With training camp a little more than three weeks away, some Dallas Stars players are starting to trickle back into town. Among the early arrivals is veteran center Jason Spezza.
“The last few weeks of the summer I am always antsy to get back with the guys,” Spezza said. “I am happy to be in town, trying to get settled and getting ready to go for camp.”
Spezza described his summer as “pretty uneventful.” He spent most of it in the Toronto area, relaxing and focusing on family.
“I’ve got the kids, so I like to spend a lot of time at home, stay low-key and spend time with them,” he said. “Enjoy the time away from the game a little bit.”
He spent time tracking another game – baseball and the Toronto Blue Jays, who are pushing to make Major League Baseball’s postseason for the first time since they won back-to-back World Series in 1992 and 1993.
“I have watched a lot of games on TV this year,” Spezza said. “We went
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You sacrifice a month of your time off to go there,” Spezza said. “Jim did a great job of putting the team together; Todd [McLellan] did a great job of coaching. We just came together as a group; everybody had roles, and we executed. When you win the way we won and the way we played, it was fun to be a part of.
“I think it is just a great experience when you can go there with your teammates. We know what we did well over there. Everybody had different roles and played in different positions. I think it was a great experience for our three guys because we all contributed in different ways.”
Spezza is one of a small group of players back in town starting to skate on their own in preparation for training camp, which gets underway next month in Cedar Park. The comfort level is higher than one year ago when Spezza was still settling in after being acquired from Ottawa where he had spent his entire NHL career. And Spezza expects that comfort level to pay off as
"It's been fun, just going anywhere the team needs me," he said. "That's been kind of my MO this year. I really appreciate that role that the coaches trust me to do that."
“ This is really a resilient bunch of guys”, said Head coach Butler before the game. “ I love the way these guys have battled all season… now they get the chance to play in an amazing field.”
“We just hit a bit of a lull through the year, we lost a couple of players to the NRL, a few injuries. You can never expect them to be up every week, I knew there would be a time that that’s going to happen, so I’m happy it was halfway during the year.”
“I was blown away by my coaching staff,” he said. “It was really crazy to find out that my coaches really wanted to do this fundraiser for me and help me out.”
“I think she’s going to be an outstanding basketball player for us, We’re looking at her to be our point guard next year.” Coach Alexander said. “It’s nice to know we’re going to have a her for the next three years after this. So we’re just trying to build her confidence up, and hope she’ll be one of our leaders for the
“If we are shooting the ball well, we can beat anybody. The playoffs are fun and the kids are excited.”
Each and every week I would head out to the baseball park, not because the experience would always leave me with joy, but because of the joy and satisfaction that the players had when they came and left the field. Many of the player’s parents told my fellow buddies and I, that the players would start counting down the days until the next Sunday, as soon as they’d get into the car! Throughout the entire Challenger season, I was reminded of how easy my life actually is, and how a how much I take for granted daily. With this program having such a great impact, I was dedicated to making sure that the player’s experience was the best possible. Which meant that I would often get there early, and help our Challenger division coordinator, to set up and makes sure that everything was ready for when the players came. My hard-work, and readiness to help out obviously were apparent to the coordinator, Jeff Sandes, as he came to me at the end of last year’s season to thank me for all the hard work, time and effort, I had put in to make sure that the players' experiences were the best
I was a new kid that was on the team this year. I knew a lot of the players on that team, so my family and I talked about me playing there. I was so happy that they said I would be able to! Even know that I was the new kid to this team everyone treated me great, and it was like I already played with them for previous years.
"We put a lot of emphasize on pass protection and improving the pocket for Skyler (Howard) and the quarterbacks standing back there. I am excited to see that. I am real excited to see how are emphasize has worked, how are guys have bought into it."
“This past year, I haven’t been to as many (hockey games) just because I’m sitting in my apartment with my friends playing video games, and we just say, ‘You know what? I’d rather stay here and play than go and watch us lose to
Cuban is an enthusiastic NBA owner who, instead of being a faceless front-office type, is his team's biggest and most vocal fan. When Mark Cuban purchased the Dallas Mavericks on January 14, 2000, the face of the organization began to change immediately. Once again Mavericks games had a party atmosphere as Reunion Arena rocked with the return of the "Reunion Rowdies." Mavericks games became more than just ordinary NBA games - they were a total entertainment experience. Cuban was not only successful at instilling a sense of pride and passion into Mavericks fans by
“It can be a very social game also because there’s a lot of retirees who play it. That’s where it started, and it caught on and it can be super competitive. So I love that aspect. And I love that it’s a great workout.”
“To take an opportunity and not capture it is tough, especially if they capture it and it gets taken away,” Matt says. “We were all real bitter for the rest of the national tournament.”
“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”
This Summer, I had the best time of my life. I learned some valuable lessons, I made some friends, and I had so much fun. Even if I didn’t know it. This is the story of my summer camp experience.