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Bruins10 · 04-15-2019, 01:12 PM

DOUBLE MEDIA FOR DRAFT ARTICLES

As we slowly slowly approach the SMJHL draft, we take a closer look at one of the weirder players to come onto the scene, Kaspars Claude.
Some of you may not know this, but Kaspars Claude is the billet brother of Theo Morgan. Keep this in mind as we come back to the story of Kaspars Claude, as this will play a crucial part in totally knowing who Kaspars Claude really is.

It all started back in the homeland of Latvia, in one of the major cities of Ventspils. Kaspars Claude is son of a farmer and a stay at home mom. She, in her past life, was a professional figure skater and is how Kaspars Claude learnt how to skate and gained interest into ice hockey. During the winters, they would tear down their corn field and just create a huge ice rink. No boards, no ending to the beautiful pond that they created on their land. Kaspars would spend his days and nights there, and especially since he was homeschooled, he had a lot more free time on his hands to enjoy the great outdoors. After about 8 years of just getting taught hockey during his classes of Physical Education, the family decided to enroll Kaspars into hockey in their town. Unfortunately, they did not have enough money to pay for the registration so Kaspars father decided to sell his microwave to meet the quota.

Here, playing organized hockey is where it all began. He quickly became friends with Mikelis Ozolins and Calogero Crudelli and the 3 became inseparable. They would always be together and they would all spend their winters coming over to the Claude family house to play hockey on the beautiful rink that they had in the backyard. Although Kaspars Claude’s father was not a wealthy man or even a smart man with any school education, he came up with a great idea. He proposed to the association of Ventspils hockey that they could use his rink for practice in exchange for free registration for his son and for a new microwave. The association agreed and this made everything possible for the organization as well as Kaspars. Kaspars quickly gained publicity because of this generous deal that his father made. People would come by the farm to watch the practices and see the skills that the team had and all 3 of the friends were the ones that stood out from the crowd.
Some of you may not know this, but minor league hockey in Latvia and minor league hockey over in North America is completely different. See, in North America, associations will build teams and will have a regular season as well as tournaments to play over the course of a calendar season. Over in Latvia, you only practice throughout the whole season, working on skating and puck skills, and play a couple of tournaments over the whole season. Rather than spending time and wasting it really playing meaningless games, they focus on the development of the player first. This is a major part as to why the Latvians have a great development system.

Popularity grew within the Latvian communities and people wanted to sign their kids up for the Venstpils camps. They knew that they were getting added ice time through the corn farm arena in the winter. Kaspars Claude’s father decided to charge the association for the ice time as they were getting big from it. They knew that they needed to keep the farm arena or else they feared losing many of their kids. It was the size of 3 hockey rinks which allowed the school to have 3 practices going on at once. Kaspars Claude’s father demanded to receive money of a price per person, allowing him to save up a lot of money. His great character also allowed him to gain clients during the summer, turning a pretty average farm into money making machine, not having enough crops for his own use. He was becoming a wealthy man, and even decided to invest in a zamboni so that the ice could be perfect for the kids and they would not risk injury during practices.
Come tourney time, the Ventspils Farmers core of Mikelis Ozolins, Calogero Crudelli and Kaspars Claude was too much to handle for most teams. Except one. There was only one team that was able to contain the 3 and that was the Jelgava Jokers. Their coach was none other than Karlis Skrastins, ex-NHLer with a total of 832 games played under his belt, totaling 130ish points in that span. He had a particular young man under his wing, and that was winger Joe Kerr. Although the games at the tournaments between the two teams would always be competitive, the families of Kerr, Crudelli, Ozolins and Claude became friends in the stands, usually drinking during the games and getting drunk during the tournaments, cheering for both teams and just making sure that their kids remained happy playing the sport of hockey. What people didn’t know was that Kerr’s family was one of Claude’s biggest clients through the corn crops. They even decided to bring Joe Kerr around the hockey camps every now and then, Karlis Skrastins decided to come by and teach hockey camps every week or so as well. They knew that the heart of Latvia would soon depend on the 4 superstars and everyone wanted to make sure that their development was not hurt because of egos or bad blood.

