With our Boise hockey camp coming up at the end of June we thought it would be fun to share one of our more memorable stories from our time spent there. I (Matt Zaba) had been reassigned by the New York Rangers from the Charlotte Checkers of the ECHL to the Idaho Steelheads. I quickly flew to meet the Steelheads for their weekend games in Utah. After briefly meeting my new teammates, it was time to step on the ice for my first practice. I will always remember Lance Galbraith skating in on me for my first shot I would face as a member of the Steelheads. He stepped over the blue line, as he went to shoot he broke his stick, and proceeded to slide into me, sending both of us and the net flying. In typical Galby fashion he just looked at me with his typical smirk and said, "Sorry kid, it was a long night." We both shared a chuckle while Coach Laxdal just stood at center ice shaking his head in disbelief. We had a couple of games the next week against the Alaska Aces before getting some time off for the ECHL Allstar break. Not everyone got to enjoy what was supposed to be a relaxing week, as my parents had convinced Cody to take a red eye flight with me back to Charlotte, North Carolina to pick up my car. One of my former Checkers teammates picked us up at the airport in Charlotte and drove us back to my old apartment. We grabbed my keys, loaded a few things in the car and proceeded to drive 2,328 miles back to Boise, Idaho. As you can imagine it was a crazy trip and we'd be happy to share the rest of the details with you guys when we see you all in Boise this June.
