Defenseman Dougie Hamilton takes over our Bruins diary this season. In his first diary entry, he discusses what he’s learned from being paired with Zdeno Chara, whether he feels pressure to have a breakout season and his role model. This entry was filed before the Bruins traded Johnny Boychuk on Saturday. (As told to Louise K. Cornetta)

Coming off our Game 7 playoff loss to Montreal to end the past season, I honestly don’t remember much. Obviously, it was pretty disappointing. We got off to a slow start against them and just couldn’t get anything going. There was such build-up for that game and a lot of expectations that we had for ourselves, so to lose was disappointing, but to lose to them was hard as well. It was tough this summer to be at home on the couch watching the rest of the playoffs. When you know you had a good team and could maybe be playing and beating the other team makes it tough, especially seeing another team win the Stanley Cup.

My focus this summer was on my training and getting better. I went home to St. Catharines, Ontario, which is near Niagara Falls. It’s a little bit of a different setting compared to downtown Boston. It’s nice to go home and be with my family. My family has meant everything to me, especially with my hockey career. My parents are successful athletes themselves [Editor’s note: His father was a rower and his mother a basketball player for Team Canada in the 1984 Summer Olympics.]. It was easy for my brother and I to look up to them and try to be like them. The advice and guidance they have given us has been huge. I really can’t thank them enough.

Dougie Hamilton is ready for his third season in the NHL. Eric Canha/CSM/AP Images

I worked out with my brother and my father over the summer. My brother has led the way for me as my role model. Growing up, I tried to be like him and do everything he did. He was always one year ahead of me. So I’d watch him, and what he did would be my plan for the next year. He’s in the San Jose organization. Last year he played 11 games with the Sharks, and he’s in Worcester the rest of the time.

I really didn’t do much of anything else over the summer. I did turn 21, but being 21 doesn’t really matter to me. I consider every day to be like a birthday. It’s nice to kind of get a little bit older and stop being the kid everyone saw me as.

When I first got here, I was used to playing with junior guys who were my age. By the end of juniors, I was the older guy. Then I came here, and I was a lot younger than everyone, as this isn’t a really young team. A lot of the guys are married with families or have girlfriends, and there aren't a lot of single guys. It was definitely an adjustment for me. But everyone was really good, and I found that there was a lot of stuff we could all relate to and talk about. They treat me just like another guy. It was just something I had to get used to.

It was good to see David Patrnak healthy again, so he could play in Friday’s preseason game. It’s nice to have a guy close to my age on the team. It feels good to be an older guy or somebody that maybe he can look up to. I’ve tried to help him and make him smile and enjoy coming to the rink. Stuff I remember guys did for me, I’m trying to do with him. I want him to feel comfortable.

As we get ready for a new season, I’m still figuring out my living situation. I’m living at a hotel by myself right now. I don’t know what I’m going to do this year with roommates. I’ve never lived alone. Until my first year in Boston, I had never been away from home for more than a month. Everything was new and an adjustment. I’m more comfortable now, which has helped me with my play.

For the past two seasons, Adam McQuaid has been my roommate. We used to watch a lot of reality shows such as “The Bachelorette” and “The Voice.” I should note he had control over the remote. TV in Canada is a little bit different than here. I still watched some reality shows this summer. But now with our schedule and the hotel TV guides, it’s not easy to keep up. Lately I’ve been into the show “How It’s Made” on the Discovery Channel. I just found out it’s “How It’s Made” week, so it’s on all day, every day. I’ve been tuned into that right now and just leave it on.

Moving to some thoughts on the ice, last year I was paired with Dennis Seidenberg before he got hurt, and then with Z [Zdeno Chara]. You can learn stuff from everybody. They don’t really tell you certain things but, for me, it’s more about watching them and watching how they compete, how they prepare, how they shoot, how they pass. Learning everything from their skating, how they pivot and overall how they play defense. I watch and observe and then ask questions if I can’t understand why they do it. I believe you can learn from everyone.

Now that Z and I are partnered, I’ll give you a tip on something I’ve observed from being on the ice with him. The first time I saw him play and skated with him I thought his puck-handling skills for someone his size were unbelievable. Everyone knows he is an all-around defenseman, but the way he can stick-handle and toe-drag is pretty special for how long his stick is and how tall he is. I kind of feel like I have that long stick and long levers. So you can try to watch him and be like him.

I know the media has been saying this is going to be a breakout season for me. I don’t feel any pressure hearing that. I think I’ve had the pressure for the past couple of years. It’s not the pressure from outsiders; it’s pressure I put on myself to be my best and to keep getting better. That is how I want to play and how I want to do things is to just keep getting better. I have this image in my head of how I want to be and how I want to play in the NHL. I’m going to keep it a secret what that image is, but it’s really about working hard to get there.

Adding a lot of offense to my game is something that comes with comfort. My offensive game is there. My defensive game, I feel, has really come along in the past couple of years. A lot of attention has been put on my defense, on being reliable and having them trust me in all situations. I think that’s been my focus and something I need to keep focusing on. I think offense is more opportunity and something that just kind of happens. You can’t really force offense, otherwise it takes away from your defense. It’s something that if you’re on the power play or if you’re playing with certain players then it kind of comes. You can’t put too much pressure on how many points are you are going to get.

I think the strength of the team this season is pretty much the same as what we’ve had. The team’s changed a little bit, obviously. Personally, I don’t think we are the same mean team as in the past, but we’re pretty smart and skilled with good skaters. With Tuukka Rask, we have one of the best goalies in the league. Our defense is probably one of the best I’d say too. It’s deep, and we all play a good system. Our forwards are skilled and good skaters. I think it’s just a full team and a good system that everyone follows.

We’ll use the disappointment from how the past year ended as some motivation. The season was really good with some long stretches where we didn’t lose and were on a roll. As we know, anything can happen once you get to the playoffs. We will just have to keep playing hard and make sure we’re getting better every game. Hopefully, the playoffs will be a different story this season.

I’m looking forward to the regular season starting next week. To get back on the ice is a lot of fun and playing at the Garden with our fans is also a lot of fun. I want to play and continue to see improvements in my game. This preseason has been good so far with how I feel physically and everything. It makes me satisfied and happy all my work in the summer is paying off. I just have to keep building on that.