Fast forward a couple of years and the Claude family had to make a tough decision when it came to their young boy. They knew that he had the talent to make it far in the world, but they didn’t know where to send him. There was the choice of sending him to Russia in the KHL. There were multiple leagues in Europe like Germany or Switzerland and even Finland or Sweden. And then, the major one of North America. Various leagues like the SHL, the VHL, the NHL and even the likes of the AHL or ECHL. Thoughts of also sending him to school in the NCAA came to mind but they left the decision up to their son. Weighing the options, the corrupt and dangerous lifestyle in Russia was the easy elimination for Kaspars Claude to make. Europe would have been a great decision, especially because the countries like Finland and Sweden were relatively close to home. Kaspars would have been able to stay in touch with his family and even have his parents come and visit them in some games. What really sold Kaspars Claude to coming over for the SHL was the history of Latvians in the league and the core of young Latvian blood that the league possesses. Also, Kerr had already declared for the S47 SMJHL draft and had told Claude about it all, he even informed some General Managers in the league about the 3 core players on the Farmers team that Kerr used to play against in the tournaments growing up. The league quickly sent scouts over to see the farmer practices and witness the youngsters in hand. The only league that gave that much attention to the 3 players is what sold them all on coming over to North America to join the promising Simulation Hockey League. The only unfortunate part was not being able to play on the same team. Calogero Crudelli was the most unfortunate, with his contract being terminated because of a league violation that the team did during the signing process. Mikelis Ozolins came to La Belle province, being attracted to the poutine and to the famous partying lifestyle in Montreal as well as the world renowned Chez Pare. Kaspars Claude took the wrong airplane and was lucky enough to find a billet family where Theo Morgan was a part of the Vancouver Whalers. In need of a job and badly, Theo offered Kaspars money to drive him around the city and be his own personal chauffeur. One day at practice, the Whalers were missing a guy and asked Theo if Kaspars could come onto the ice for a skate, filling in. After seeing his talents, they realized they had a future star in their hands and signed him for their playoff run. The run did not go as planned but Kaspars gained the exposure he needed, making noise for himself right before the draft and also finding out the Latvia has decided to add streaming of SHL games back in their country. Ozolins, Kerr, Crudelli and Claude are all very proud of the development of Latvia in the SHL.

As draft day approaches, Kaspars will try to soak it all in. A lot of General Managers have contacted him about interest of them calling out his name. Kaspars does not care; he just wants his dream to come true. He knows that whatever team decides to take him in the draft will be gaining a superstar defenseman for years to come. And as soon as he puts the pen to paper, Kaspars will sponsor the family’s farm arena to make sure that the facility is upgraded and that a weight room is added and the family could also make money on Gym Memberships.

From myself to all other S47 Junior draft class members, I wish you all the best of luck in the draft and hope you are all as excited as I am for it. As for the General Managers, I hope you do not make the mistake on passing up the likes of Claude, Crudelli and Ozolins. They will be names mentioned in the league for quite a lot of seasons.

WORD COUNT: 1612

dmills3 · 04-15-2019, 01:27 PM

#StillBetterThanTheo

mastorino · 04-15-2019, 01:31 PM

wow very sick article 10/10

*Otrebor13* · 04-15-2019, 01:55 PM

Stud

Bruins10 · 04-15-2019, 01:55 PM

04-15-2019, 01:27 PMdmills3 Wrote: #StillBetterThanTheo

Get this trending people

04-15-2019, 01:31 PMmastorino Wrote: wow very sick article 10/10

Feeling the love Heart

SecondSucks22 · 04-15-2019, 01:57 PM

This isn't true at all, we found you napping in the back of Theo's car

*Otrebor13* · 04-15-2019, 02:06 PM

04-15-2019, 01:57 PMSecondSucks22 Wrote: This isn't true at all, we found you napping in the back of Theo's car

FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT. Nobody would have believed it if I said it

Bruins10 · 04-15-2019, 03:03 PM

It makes for a better story GUYS!!

SecondSucks22 · 04-16-2019, 02:14 PM

04-15-2019, 03:03 PMBruins10 Wrote: It makes for a better story GUYS!!

If you want a better story, get a better nights sleep so Morgan doesnt have to loan out his back seat for napping!

Bruins10 · 04-16-2019, 02:17 PM

04-16-2019, 02:14 PMSecondSucks22 Wrote:
04-15-2019, 03:03 PMBruins10 Wrote: It makes for a better story GUYS!!

If you want a better story, get a better nights sleep so Morgan doesnt have to loan out his back seat for napping!

My billet family has me sleeping on the floor or in the car so no good nights sleep for me until i sign my contract

SecondSucks22 · 04-16-2019, 02:18 PM

04-16-2019, 02:17 PMBruins10 Wrote:
04-16-2019, 02:14 PMSecondSucks22 Wrote: If you want a better story, get a better nights sleep so Morgan doesnt have to loan out his back seat for napping!

My billet family has me sleeping on the floor or in the car so no good nights sleep for me until i sign my contract

God forbid you stay with a teammate while you are in Vancouver

Bruins10 · 04-16-2019, 02:19 PM

04-16-2019, 02:18 PMSecondSucks22 Wrote:
04-16-2019, 02:17 PMBruins10 Wrote: My billet family has me sleeping on the floor or in the car so no good nights sleep for me until i sign my contract

God forbid you stay with a teammate while you are in Vancouver

Someones jealous?

SecondSucks22 · 04-16-2019, 02:20 PM

04-16-2019, 02:19 PMBruins10 Wrote:
04-16-2019, 02:18 PMSecondSucks22 Wrote: God forbid you stay with a teammate while you are in Vancouver

Someones jealous?

Nope, i have an apartment, and wouldnt let you stay with me

Bruins10 · 04-16-2019, 02:25 PM

04-16-2019, 02:20 PMSecondSucks22 Wrote:
04-16-2019, 02:19 PMBruins10 Wrote: Someones jealous?

Nope, i have an apartment, and wouldnt let you stay with me

@everyone is this what you call a 1st Overall pick. what a bad teammate and leader
- reputation

jason97 · 04-16-2019, 03:33 PM

AND STILL a better love story than Twilight.

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