The last game wasn’t the hardest day.

The hardest day came weeks later, when I woke up with nowhere to be. No practice. No teammates. No season to prepare for.

For the first time since childhood, I had to ask myself: Who am I if I’m no longer a hockey player?

At 23, a series of injuries ended the career I had spent my life building. I lost more than a profession. I lost the identity around which everything had revolved.

Hockey had taught me discipline, resilience, sacrifice, and accountability. But it had also taught me something I only understood........

© Sports Business Journal