Jacques Lafontaine - Rookie Experience

[SlapshotWrangler 864]

This is Jacques Lafontaine. Normally, I don’t write articles or anything, to be honest. I don’t think I’ve ever had to write about my hockey career before, so this is a new experience.

 

Speaking of new experiences, my rookie season has been a pleasant new experience so far. I’ll be honest, I was kind of nervous about beginning my Victory Hockey League career. I’ve worked so hard for it and now that I had made it here, I was nervous but excited to play in one of the biggest leagues in the world. There were a lot of expectations for me, especially considering the fact I was the fourth overall pick in the Season 70 Victory Hockey League draft. Looking back on my rookie season so far, however, it has been pretty good. I’m not a starter yet but I have been able to learn a lot. Sure, I’ve only played two games but it has been a great experience.

 

Expectations: I’m not expecting to play a lot this season. We have a great starter in JB Rift. The team knows that we can count on him to make saves when we need him to make saves. He’s a great guy and has a lot of good advice for young goaltenders like me. It makes sense that we’re starting him, after all, he’s an excellent goaltender who’s been in the league for almost 6 seasons now and I’m a rookie who has yet to prove himself. I think I’ll play the league minimum games or maybe a bit over that. Not that I mind, JB is a great goaltender and I know he’ll play well for us. When it comes to the games I play this season, I actually think I’ll do very well. I’ve won my first two starts and I played well during those two games. My goals-against average is respectable and so is my save percentage. Again, I’ve only played two games, so I’m not counting my chickens just yet but I’ll fare well this season. It’s actually nice being the backup instead of the starter for my rookie season. I can develop peacefully without worrying too much.

 

Reservations: My biggest reservation this season is if I can be able to stand my own. Last season, I felt like I was sort of carried by my amazing Saskatoon Wild teammates. This year, I am again on a pretty damn good team. I’m worried that I won’t be able to stand my own if I ever needed to. Last season, I was on an overpowered team and sometimes I still let a goal in. There were many times that the other team had like 4 or 5 shots and I ended up still letting one in. That’s not good. If I can’t make saves in those low scoring games, imagine what would happen if I had a less decent team and the other team had 20 shots on me. That would be a disaster. However, I’m trying not to let this bother me too much. I think the 2 games I played this season have helped me prove to myself that I’m not that useless.