Let’s Finish This Job!

Here we are Hawks, exactly where we wanted to be when we first took the floor together back on April 17th, the Championship Finals! Go Hawks!

Gentlemen, you’ve come so very far since that first game. You’re grown as players, and you’re REALLY grown together as a team. Your coaches are all very proud of all you accomplished thus far, proud of each and every Hawk!

But the job is not yet done. Our season is not yet complete. We have one more task before us, one more game, one more battle, one last obstacle that stands between us and OUR Championship!

This evening, when that ball drops at 6:45pm, let’s take care of business! Let’s get this job done!

Hawks, it’s no longer about teaching you systems, or coverage, or how to give our opponent no-space-and-no-time. You know all of that. You know your job. You know how to execute.

Our two teams, the Hawks and the Vultures, are evenly matched. They beat us 1-0. We beat them 1-0. They got past us yesterday. AND TODAY IS OUR DAY!

Hawks, it now comes down to one simple truth, the team that wants this game the most, will win. Please think about this truth. Please understand it. Please decide how badly you want this game, this Championship, OUR Championship!

And please read on as I remind you of some related truths that we’ve discussed all season long....

From May 4:
The teams that are still standing at the end of this season will be those that are working well together. I’ll keep repeating it, a team is far more than the sum of its individual players. Ball hockey is a game of passing, making plays, and intensity. We’re strong and getting stronger at all three of those.


From May 10:
We have a great team Hawks! And a great opportunity to go all the way this season. We’ve come a long way in a short time, and I know we can keep learning and improving.


From May 19:
Are you all living by our Hawks Hockey Nation Excellence Creed? Part of being a great hockey team is simply believing in ourselves, believing that we ARE a great hockey team. And part of believing we are a great hockey team, is living like a great hockey team, always!


From May 24:
“Until one is committed, there is always hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help that would never have otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising to one's favor all manner of unforeseen accidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


From May 30:
Remember Hawks, we all agreed last night to crank it up a notch for the playoffs. No, actually, to crank it up 1,000 notches! Your coaches will do so.


From June 2:
Please consider this quote from Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you are right.” –Henry Ford.


From June 6:
“You must believe to achieve!” –Coach Steve, 2009 Copyright!


From June 7:
Every great sports team that ever existed...
Every great individual athlete that ever succeeded...
Every incredible inventor through history...
Every great leader, philosopher, and politician....
Every great artist, singer, band, song writer, painter and sculpture...
They all had one undeniable truth in common:
They had NO idea how they were going to accomplish their individual goal or dream, but each one BELIEVED absolutely that somehow he/she/they would most definitely, eventually, accomplish and achieve their goal!


From June 8:
"Commitment to the team - there is no such thing as in-between, you are either in our out." -Pat Riley

"Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the ‘me’ for the ‘we.’" -Phil Jackson


From June 12:

Here’s another truth in life gentlemen:
“Never confuse activity with results.” -Lou Gerstner, former CEO, IBM

There is no trying Hawks. There’s only doing, or not doing! This weekend, let’s DO!


From June 16:
“Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs.” –Vaclav Havel

“Some succeed because they are destined to. Most succeed because they are determined to.” –unknown