Ima Noobie walked towards the Prospect Room. A line of people stood there, shaking his hand, patting him on the back.

"Good luck, young man."

"Can't wait to see where you end up."

"Don't worry. There's no mayo in there."

He shook hands and thanked each of the scouts for inviting him to their facilities and taking the time to get to know him. What had once started as a publicity stunt had somewhere along the way become something of a dream. He started to fall in love with the idea of playing hockey.

He walked inside the Prospects Room and saw many familiar faces. His frenemy Darby Reznor. The goalie QCCBOT4. Christina Fantobens. Teddy Bloos. Jeremy Snugglemuffin III.

They were all on edge, waiting to see what was about to happen.

Dr Pepper, Coca-Cola, 7-Up and Big Red bottles sat inside an ice-filled Styrofoam box. Multiple pizzas with all sorts of different toppings were laid across fold-out tables. He grabbed a Dr Pepper and a slice of pepperoni and took a seat.

A 55-inch flatscreen tv was set up on the far wall for everyone to watch.

The Commissioner of the SMJHL was approaching the podium.

"Hello everyone and welcome to the S79 SMJHL Rookie Draft!"

Ima Noobie's mind drifted back to the movie Miracle. To the scene where Kurt Russell yelled at the injured player, "I want you to be a hockey player!" And the injured guy yelled back, "I am a hockey player!"

Noobie looked at the screen as the Commissioner started to introduce certain key people in the front office of the SMJH and thought about those five words:

I am a hockey player.

is there pineapple on the pizza?

 

is there pineapple on the pizza?

That was part of the selections, yes.