The 2017 Rams Reflect is the second in a series of annual collections. Senior captains and representatives of Suffolk teams have been invited to contribute viewpoints based on personal experience from both their senior seasons and full varsity careers at Suffolk.
For a complete listing of past and present Rams’ Reflections, click here.
Brett Lawson, Men's Hockey | Hometown: Mildford, Mass. | Accounting
Dear Coaching Staff, Suffolk University and my Team,
It was a Saturday morning in the fall of 2014. I just recently arrived on campus after deciding to transfer from my last college where I had played my first year of collegiate hockey. I was walking to the North End fields after receiving an email saying that we had to report there for 11 a.m. Heading there, I was anticipating a workout. I soon found out that a fall Saturday morning playing on the Suffolk Hockey team was where the competitive attitude would begin. It was Ram football Saturdays. Sandlot style pick up game of two hand touch football would determine who had the bragging rights leading into the season. A sense of competition was the perfect way to bring a group of hockey guys together as a team heading into the season. I immediately felt a part of the team and it was that Saturday morning, I knew I had made the right decision to play hockey at Suffolk University.
To play college hockey is an accomplishment within itself. Growing up playing AAA, high school and junior hockey you have to be one of the better if not the best player on your team to keep moving within the ranks. Picture this now. You have a group of 20 year olds who have spent their hockey careers being the best players on their team. Not exactly the best combination. Coach Glionna has created an atmosphere where every player knows that they play for something bigger now. He emphasized being a good teammate and that when you step out on the ice you are representing yourself, your team, your school and your family. Being able to wear the Suffolk jersey and play for my team, family, friends, coaches and school has been one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. I have had the privilege of walking into a locker room every day filled with 30-35 guys that represent character, commitment to the end goal and the willingness to do anything to make the guys around them better. They have molded me into the person I am today.
Through all the workouts, conditioning, practices, long bus rides there is nothing I would change. I got to play with my teammates, I consider brothers now, in front of packed arenas, pro ice centers, Fenway Park and most importantly Emmons Horrigan O’Neil Rink.
To my senior teammates - Kevin Venturoso, Stanton Turner, Connor Lawrence, Simon Leahy, Danyil Medvedev - and to all my teammates past and present, it has been a pleasure playing with all of you. The friendships I have created will be ones I keep for the rest of my life.
Just remember where ever life takes you, it’s not what you want it’s what you earn.
A Ram for life,
Brett Lawson