THURSDAY COMMENTARY – MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98, Rock 98.5 FM & LTD Radio)

The Good, The Great & The Ugly from Round 1 of the NHL Draft in Nashville …

First the good: If you were following or watching, there were no trades Wednesday night which allowed for a very smooth, and free-flowing Round 1 which of course was led off by Connor Bedard going to the Chicago Blackhawks with the first pick.

Aside from the monotonous thank you’s to the City of Nashville, the congrats to the Golden Knights and the farewells to outgoing Predators GM David Poile, the proceedings came off very slickly.

It was also cool to hear Bedard say, “It’s great to be a Blackhawk.”

This is going to be fun to watch.

Next, the great: We told people at the time, the spring of 2021, to pay attention to that splendid crop of 15-year olds playing in the WHL bubble in the Brandt Centre.

We said these guys are going to be WHL stars and NHL first rounders and one of the greatest joys of my life was calling every Pats game on Access 7 that season.

And on Wednesday night, they graduated. Bedard to Chicago, the ICE’s Zach Benson to Buffalo, the Warriors’ Brayden Yager to Pittsburgh, and the Blades’ Tanner Molendyk to Nashville.

If you stop and savour every moment in life, looking for the good and not the bad, it adds up to a great life. Those of us who appreciated what we were seeing back then really enjoyed last night’s convocation.

And lastly, the ugly: I could’ve died for Carey Price.

The Montreal Canadiens legend was brought on stage to announce the team’s pick, 5^th overall.

But under the bright lights and before millions on TV, CP31 forgot the player’s name. And he’s been mocked endlessly since.

It’s what we call, an “anxiety blackout”. I’ve had many, and still do, including my ill-fated appearance on TSN’s Off The Record, which I bombed in the Fall of 2008, and still get mocked for. Or when I jumped off that fishing boat in the Florida Keys last Fall, and almost drowned.

In the biggest moment, your mind goes completely blank.

It’s horrible.

Had Price been surrounded by the proper support and people who knew his Mental Health situation – for which he’s been receiving treatment for over a year – the Habs could’ve given him a cue card and no one would’ve been the wiser.

But they didn’t.

Now you know the support I provide the wise, pro-active teams and organizations as a professional Recovery & Mental Health Coach. Honestly, I hate that I know this stuff but at least having lived it all, I can prevent it from happening to the others.

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+TV, WQEE, Podcast & YouTube Live)