Having been thrust into the professional ice hockey sphere without even having a pre-season to acclimatise a year ago, Cameron Pound is glad to be able to take things a bit slower this year both on and off the ice.
Now 18 games into his second professional season with the Belfast Giants, the Solihull native has found life in the Elite League to be that little bit easier courtesy of having a year already under his belt, and the Giants are the beneficiaries.
While the ice time figures may be down overall, Pound has been entrusted in more high profile situations, being put out alongside other teams’ top lines with more frequency compared to last season, the 25-year-old having been awarded more trust by head coach Adam Keefe.
And as the Giants prepare for another pivotal weekend, with top seeding in the Challenge Cup knockouts on the line against the Fife Flyers at the SSE Arena tonight, Pound himself admits that he’s seeing the game differently from last season.
“The way I would describe it is the game gets slower. Now, that’s not true, but the more you play at this level, the game doesn’t get slower but it feels slower,” explains the Englishman.
“It’s how my dad always described it when I was playing through the levels, it’s how I’ve always felt. I’m not necessarily doing anything faster or the game is slower, it just moves slower in your mind.
“The way you see that is you’re able to hold onto the puck for an extra second or two, whereas last season I would have thrown it away. Now I feel like I have more space, I can turn my head a bit more and make a play across the ice. It’s little things that makes you feel like the game has gotten slower.
“Weirdly, it’s not something you notice when you’re mid-season, it’s when you come back in for training camp and you’re like, ‘Was it this slow last year?’”
“There’s definitely more confidence. It’s not like leaps and bounds, it’s just trying to build off of last season. It’s not like you make these massive strides, you make small increments and it’s just trying to be better than you were the day before.
“Coming in, I was a bit more confident to start and I’ve tried to build off that and keep working.”
More than that, Pound has also stepped up into an important utility role this season, starting the Giants’ last three games at forward and even picking up an assist against the Manchester Storm a week ago.
While he himself admits he is more confident on the back end, the defenceman is happy to help out wherever he is needed and has vowed to keep learning on the job.
“(Keefe) must have been somewhat happy with what I did when I stepped up into that role last year,” laughs Pound.
“Now, I personally am still hesitant when I’m put into that forward role, it’s not something I’m very familiar with, but I’ll absolutely give it my all when I am. I’ll play simple, I’ll play hard.
“My goal scoring did pick up at the end of last season, especially with the confidence I’ve gained playing defence.
“I am still more confident on defence, that’s where I see myself.”
Tonight, anything but a regulation loss to the Flyers would see the Giants finish as top seeds in the Cup group stages which will allow them to choose their opponents in the Semi-Finals and, perhaps more importantly, host the Final should they reach it.
Armed with a defensive record that has seen them concede two goals or less in six of their last eight games, Pound is confident they can complete the job before returning to League action by welcoming the Glasgow Clan to the SSE Arena tomorrow.
“Some of that (defensive play) comes with chemistry, playing well together, getting used to playing with each other more,” he reveals.
“Part of that is just the season, too. You have to get used to the system and that’s going to take time.
“But it’s about time now and we feel like we’re going now.”