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Re: The Career of Bryan Hurst (NHL 09: Be A Pro)
I mixed up the columns. The first column should say Dec. 22; the second Oct. 1.Comment
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Re: The Career of Bryan Hurst (NHL 09: Be A Pro)
i think that 70 in your overall column is supposed to be an 80???When life gets me down, I get over it!Comment
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Re: The Career of Bryan Hurst (NHL 09: Be A Pro)
Not that good defensively, eh?Comment
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Re: The Career of Bryan Hurst (NHL 09: Be A Pro)
WOW! I havent been here in a few weeks and did I miss ALOT!
Cant wait for the next update and tell JonathanToews I said "Hi".Comment
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Re: The Career of Bryan Hurst (NHL 09: Be A Pro)
So, just found this and got caught all the way up. Thanks for helping me get through a Saturday at work. I agree about the legend status. This is awesome.
Congrats on the call up. Now update!
Again, you've found another follower, looking forward to seeing you replace that winy G/F of yours as well.Comment
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Re: The Career of Bryan Hurst (NHL 09: Be A Pro)
Dec. 22, 2008
Today should be the happiest day of my life but instead I am left with a deep feeling of guilt.
I arrived at the United Center and was ushered to the office of the Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon. I can’t even tell you how nervous I felt. I’ve never been married but I imagine this is what it must feel like as you wait in the church for your marriage ceremony to begin. The prelude to the biggest event of your life.
The only other time I had talked to Tallon was the day I was drafted on June 21. I had insulted him on the phone because I thought he was Pete Satt, who I was angry at for some poor information. Now Satt was my agent and I was minutes away from meeting Tallon. The world works in mysterious ways.
Finally, Tallon opened the door to his office.
“Hey, Hurst, welcome to the NHL. Come on in,” Tallon brightly smiled.
I walked into the office and I felt like I was walking into a palace. It was the polar opposite of coach Bill Peters office. It was bright, tidy and impeccably furnished. You could eat your dinner off the floor it was so clean. I sat down in a leather mahogany chair that was probably more expensive than all the furnishings combined in the apartment I had shared with Bryan Bickell in Rockford.
“I just had this strange telephone conversation with the taxi company. They said you gave one of their drivers a tough time. Do you know anything about that?” asked Tallon.
“Well, you see, I --- Mr. Tallon, this is hard to explain. For one, well. I didn’t know where I was going,” I stammered. “No one told me I had been called up. I was in this cab and I didn’t know where I was going so I started to get mad at the driver.”
“In the future, try to treat everyone with respect. You’re representing the Chicago Blackhawks now and we want our players to be pillars of the community. We don’t need any bad apples,” said Tallon.
I was hoping a trap door would open and I could just fall through.
“I’m sorry Mr. Tallon, it won’t happen again,” I said.
“Great. I want to let you know what we expect from you. As you know the team has been struggling this year. We have a lot of great young talent but things haven’t gone according to plan. Not that they ever do. But with such a young group, the guys our getting frustrated and angry with each other. The positive attitude of September is gone.”
“We weren’t even looking at calling you up this season. Frankly, I thought it would be nuts to promote our last round pick in the same season he was drafted but, Hurst, here we our sitting together,” Tallon said.
“When we decided to send down Kris Versteeg we had planned to promote Jack Skille but then I got this phone call last night from Peters saying that Skille had developed a negative attitude. That he tried to fight you at a practise. Peters said you had this great attitude about the whole episode. That you thought it was important to move forward as a team together. That’s the kind of team togetherness we need here in Chicago.”
This was madness. This was misperception on top of misperception: A fake fight I had suggested to get out of practise, Skille’s rough upbringing that made it difficult for him to apologize and a bad meeting in Peters office where I should have set the record straight. It had all ledi to me getting promoted ahead of Skille.
I was speechless. I wanted to tell Tallon the whole story but how?
“We also like that you can hit and mix it up. We need that here. We don’t need you to score, Kane and Toews can do that. Just make sure you aren’t a defensive liability,” Tallon said.
“Skille’s actually a really good guy, Mr. Tallon. He’s just misunderstood,” I said.
“That’s the kind of attitude we want out of you. Step up for your teammates. Make sure they don’t get pushed around,” Tallon’s eyes lit up, obviously happy at my attempt to defend Skille.
“Treat this as a once in a lifetime opportunity. A lot of guys get a big break -- someone gets injured and they get called up. But they don’t do enough to seize the opportunity. They let it slip through their hands when they should be treating it like gold. Don’t be one of those players who plays a handful games, is never heard from again and then lives the rest of his life regretting that he didn’t give more of an effort.”
Tallon’s speech slapped me out of my stupor. It didn’t matter why I was here now even though I felt guilty and rotten to the core. I had to do the most I could with this opportunity.Comment
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Re: The Career of Bryan Hurst (NHL 09: Be A Pro)
I believe he's still down in Rockford with the Ice hogs.Regrets Aren't Something You Did, It's Something You Didn't Do
1000 posts achieved on December 21st,2008 at 2:26 p.m in the "birth of the Mighty Blazers" thread.Comment
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Re: The Career of Bryan Hurst (NHL 09: Be A Pro)
My fault. I should have been more clear. Skille was going to get promoted. At the last minute the Hawks changed their mind and promoted Hurst instead because of Skille's attitude.Comment
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