As the puck skidded across the ice, I got ready to receive it. Just before it got to me, I lifted my stick to get ready for a shot. When it got to me, I slapped at it. My timing was perfect and the puck ended up in the top left corner of the net. The crowd cheered as the Williamsville North Spartans took a 3-0 lead against Amherst in the 1995 Swiss Chalet Hockey Tournament.

This only began my scoring for the game, which would turn out to be one of the most exciting games of my life. In the next period, I got two assists. Toward the middle of the third period, I got my second goal. I rushed down the entire length of the ice, finishing by firing a high wrist shot into the top left corner of the net. This made the score 9-2 in our favor.

After this goal, my coach left me on the ice for extra ice-time. He wanted me to get a hat trick (three goals in one game). I stayed on for about five consecutive minutes, which was exhausting. Although I was tired, I really wanted to score a third goal.

I was on a forward line which consisted of me on left wing, Cory Paul at right wing, and Dave Wesolowski at center.

Cory received a pass from one of our defensemen as he crossed our own blue line. He accelerated until he skated over Amherst's blue line. Just as Cory crossed their line, I skated as hard as I could toward the open spot in front of their net. Since none of their defensemen covered me, I was left alone in front of the net. Cory noticed this and slid a perfect pass to the blade of my stick. As soon as I received it, I let off a hard wrist shot into the upper right-hand corner. My teammates, coaches, and all of our fans cheered. Some of the fans even threw their hats onto the ice to celebrate my hat trick.

This was definitely one of the most memorable moments in my life. More importantly though, we won the game. In the end we won by a score of 12-2, and we were on our way to the championship. l