards I head to the gym to ride a bike for half an hour. Then I work out.
This week at practice it was about conditioning and fine tuning skills. We did a lot of passing and skating drills otherwise known as flow drills.
After the first day of practice everyone found brand new equipment in their stalls in the locker room. To me it felt like Christmas, I am not used to a team providing equipment for their players. Playing for the Steam makes me feel like a king. Their locker room is nicer than some of the college locker rooms that I have been in. With its 50 inch plasma television loaded with X-Box and cable, I could not ask for more.
I am very anxious for our Labor Day weekend of exhibition games to begin. On Friday we play the Metro Jets at our home rink, Sports Plus. Puck drops at 7pm. Later that weekend on Sunday , we face off against the Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks. Game time for this is 4pm. Hopefully we can start off the season on a good note.
2 Responses to “Frozen Pond Diary: Opening Week”
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Mike
Good stuff! Now that I have had the opportunity to see the Steam play (scrimmage last weekend while in Cincy for opening weekend at Xavier
), give us some names of your teammates, where are they from, what position do they play. How about the kid wearing the old-school Jofa helmet on Friday. What is his name? Has he ever seen Borje Salming play? ‘Cause he reminds me of the former Maple Leaf.
Good stuff Mike!! Hopefully the exhibitions games get off to the start that you want..