“Listen to my story. This...may be our last chance. “

When I was a small child, I grew up in a city called Sapporo in the Hokkaido prefecture in Japan. You may know Sapporo for its famous Sapporo Brewery and it was also the city that hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics. Sapporo for years was known for being a hotbed of winter sports. Skiing, snowboarding, luge, skating, even hockey to an extent are really popular sports here. You're probably thinking that me a Sapporo kid who played hockey was destined to be an SHL player. That is where you are wrong. I was never supposed to be here.

In fact... I had a different love. A different career path... I was supposed to be in the world of motorsports.

I've been fascinated with motorsports since I was born. My love for it definitely came from my father who was a mechanic for Japanese Super Formula team TOM'S. I remember driving karts starting maybe at the age of 6 until about the age of 8 or 9. I remember winning 3 championships during that time and being a runner up for 1 season as well. There was something about driving that kart that felt natural to me. I don't know what it was but I kept winning races, kept winning titles, and I was getting more widely recognized for my ability to drive the kart. Things just felt really easy for me.

At the age of 10 my father got a job with McLaren F1 which required the entire family to move to London, England. It was hard on the family as we've only ever lived in Japan and while my father was fluent in English, my mother, myself, and my brother only knew Japanese. My father took the McLaren job as he felt it would help with my career in motorsports. At that same age I decided I would step away from karting and pursue a career path into motorcycle grand prix racing, with the top tier being MotoGP. It was here when my love for motorsports started to die down. To keep things short as I might want to explain this more in another article, I just kept winning at whatever class I've rode in. It was not fun and it did not feel like a challenge to me. Also to mention that when I was 16 my family moved back to Japan and I've decided to quit motorsports altogether. I've wanted to do something that was more of a challenge for me. That is where Hockey came for me.

Being back in Sapporo, I was just a regular kid in high school doing high school things. I didn't know what I wanted to do in life after I quit motorsport, but one day my uncle who worked for the parent company of the Nippon Paper Cranes of Asia League Ice Hockey were holding open tryouts for anyone 16 and over. He wanted me to join because my skating was good and that I liked hockey. I had no problem with my skating but I had never played the game of hockey before at an amateur level. Even without the experience I decided to do the tryout anyways because I really had nothing to lose. At the tryout there weren't many athletes, just a lot of guys wanting a quick pay check. Probably expected in a low tear professional league. I ended up getting the roster spot that day. While my abilities in playing hockey was next to nothing, the coaches saw something in me in regards to my athleticism that led me to getting that roster spot. Something that I am very thankful of to this day. It was during my time with the Paper Cranes that I learned how to become a hockey player.

Now I know 16 is a pretty late age to start playing hockey. I look at my fellow draftees in the S33 draft class and they have been playing hockey ever since they were toddlers. They've all come from various different hockey nations as well. Coming from Japan, everybody wanted to be the next Ichiro Suzuki or Yu Darvish. Baseball is a widely celebrated sport here. Hockey, not so much, and to start playing hockey at 16 in a non-hockey country such as Japan, you're probably not going to play professionally. This seemed like the case to me but I really wanted to go to the SHL, and if I wanted to do that I have to be the hardest working player in the world to achieve my new dream. I didn't know if I could do it but one day I read about NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon. For much of his youth he was originally a football goalkeeper. He only turned to basketball at the age of 17 when he joined a local tournament. A coach asked him to dunk the ball and he was not able to do it. But he was able to work on his skills and picked up new things while in college and later he became one of the greatest centers to ever play the game. When I read about him, it gave me inspiration and I thought to myself “I could be like him in the SHL”.

I remember one day in practice there was an SMJHL GM watching. After practice he introduced himself as then-Halifax Raiders GM Valtteri Bottas. I'm going to be really honest with you. I didn't know who he was and I thought he was a prick. I was just thinking “fuck that guy yo”. A few months later he became the GM who drafted me into the SMJHL. I am forever thankful to him as he gave me that opportunity to prove myself in a level of higher competition.

My first season in Halifax was not so special. I was given bottom 6 minutes because of many veteran players and some of the newer rookies ahead of me in the depth chart. This was fine for me as I used this as a learning experience and got to learn some new things from my teammates and coaches. I had a decent season with totals of 8 goals, 11 assists, 19 points, and a plus minus of 3. It was good for the time I was given. I learned a lot during that season. I was the all star game captain, and I won the Broadway award for Leadership. I really liked that and it was a good learning experience.

My second season was a bit different. Almost all the veterans and one rookie were called up to play for their respective SHL teams which left holes in our lineup. Despite this we were able to clinch top spot in the playoffs and I was given more minutes. I had a slow start to the season with an inability to score. Then something started to click. I was put on a line with Sepp Reiter and Brandon Gauthier. We eventually became the hottest line in the league scoring at a more than a point per game pace. At the end of that season I was able to score 19 goals, 18 assists, and 37 points as well as a plus minus of 18. With exception of losing to Montreal in the playoffs, that season was a blast. The GMs put huge faith in me by putting me in a top line role and I was able to prove to them that I belong in this league.

As for next season, it's been pretty much confirmed by Texas GM Geoffrey Allen that I will stay down in Halifax for at least another season. It was a decision I mutually agreed with as I do not feel I am ready for the SHL at this moment. My reasoning for this is that I want to stay down and have another chance to win that 4 Star Cup. My last two seasons we were very close to getting to the 4 Star Cup Finals but each time we fell short. This time around falling short isn't good enough. I want to go to the 4 Star Cup Finals and I want to win it whether that is in Halifax or somewhere else. This is probably my last chance to do it before I go to the SHL and I want to make it count. That cup is mine. Anything other than a cup will be failure for me.

That is my story. There will be more to tell but for now we shall see what the future holds for Zanarkand Abes whether I'm in the SMJHL, SHL, or out of the game altogether. You never know about the future. Right now I just want to concentrate on helping Norway win gold in the IIHF tournament. Bless.

To be continued...