In the fall, Kevin Estrada could hardly bring himself to discuss his role with the MSU hockey team.
The highly skilled sophomore's confidence had been free-falling since the beginning of his unconvincing rookie campaign and it finally bottomed out.
New head coach Rick Comley's more open offensive style was supposed to be the boost Estrada needed to be a goal-scoring force in the CCHA this year, but the first two months of the season netted him no goals, one assist and four healthy scratches.
Estrada, a left wing, was already miffed about not being able to score in college. He notched only four goals as a freshman after amassing 34 in his final year in junior hockey.
But sitting out games was even tougher to deal with for the Surrey, British Columbia, native. He shied away from the spotlight and struggled to speak about his situation.
"I don't really want to be thinking about it too much," Estrada, 20, said in October. "I'd rather move on and not have this in the air right now."
Estrada and Comley talked constantly about how to break out of his funk. The conversations were raw, as the player grappled with the prospect of watching games from the stands and the coach tried to unlock the mystery of his underachieving player with superstar skills.
As they spoke, Comley continuously pounded one mantra into Estrada's head - shoot more, shoot more, shoot more!
"He has talent, he just has to play with a little more determination and make some things happen," Comley said. "He's worried about making mistakes. He's got to learn to trust his talent, play harder and play in the traffic and be around the net because he's got great offensive skills.
"He can make our team better in a lot of ways with his speed."
Estrada understood why Comley wanted him to shoot more, but the edict still wasn't easy for him to follow. The 5-foot-11, 188-pounder said he's always been an unselfish player, and his keen ice vision made him a lethal passer in junior hockey. He led the British Columbia League with 84 assists in his final season.
At MSU, it was common to see Estrada pass up shots to feed a teammate going to the net. But Comley convinced Estrada that if he was going to be a dominant player, he had to shed those pass-first tendencies and "be more selfish out there."
Since adopting that mindset, Estrada's swagger has seemed to return. His enviable speed and quick, accurate wrist shot have earned him four goals in the last seven games - by far the most prolific stretch of his short collegiate career.
He scored in three straight games (Jan. 17-24) and notched the game-winner in Saturday's 6-3 win over Bowling Green. In fact, three of Estrada's five goals this season have been game-winners.
"It's a building block," Estrada said. "When you're thinking 'Shoot, shoot, shoot,' that's when you get the chances. In the first part of the year, I was going out there and I wasn't doing too much bad and I wasn't doing too much good. I was just kind of going out there and doing nothing.
"Now, I'm just trying to pound some shots in there."
Estrada hasn't registered an assist since November, but no one's complaining.
"He's got such good hands and such a good shot," said freshman right wing Colton Fretter, one of his linemates. "I just give Kevin the puck because I have so much confidence in him right now."
Oddly enough, Estrada's revival seemed to coincide with the departure of his best friend, Duncan Keith, a defenseman who quit the team in December. The two knew each other from British Columbia and they were roommates in East Lansing in the fall.
Keith's abrupt departure around Christmas saddened Estrada, but he said his recent offensive success has nothing to do with Keith.
"I think that's pure coincidence," Estrada said. "It was about time that I started to turn things up. I was in the gutter there a little bit, but I worked hard and got out and got an opportunity.
"I was brought here to create offense, and I'm in that position now. I'm enjoying it a lot."
