Who are you when the camera isn't on and everyone isn't watching you? Who are you when the lights darken in the arena and the only one to impress is you? When all of the coaches have left the ice, your face is covered in sweat, it's late, and all you want to do is go home to your nice comfortable bed. Do you coast off the ice and call it a day, or do you put your head down lay the pucks down in the slot and work on your shot? Or stop on the goal line and get to work with your skating? When the coach moves you down a line and your frustrated, do you go complain and blame it on the coach or do you put your head down and work to get back on that line again? When you see a young kid look up to you in the hallway at the rink do you stop and chat with him and give him a high five, or do you just keep walking because you know there's no one around to see you being a good guy? These are the questions I have asked myself for what feels like my entire life. To me it is not what you do when everyone is watching that truly matters, it is my firm belief what you do when no one is watching is what truly defines you. 

It is easy to work hard when there is an OHL or NCAA scout in the stands, or when your coach is watching you in tryouts as you skate laps. It's not so easy though, when no one is around and it's all your choice. When there is no pressure from anyone except your own inner voice. When your body is failing and you are completly exhausted does that voice say "you've done enough today, lets go rest" or does it scream "keep going, you have more". Whether it's love of the game, competitive drive, or something else driving that inner voice in your head, to me, these moments is where your true character shines through. These are the moments that I will carry with me through my hockey career and everyday beyond that. 

Now don’t get me wrong, the ability to perform under extreme pressure in front of a big crowd defines much of your talent and ability to handle pressure. What I’m saying is, there's more to life than what happens in that spotlight. Nearly everyone wants to perform well and work hard in that spotlight. But what happens in the spotlight is like the tip of the iceberg, sure, it’s what people see, but everyone ignores the other 90% of the iceberg or in this case the player. Players are made in the dark when no one is watching. Without further ado, here is the story of my career to this point and how these moments of choice when no one was watching determine my character and how my career has and will play out. 

My name is Corson Searles, I am a 19 year old hockey player from Brantford, Ontario originally. I currently live in Paris, Ontario. I have played hockey since I was 5 years old. 

From the moment I picked up a hockey stick, I loved the game. It was something that just called to me. But one of the first times I hit the ice (in a literal sense) things went a little sideways. Prior to my very first year of hockey I began learning to skate just like any other kid. I was naturally pretty good but not perfect and that led to my first little taste of adversity. One of the first few times I was on the ice, I fell on the ice and hurt my butt enough that I didn't want to be on the ice any more. Now I don’t mean I didn’t want to skate that day, I mean I didn’t want to skate at all. I didn’t even want to play hockey! So I ended up not playing my first year of hockey because I was to scared to fall again. Now this might seem meaningless but to me, what happened next would define me as a hockey player and I believe as a person.

After deciding not to play hockey the first year I could of, my parents, Dave and Ingrid Searles did not force hockey on me. They didn’t put any pressure on me at all, rather they let me choose whether I wanted to play. They let my own inner love of the game, drive, competitiveness or whatever else it was in me to come out naturally. Why is this so important to me you ask? It’s important to me because it was a choice I made. Not one I was forced to make. To me this is huge because I believe this is what sparked my work ethic and drive. I believe this is why my love of the game and my want to get better has consistently grown each and every year of my career. This was a very important part of my career, for that, I am forever grateful to my parents. 

Now as my career went on, I was cut my first year I tried out for the AAA team in Brantford. That didn't deter me though because I continued to work and improve. This earned me a spot on the AAA team for the next 5 years where I consistently worked my absolute hardest, made many improvements each year, but was never able to play higher than a third line position consistently. I was able to maintain my position on the AAA team in Brantford up until Major Bantam where I was forced to have shoulder surgery just prior to tryouts.

 With a changing coach who had not seen me play very much, I was crushed to hear that I was cut from the team. This was a very difficult pill to swallow, but I ultimately looked at it as a challenge. I saw it as a chance to work my way back and prove nothing could stop me. Most people would probably have accepted it and said that's ok, I guess I’m not cut out for AAA, but my inner voice screamed ‘keep going, you have more. You will come back better’. So while everyone was focussed on the AAA team, me and the boys on the AA team put our heads down and went to work to prove they made a mistake cutting any of us. What would happen the next season though, would truly change my life in the most positive of ways.

The following season I played for the Bantam AA team. I came in physically and mentally prepared after a long recovery from my shoulder surgery. I’m sure no one believed it, but I was prepared to help us have an amazing season... and that we did! First of all I was lucky enough to be chosen as the team captain which was a first for me. I was able to learn a ton about leadership. A skill that would serve me very well later in my junior career. From the very first game till the end, our team played amazing winning every tournament we played in, we went 67-7-2 over the course of the year and we were able to finish second in Ontario (losing in double overtime to the team that had actually beat our AAA team in a tournament earlier in the season.) It was an amazing feeling sitting with our team that year in the room after losing the championship game. Why was I feeling so good after a loss you are probably asking? First, because it gave me a taste of what winning was truly like, just before we won it all, it was stripped away. The perfect motivation to want to get back to another championship. The second reason is because at that moment I was just so proud of what we accomplished as a group. Instead of seeing it as negative, I saw it as the turning point of my career. To realize what a group of individuals could accomplish when everyone comes together, puts their heads down and works with complete confidence and trust in one another. No one was watching us. No one expected anything special from us. Instead of accepting those expectations, we used them as motivation. This is something else I would take along with me and use later on in my junior career.   

