Do you remember those 6AM skates? They are some of my favorite memories of us. There is something so pure about stepping on a new sheet of ice with no one else in the arena. I can still feel it now; the crunch of my skates as I carved those first few strides, the tears that welled up in my eyes as that blast of cold air hit my face on my first lap, and the thunderous crack of my stick as I let that first shot go. Like a painter staring at a blank canvas, the possibilities were endless. I had no rhyme or reason for the things I would do during those skates. There was no structure to my drills, no specific skill I was working on. I wasn't out there early because I needed to get better; I was out there early because I didn't know better. All I knew at the time was that I would rather spend an extra hour and a half with you than spend it doing anything else.