EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – It took all of 20 seconds for Josh Ho-Sang to have his “Welcome to the NHL” moment when he made his New York Islanders debut in March.

As Ho-Sang took the puck in the corner of the Islanders’ zone, Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn, he of a 6-foot-2, 210-pound frame, was charging at him. A split second before Benn laid a hit along the boards, the rookie forward was able to make a play up ice.

The lesson learned so very early into his NHL career?

“Just got to be ready all the time or you’re going to die,” he joked on Wednesday.

Ho-Sang is taking part in Islanders prospect mini-camp this week a little over two months since he completed a 21-game NHL stint at the end of the season. He scored four goals and recorded 10 points over that time, but easily could have picked up a few more given how well he adjusted to the NHL game after his call-up. He left an impression with the coaching staff, one that’s stayed head coach Doug Weight.

“What was most enjoyable for me was he had that initial start where you get so much excitement and you’re playing on adrenaline, and he had a little dip but he recognized it, he stayed focused and he went back up,” he said. “He had some challenges. He had some games where he gave up a couple of giveaways and it cost us. Those are tough to go through but you learn from them and he bounced back, showed a lot of confidence. He’s a special player, he’s talented.”

The talent’s always been there for Ho-Sang. Just take a glance at his numbers (82-210—292, 256 GP in the OHL) in junior and you’ll see. The question has been about maturity. Two years ago he was sent home on the opening day of Islanders training camp for oversleeping. That led to general manager Garth Snow to sound off to Arthur Staple of Newsday with “Enough with the bull—-. It’s time to grow up.”

(Ho-Sang poked fun at himself with a Tweet a year later featuring alarm clocks and the caption “I made it.”

That was a well-needed wakeup call. Now 21 and with a year of professional hockey under his belt (21 NHL games, 50 in the AHL), Ho-Sang is ready to continue his development, and he’s aiming high.

“I think if you’re not the best player you always need to do something differently,” said Ho-Sang, who graded his first NHL season between a B and B-minus. “If you’re not Connor McDavid putting up 100 points leading his team to the playoffs for the first time in a long time, I think that you need to improve. Even he’s going home and he’s trying to get better. I don’t think you can stop.”

“I believe in myself and I don’t think that I need to say much more than that. If I ever get there and people ask me, ‘Did you think you could get there?’ … yeah, I’d say yes, but [McDavid’s] a ways away. He’s an elite talent, but it’s always fun to have someone to chase. For him, he only has to chase himself right now. I kind of got a rabbit to go after and that’s fun. I just want to keep getting better and keep comparing myself to the best players in the league and try to keep myself in that conversation.”

The work has been there, and that’s been encouraging to Weight this week. After a cameo in the NHL it could be easy for a young player to take that chance for granted, but Ho-Sang has impressed the Islanders coaching staff. That’s an extension of his off-ice mindset, where the focus has been on personal improvement. Even his Twitter account has gone quiet, where a quick search from the past year will find more Tweets featuring motivational quotes than an random opinion shared to his nearly 12,000 followers.

Do not dwell on the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present — Josh Ho-sang (@66jhosang) June 7, 2017





“It’s something that, especially in a sport where people are watching you and are constantly trying to judge you for what you do in a game or in a minute based on a day, I think it’s important to remind yourself of who you are,” he said.

“I think it’s important to stay grounded in terms of understanding that there is more going on just outside yourself and you may have personal problems and you may have things going on on a regular basis, but as long as you can put your head down and keep fighting through those, trying to find the right side more often than not, I find that will help you maintain your happiness.”

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