The offseason is closing in on us, and we are almost at the SMJHL Draft.

Before the real busy season starts, and you're going to be answering scouting messages from every team, it is time to sit back and relax a little. Dreaming about how your life would've looked without hockey.

Written Option: What would your player be doing now, if they hadn't pursued a career in hockey? (250 words min.)

Graphic Option: Show us a picture of your player, doing what they'd do if they weren't a hockey player.

Reward: $500,000, for doing one of the options.

Only current SMJHL Draftable Free Agents (S82 SMJHL Draftees / S83 SHL Draft Class players) are eligible for this bounty.

Deadline: Tuesday, April 8th at 11:59pm PST.

Jordin FourFour III was always a huge fan of law enforcement growing up. When he was not on the ice or in the driveway shooting pucks to get better, he loved to watch Live PD with his father and uncle (whom both played in the league) and envied what those individuals got to do. After a stern talking to early in his life, he realized that not every day would be like that and being a police officer was a career that quickly vanished. Being a pilot was one of those careers that FourFour III really enjoyed later in his life, and even begged his parents to allow him to get his pilot's license to hopefully be able to purchase his own plane and hangar once he had the money to do so. Given the immense danger that came with this profession as opposed to being a commercial pilot, FourFour III was also denied this career choice. While hockey was what was ultimately meant for him, the last career option that ended up being a viable second option in the event his hockey career did not pan out was being a teacher. He loved to coach his fellow players on the ice and teach them about the various techniques they could use to better their games, or off-ice tactics that would be beneficial for the team. FourFour almost enrolled at his local university in pursuit of being a high school gym teacher, but ultimately he did not need to as his career took off in the USHL and brought him to the SMJHL where he now can hopefully make a name for himself. If it does not work out, well he has an option to return to his roots and become a teacher after all.

(295 words)

Jordin FourFour III

A life without hockey. For Yu Nishinoya that’s honestly quite the ‚normal‘ life. He had only recently discovered hockey, well, he knew about it for a long time but it really gotten his interest after he happened to be in town as the Season 80 finals were played, catching the fourth game in the series between the Tampa Bay Barracuda and the San Francisco Pride. Somehow Nishinoya was lucky enough to still get a ticket for that game and it was at that moment that he knew he had to play ice hockey.

But that isn’t the point today. It’s all about what would be if that didn’t happen. And that would still sort of be including why he was in town that day. After finishing school and having closed the chapter on playing volleyball, Nishinoya decided that he wanted to see more of the world. Every trip during his high school volleyball years was just filled with excitement. Getting to see new parts of Japan, getting to meet new people. He would try to learn about new cultures, no matter if it was getting to know what sports Americans are heavily into, or getting over his fear of dangerous animals down in Australia. It would be his life goal to see as many countries as possible and along the way he picked up the hobby of fishing! A hobby that was able to be done in practically every part of the world. From a small river down in Brazil all the way to the Mediterrean Sea. And all the different fish he’d catch and release would be just as varied as the people he would be meeting right about now.

If only ice hockey didn’t catch his attention and made him fixate harder on a sport than he had ever done, picking up something that people would imagine isn’t really suitable to his short stature at all.

Word Count: 318