Taylor Hall: Becoming the Bull

Grab the bull by the horns the old adage goes.
Nobody tells you where to go from there.
Seems like fate's pulling you.
Decisions have to be made.
The best path is the hardest earned.

Back and forth the struggle consumes us all.
Trying to keep a level head.
In the most unsettling of times.
Today I'll become the bull.
-Atreyu, Becoming The Bull

I was at the gym this morning hitting the weights pretty hard and the song "Becoming The Bull" by Atreyu was playing on my iPod. Suddenly, in mid lift, it hit me that the song is a perfect example of life immitating art as far as Taylor Hall goes.

Hall and his Windsor Spitfires looked doomed in the Western Conference final series against the Kitchener Rangers when they fell into a 3 games to none hole, but clawed back to win four straight and have extended their winning streak to seven games in taking the first three games of the OHL Championship series against the Barrie Colts.

Although Hall was in a dead heat with Tyler Seguin for the top overall selection in the 2010 NHL Draft when the OHL regular season ended and through the first round, Hall's much deeper Spitfires team dispatched Seguin and the Plymouth Whalers in a four-game sweep in the second round. Since then, Hall has been en fuego, keying the huge comeback against Kitchener and then keeping it rolling against Barrie and the Colts' very talented center Alexander Burmistrov.

With 15 goals and 32 points in just 18 games, Hall has definitely grabbed the proverbial bull by the horns and is making it all but academic that the Edmonton Oilers will make him the top pick in Los Angeles next month. Even though Seguin fills a need for that team, the old adage about the last impression being the biggest is especially true in scouting.

Hall is in position to not only defend his team's 2009 Memorial Cup title when that tourney starts up in Brandon this month, but to repeat as MVP should the Spits close out the Colts tonight.