While many would see the pressures of the title’s circumstance as an unenviable situation, Neumann Men’s Ice Hockey player Sam House welcomes the perceived burden.

Just like any kid growing up in a small town in Alberta, Canada, Sam grew up with very real dreams and aspirations to play and succeed at a high level in the game of hockey. He played his whole childhood and matured into a sound player who would ultimately matriculate into the ultra-competitive ranks of Canada’s Junior Hockey leagues and to the NCAA’s Division 3 Neumann University.

Despite his growth and success on the ice, Sam’s experiences have not gone without adversity.

Since beginning his play in Junior Hockey with the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Calgary Canucks and Fort McMurray Oil Barons, he has been stricken with injuries that have seriously hampered his participation and progress as a player. The first was a broken rib injury that occurred when he returned home to play for the Oil Barons. This forced him to miss out on a large portion of the season, and eventually forced him to sit out for 33 games.

Despite the setback, House continued to progress as a player and prospect. In fact, House had healed up and played well enough to garner a large amount of attention from NCAA schools.

This led to his commitment to play for the Neumann Knights at the age of 20.

Because of the time and sacrifices most NCAA hockey players take to play Juniors before landing at a school, there is a process of maturation whose end product is often evident in the player when he arrives on a campus. House was no exception to this rule when he came to Neumann. He was fully ready to produce for a proud program with a history of rich success.

During his sophomore year, though, House was struck with a serious shoulder injury. With his labrum and rotator cuff badly damaged, he would require an extended amount of time off the ice for intense therapy and recuperation.

It was during this time that he began to consciously – and painfully – consider the ill effects of a serious injury to something as fundamentally necessary to daily life as his shoulder. “I never really realized how much I used my shoulder,” he recalled. “I couldn’t even get off of the couch…I could hardly pick up my own arm.”

In these words, House explains the direct frustrations and difficulties that are presented to very active athletes who have to quite literally hit the brakes on all activities because of a debilitating injury. As the season came to a close and the therapy continued, House was presented with a tough choice that often faces athletes with shoulder tendon injuries: either go under the knife for reconstructive surgery and be out for even longer or simply forge ahead with physical therapy and hope for the best.

At the time, House chose the latter – and things simply got worse. And so by the end of the summer of his sophomore year, he ultimately decided to have the surgery in the hopes of making things right.

As the 2015-2016 season approached with the arrival of preseason, House battled with watching from the sidelines as his teammates prepared for a hotly anticipated start to their season.

Sometimes, he recalled, there would be good days full of optimism. He would relish the opportunities spent among teammates in the locker room and especially on the ice and would head into physical therapy with a glass half full mentality.

Then it seemed the next day, the glass would get totally dumped out.

“I would kind of snap,” he said as he remembered the frustrations bubbling up into anger directed towards well-meaning friends and helpers. As he recollected the growth of the team during those critical weeks of preparation, he recalled his isolation, saying “I definitely wasn’t a part of that.” He continued to struggle with the perception that “everyone else is normal” and he, with his injury continuing to keep him out, continued to be alienated from the meaningful interactions shared with his teammates.

Then the season started – and things began to change.

His arm was still badly injured and he continued therapy just as he always did. But as he watched his teammates, a new-found appreciation for the sport and his place within it and the team began to settle in. As he watched his teammates, a deep feeling of respect and appreciation for the game itself began to take hold. If at one time, satisfaction came simply from the literal playing of the game, that was now seen as a bonus. He could now revel in the goodness of the game for its own unique sake, recognizing the positive influence it has on him and his teammates.

“The injury showed me it [hockey] was a huge part of my life,” said House.

But he would add that the game began to be seen as a complement to his life goal’s and not the impetus for it. As the fall semester approached, he began to ponder “what life was like after hockey.”

So he dove into his classes and secured an internship that gave him a very real look into his other talents and interests. As the season went on, he began to refine this idea of balance with hockey and while the desire to return to play remained constant, Sam started to see with clarity that he needed to take care of himself and “give this surgery the respect it deserved.”

As the season came to an end, House pondered the possibility of returning for the team’s remaining games of the regular season. With sound judgment though, he weighed the potential damage that could be done with his lack of fitness that had resulted from being away from the ice all year. He discussed his options with Head Coach Matt Tendler and the two came to a decision that, as he stated, “Maybe my shoulder is more important than 3 games.”

With a medical waiver in the works and two full years of eligibility on the table, Sam looks forward to the remaining years he has here at Neumann through the lens of his injury and how it has shaped the balance in his life. Citing the autonomy he feels, in terms of possibilities with hockey and academics, he concluded his thoughts on the matter by saying, “it’s pretty much up to me, nobody else. It’s on my shoulders now.”

Pun certainly intended.