"Go ahead, work hard and never be afraid to try something. Even if you don't make it, at least you can say you tried"
About this Quote
Lafleur’s voice here isn’t motivational-poster sugar; it’s the blunt, locker-room ethic of someone who made grace look effortless only because the labor was hidden. “Go ahead” lands like a shove in the shoulder pads: permission and challenge at once. The line refuses romantic myths about destiny. It treats courage as a practice, not a personality trait, and it makes “trying” sound less like consolation and more like a standard you’re accountable to.
The subtext is pure athlete logic: you don’t control outcomes, you control reps. “Never be afraid to try something” reads, in hockey terms, like greenlighting the risky pass, the creative move at speed, the decision that might get you benched if it fails. Lafleur played in an era when the game was hard, punishing, and increasingly professionalized; the fear he’s naming isn’t abstract self-doubt, it’s the real cost of error in a culture that prizes toughness and hates excuses.
Then he flips the usual success narrative. “Even if you don’t make it” doesn’t stigmatize failure; it normalizes it as the price of ambition. “At least you can say you tried” is often dismissed as a soft landing, but from Lafleur it’s closer to a receipt. Trying becomes evidence of character, a way to live with yourself after the buzzer. In a sports world obsessed with stats and rings, he’s sneaking in a quieter metric: did you show up with nerve and intent, or did you play not to lose?
The subtext is pure athlete logic: you don’t control outcomes, you control reps. “Never be afraid to try something” reads, in hockey terms, like greenlighting the risky pass, the creative move at speed, the decision that might get you benched if it fails. Lafleur played in an era when the game was hard, punishing, and increasingly professionalized; the fear he’s naming isn’t abstract self-doubt, it’s the real cost of error in a culture that prizes toughness and hates excuses.
Then he flips the usual success narrative. “Even if you don’t make it” doesn’t stigmatize failure; it normalizes it as the price of ambition. “At least you can say you tried” is often dismissed as a soft landing, but from Lafleur it’s closer to a receipt. Trying becomes evidence of character, a way to live with yourself after the buzzer. In a sports world obsessed with stats and rings, he’s sneaking in a quieter metric: did you show up with nerve and intent, or did you play not to lose?
Quote Details
| Topic | Perseverance |
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