Matt Gellatly pursues pro hockey

Matt Gellatly is the first player born in Raleigh, N.C., to be drafted by an Ontario Hockey League team, the Saginaw Spirit. Gellatly will tell us what it is like to try to make the team from practice to filling the hours in between. The 17-year-old forward will be competing against some of the top junior players in North America to make the squad. Gellatly attends Enloe High School and has been playing organized hockey for more than 12 years.

August 30, 2008
Finding out where I stand
August 29 - Finding out where I stand

Friday began with a breakfast at about eight in the morning. Because everybody was getting tired, the coaches decided to combine both teams for a single practice in the morning, instead of having two separate practices. This helped everyone, because it meant less repetitions in practice for everyone, due to so many people being on the ice at once. Along with not having to do as many reps of each drill, we also did some fun drills. We did a breakaway relay race and a 2-on-0 relay race. After practice, we headed back to the hotel to get some spaghetti with meatballs and salad for lunch. We had a lot of time to kill after lunch, so my mom and I went out to a souvenir store to get some tee-shirts and a hat.
Everyone was excited about the blue-white game when we got on the bus around 5:30. The blue-white game was going to be the first practice or game that was open to the public, so everyone was excited about getting...
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August 28, 2008
First cuts and fitness testing
August 28: First Cuts and Fitness Testing
Everybody was a little tired and sore when we got to breakfast this morning. After breakfast we headed over to the rink for a morning practice. The practice was just as fast-paced and exhausting as yesterday, but today we did more passing drills. At the end of the practice, we did a shoot-out which was pretty fun.
After practice, all of the players met with the Coach and GM of the team to discuss whether or not they were going to stay for the main camp. My meeting went very well, because they decided to keep me around for the main camp which begins tomorrow. They said that they were pleased with how I was playing, and that I needed to keep up the same intensity and energy level when the returning veterans arrived.
After the meetings finished, we headed back to the hotel where we had lasagna and salad for lunch. After lunch, we had a couple of hours to...
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August 27, 2008
Hard practices, good effort
Raleigh's Matt Gellatly pursues professional hockey.
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August 27, 2008
Arrival in Saginaw
Monday, August 25:

I arrived in Saginaw at about 1 in the afternoon. My parents and I checked into the hotel and then went to a local restaurant called Tonyʼs to get some lunch. After lunch, we met some of the people from the organization in the lobby of the hotel, where we signed some medical forms.

At about 4:00, all the guys from the team were in the lobby of the hotel, ready to get on the bus to head over to the rink. At the rink, we went through physicals with all of the teamʼs doctors. They really wanted to make sure that everybody was in good health to participate in the camp, so this part took about two hours. It was a lot of standing in line during the two hours, so it was pretty boring.

The nice thing about the physicals, was that they took place in the Spiritʼs locker room, so I got to see that for the first time. After the physicals, we went to the visitorsʼ locker room to get fitted with new gear. All of the players at...
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