There was once a time where the NHL hockey draft was nothing more than a small group of hockey executives, and the scouts making decisions on which they were going to take from the draft pool of young talent. Today this process is far broader in scope, and is viewed by hockey fans all over the world. With countries such as Russia, Sweden, and Finland all producing wonderful hockey talents the idea of the North American kids getting the entire spotlight is a thing of the past.

As the armature NHL draft was introduced, so was the elimination of member clubs, sponsoring players for their team. This was gotten rid of to allow for the complete and entire league to have fair shot at all the talented kids available. The basic requirements for draft are relatively simple; the amateur must reach their 17th birthday before the august prior to the draft, in order to be placed in the pool for that upcoming year. If they do not meet this requirement, they will be placed back into the system to which they came from and will have to wait for the following draft.

The system was developed by a sir Clarence Campbell and it went as follows, the last place team at the end of the season will be allowed to make the first pick from the pool, and the chain will work its way up to the top seeded team in the league. What this in turn does is allow for all small market teams to have an opportunity to acquire a star player for their club. Making the league a more balanced one. There are however, many circumstances where teams will trade up or down the scale of available picks to suit their specific needs as an organization. This can come in the way of draft order swap, or trading a current roster player to the team with the higher pick.

The very first NHL draft was held on June 5th 1963,in the Queen Elisabeth Hotel in Montreal Quebec Canada. Any player that was not already sponsored by an NHL club was eligible to be in the draft. It was a center man by the name of Garry Monahan, from the St Michael?s juveniles of Toronto that was taken first overall in that years draft. The Montreal Canadiens selected him.

On the first day of Football practice when I was entering the 10th grade, the coaches took our height and weight, and told us to bench press our bodyweight as many times as we could.

I was fifteen years old, 6 feet tall and 160 pounds. I played Center and Defensive End. The only bench pressing I had done was lying on the floor pressing the 100 pound plastic-coated cement weights my parents bought at the department store. The guys I was lifting with on my first day of practice were a little smaller than me, and had to press 135 pounds, but they only did it for a few reps. Before adding anymore weight, I wanted to try the 135. It was a good thing that we didn?t add any weight, because I couldn?t even press the 135 once! I was embarrassed that I was so weak, and I knew I had to get stronger.

The next blow came a couple of weeks later when I found out that my Mom had gone to the coaches to express her concern. She told the coach, ?Aaron is so small and skinny that I am afraid he will be crushed by those older boys.? That did it. Now I was mad! There was no way that I was going to be crushed by anybody, and there was no way I was going to be small and skinny for that matter!

The funny thing about it was that even though I was small, skinny and weak, I was actually pretty good for a guy who had only played organized football for one season. We had enough guys that we were split into three teams. The Varsity was for the best of the best no matter what grade they were in. The JV was for those who weren?t quite good enough for the Varsity, and was mostly Juniors, with some Seniors and Sophomores. The Sophomore team was for all of the 10th grade players who were not good enough for the Varsity. Most of them played only on the Sophomore team, but I was different. I played for the Sophomore team each week, and that was just fun. I mean the competition was weak, and I was hitting the Quarterback on almost every play. Some of the 10th graders were good enough to play on the JV team each week also, and I was one of them. Now three 10th grade players were allowed to dress for the Home Varsity games, and I was one of them. The other two guys were wide receivers and they actually played, whereas I was a lineman and I never got in a Varsity game that year.

My 10th grade year was the first year I could take weight training class at school, and I took full advantage of it. I wanted to be the biggest, strongest guy on the Football team, but that was a long way off. The weight training program that the coach put us on was very simple and basic. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays we benched. If we had time after the bench press, we could choose between Military presses for our shoulders, French presses for our triceps, or Barbell curls for our biceps. Sometimes we got to those exercises, but with 4 guys in our group, it didn?t happen often. The workout was 5 sets of 5 reps. Usually, we warmed up with a light weight, like 95 pounds for me in the beginning, for our first set of 5. Each set we added a little more weight, so that only our final set of 5 was all out. Every couple of months the coach had us test our maximum for 1 repetition, even though I couldn?t even do 135 pounds at the beginning of the year, I was quickly becoming one of the stronger guys.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays our workout consisted of the Squat for 5 sets of 5 reps. If we finished our Squats early, we could do stiff-legged deadlifts or donkey calf raises with our partners sitting on our backs. For the Squats, we used the same protocol as we did with the Bench presses. Starting with a light weight, we added a little bit each set so that our 5th set of 5 was an all out effort. We did not test our maximum on the Squat though.