After that amazing season I was able to make it back to the AAA team where my ability to deal with adversity would continue to grow. First of all, to begin the season I measured in at a monsterous 5'7" 125lbs. I think I was one of the top 5 lightest guys playing Minor Midget AAA at the time. Regardless of my size I still believed I had a shot at a late draft pick in the OHL draft. In the end, my main goal though was still NCAA Division 1. That year I really turned up my work ethic. I was always the last one of the ice working on my skating, shooting and hands. It also was pretty common for me to send my parents a text after a tough game saying I will be up on the track running laps on my own in the dark (Just so they knew I wasn’t still sitting in the dressing room talking to my teammates for an hour like I usually did). After putting in so much work at the time I was very disappointed at the end of the season to watch the OHL draft,  only to see that I was not selected. Again, like being cut from AAA this only drove me to work harder to prove to myself that all of those OHL teams made a mistake not taking me. I had to remind myself the work I put in was for me, because I love hockey and enjoyed getting better. Not just because I want to see my name in the OHL draft. That was my ego talking back then. 

The following year I decided to take my game to Junior. After being cut from Junior B, I decided Junior C was a good place for me to get a chance to improve my game againt older, stronger players. I was lucky enough to sign a card with the Simcoe Storm. This year was a beautiful example of putting my head down and working because even though our team was not winning, I stayed confident in myself and my mission to improve. The team ended up finishing last, but I was grateful to have the opportunity to play a first line centre role. I also had a great individual season putting up almost a point a game for the first time in my career. This taste of individual success really boosted my confidence and showed me I had the ability to be a strong offensive player. 

The following year I was able to make the Guelph Hurricanes Junior B club. I had a ton of excitement to finally play in the GOJHL after being cut the previous year. Right off the bat I knew my role: to be the best 3rd line centre in the league. I was able to learn so much this year from our league high 13 OA players (20 year old players called ‘over agers’ in their final year of Junior B). Sadly midway through the season our head coach, Peter Crosby was no longer with the team which was tough on our squad and me because I learned so much from him. Though it was tough, we were still able to make it to the second round of the playoffs and have a strong season. That year I was nominated for Rookie of the Year and really learned how to play a strong third line role.

The following year I ended up going to the Cambridge Winter Hawks. After finishing the previous season in last place, our team was determined to improve. That we did. We went from last all the way up to holding 3rd place out of 9 teams for almost the entire year. We ended up finishing in 5th after a tight race with 3 teams at the end. Our playoffs didn't go as well as we hoped, but it was a year where I really learned a lot about team leadership and got to play with a lot of great players. Finishing the season things were looking up for the team with a lot of young talent on the way back, when suddenly something crazy happened! Our team was suddenly gone from the league. To this day I'm still not 100% sure what happened. All I know is that all of the coaches and teammates were extremely saddened to hear that the Cambridge Winter Hawks would no longer be a team in our GOJHL. So all of the players and coaches were forced to find new teams. Not to mention I needed to have hip labrum surgery following the season so I was not able to attend any tryouts. 

For me, this brought me to Stratford Warriors where I was warmly welcomed in by everyone in the organization. I was even so lucky to be selected as an assistant captain even though it was my first year with the team. As far as the team, we were young and no one expected much from us. We had rookies in the double digits and most thought we were in a building year. We as players, coaches and the organization thought a little differently though. Right away in the early summer I reached out to all of our signed players and introduced myself. I made it clear I was excited to meet them. Most of all though I made it clear our goal was to win this year. Whether what I said meant anything I don’t know. But from the very first game we were determined to prove to ourselves we could win the Cherrey Cup. We battled hard as a team this year, with many unlucky injuries. For me personally I missed 13 games mid season due to a broken wrist. We finished the year 2nd in the league compiling a pretty awesome 37 wins. This was something our team was beyond proud of and it was certainly something no one expected from us! 

Even with our awesome season, we knew playoffs would be tough. We battled so hard through 2 rounds, but our playoffs ended losing in overtime in Game 6 to the Elmira Sugar Kings. This was an unbelievable year from the fans, to my billets, to my coaches, to the organization and most of all to my amazing teammates who were all such great players and people!

In the end I can't thank everyone enough for every experience, opportunity and moment of my career so far. All of this shaped me into the person I am today. Thank you to the fans who have cheered me on and supported me along the way, coaches who have taught me and helped me with hockey and life, everyone in all of the organizations, the owners and general managers who brought me there, volunteers who make every game possible, to the trainers who have helped me stay healthy and safe, friends and family who have supported me and shown me so much love, and to my teammates who have truly become my family. 

All of you have helped bring me to this point in my hockey journey. I wouldn't be here without my teammates, coaches, fans, family and friends. I am so grateful for ALL of you. I wish I had documented these times a little sooner, so I could look back one day at all of this. This is why I began my YouTube Video Blog - The Daily C. I want to document my journey from this point forward and I want everyone who has been a part of my journey to come along for the ride as I pursue my goal of playing professional hockey. 

The goal of The Daily C is to document my real and hockey journey for players, fans, friends, family and ultimately my future self. I wish I had done it sooner. I call it the Daily C because each day I try to document what I’m doing to reach my goals. I offer advice, show my honest thoughts, make mistakes, show my on/off ice training and teaching, document visiting schools, meeting new players and everything else that happens along the way as I play hockey and live my life. 

I’m very excited to share The Daily C with you! As I write this I currently have 25 episodes documenting the last 25 days of my life as I train for next season. My hockey journey has been an amazing one so far and I am very excited to share it with you as I grow as a hockey player and man. 

The journey is just as important at the destination and I hope you’ll come along for the ride. Where you’ll learn about passion, commitment, and hard work as I pursue my dream.

YouTube - Corson’s Hockey Skills 

Instagram - corsonsearles 

Twitter - CHSkills

Facebook - Corson Searles 

Facebook page for Corsons Hockey Skills (elite hockey instruction) - Corson’s Hockey Skills Development Page