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Go here to order Brett Henning’s “Seven Pre-Game Habits of Hockey  Players.”

Brett Henning was born in Huntington just 17 days before his father Lorne passed the puck to John Tonelli, who passed it to Bobby Nystrom for his overtime goal that brought the Islanders their first Stanley Cup.

Brett went on to become a very good player with the U.S. development program and was selected by the Islanders in the ninth round of the 1999 NHL Draft. Unfortunately, he suffered a career-ending neck injury during his junior season at Notre Dame.

Now 29 years old, Brett has written a book, “Seven Pre-Game Habits of Hockey  Players.” Not just because his dad (now VP of Player Personnel with the Canucks) is a dear longtime friend but because Brett has a lot of terrific insight into the game, I hope you’ll consider taking a look at his book.

Just for Point Blank readers, I asked Brett Henning to write a few paragraphs about his life, his injury and his decision to write his book:

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I was born May 7th, 1980 and just over 2 weeks later the Islanders won their first Stanley Cup. I have a picture at home of myself sitting in the Stanley Cup that summer as a three-month old. (Must have been early in the day before the champagne was broken out.)

When my father became an assistant coach, I will always remember going with him to the Coliseum and hanging out in the locker room with players like Pat Flatley, Mick Vukota, Glenn Healy and Rich Pilon. Everyone was great even though I was probably pretty annoying tearing through the hallways, ripping pucks off the wall. I definitely learned a lot about hockey and life tucked into the corner of the TV room. After a while I think they forgot I was even in there.

With NHL coaching not being rock-solid stable, our family moved around a lot but we always came back to Long Island and knew it as home. Hockey was a huge part of my life. Everything was tied to missing a game or practice if I got into trouble or brought home an ugly report card.

During high school my dad became an assistant coach with Chicago and I went to play junior hockey in Canada. From there I was very fortunate to play for the USA National Development Team and then the University of Notre Dame. During my junior year I severely herniated two discs in my neck and was told I could never be hit again. My future goals and plans were erased in one sentence. That sucked.

In a roundabout way I ended up settling down in Southern California and after five years of hiding from hockey, I got back into it. Not surprisingly with all the East coast and Canadian transplants in LA, there is some really good hockey.

I was playing on a team and getting back into the swing of things when all of a sudden I was about -30 over the course of a month. My teammates were all over me. I was unusually clumsy and even with my post-college weight gain I shouldn’t have been that slow.

I got an MRI and the doctor came in with the news that I needed surgery ASAP. I had nerve damage and underwent surgery to fuse my c3 and c4 vertebrae. Over the course of those ten days I went through a battery of tests and fell into a severe mental tailspin.  That experience more than anything taught me that your mental attitude affects your well-being.

That got me thinking to how many games - and not just meaningless games but big games - I was distracted by an outside source or listening to the negative voice inside my head. Those experiences as well as being a little bit of a self-help geek led me to write this book, which began as emails to a coaching friend. I can’t get those games back, but with this book I want to help parents, coaches and players approach each game from a positive standpoint - what people refer to as “the zone.”

Thanks for all your time, Islanders fans…Brett.

Go here to order “Seven Pre-Game Habits of Hockey  Players.”

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