I put everything I had into my workouts, trying to lift more weight every workout, and trying to beat everyone else. That was important, but it was only half of my plan. Now, I don?t know how I figured it out, and I guess I never really thought about what possible ways there were to get big. It just seemed natural to me that getting big and strong required only three things. First, train as hard and heavy as you can. Second, Eat as much food as you can. Third, have enough desire to make sure that you do the first two things, no matter what. It seems simple, and to tell you the truth, it is. But, most people who want size and strength don?t get it. They think that expensive supplements or fancy exercise equipment will get them where they want to go, but unless they follow the Three Principles for Bulking up, they won?t make it.

When I say eat as much as you can, not everybody understands that I am not talking about gorging yourself once in a while. I am talking about constantly eating and staying full day in and day out. I didn’t know about protein shakes, and nobody had heard of creatine, but there was food, and I ate as much as I could. I don?t want you to think this is for everybody, but for a teenager or young adult who wants to put on as much muscle and gain as much strength as they can, this way works.

I actually had a girlfriend during this time period, who was very helpful. While there were limits on how much I could eat at my house, she and her parents were more than happy to provide me with as much food as I wanted, whenever I wanted. They cooked me steaks, bought pizza and anything else I wanted. I don?t know if that was part of their plan to keep me around, but it worked, at least for awhile. I remember being at Burger King one night. I was eating 3 Whoppers, some fries, a shake and I don?t remember what else. Two policemen were sitting at a nearby table, and one of them asked my why I was eating so much. My reply to them was the same as it was to everyone of the many people who asked me the same question, ?I gotta get big for Football.? That single-minded focus on my goal is why I reached it so quickly.

When I started the 10th grade I could not Bench press 135 pounds. At the end of the school year, I benched 235. When Football started for the next year, I benched 250 and my bodyweight was up from 160 to 190 pounds. I was also 2 inches taller at 6 feet 2. By the end of Football season, I benched 285, and I weighed 200 pounds. I was the best pass rusher on the Varsity team, I had two defensive touchdowns that season, and I was given the nickname of Drago, from Rocky 4. 15 months, more than 150 pounds added to my Bench press, and 40 pounds of muscular bodyweight. Now that is what I call Bulking up!

Clean bearings roll smoother, are faster and will last longer than dirty bearings. Grit and sand can cause small pits in the balls and create an uneven rotation. Below are instructions on how to clean a bearing with a removable shield. If the shield on your bearings are stationary, ignore the steps which are directed to removing shields.

If you clean and lubricate your bearing often they should last you a long time. Always avoid getting your bearings wet, and keep them free of sand! Clean and lubricate skate bearings immediately if they become wet.

Tools You Will Need:

Small bowl or metal pan
Straight pin
Bearing cleaner
Small cleaning brush such as a toothbrush. Soft or medium, nothing too hard!
Clean towels
Paper Towels

1. For removable shields: Insert the end of the straight pin into the end of the C-ring which holds the shield onto the bearing body. Very gently pry the C-ring up and towards the center of the bearing, working your way around the circle. Remove the shield slowly, always taking care not to damage it.

2. Place bearing in container or bowl and flush with bearing cleaner to remove contaminants. Citrus cleaners work well. Use the small brush or toothbrush and remove larger pieces of dirt and grime. If your bearings are particularly dirty, you may have to repeat this step. Be sure to change your solvent with each rinsing.

3. After you have cleaned the bearing, pat it gently dry with a clean, lint free towel. Place on a paper towel and allow it to air dry. Make sure that all water has evaporated and dries out completely before proceeding to the next step.

4. After the bearing has completely dried, apply 1 to 2 drops of quality lubricant to the inside of the bearing. A little lubricant goes a long way. Rotate the bearing slowly to work the lubricant in to all of the moving parts. Make sure the balls are completely covered in oil/grease.

5. Replace the shield by placing it on top of bearing and slipping the C-ring into the groove next to the shield. Then work remaining length of C-ring slowly and gently around the fitted groove until it snaps back into place.

6. Put your freshly cleaned bearings back on your skates and spin them to insure oil/greases is evenly distributed and wheels are spinning smoothly.

Warning: Always use extreme caution whenever working with any cleaning solvent. Bearing Cleaner is a toxic chemical and should be washed off skin immediately.