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***sve7en*** · 01-15-2020, 04:24 PM

[Draft Media bonus, 512 words base, complete]

“Hey dad, I wanna play hockey”

It was an innocent enough thing for a 6 year old to say.

I didn’t know at the time it would require overtime at the plant to get me some used skates for my 7th birthday. You took me across town so I could start getting used to them on my feet. Pretty soon, I didn’t need a hand holding me up, and soon after that I was begging you to take me to the rink just so I could practice my handles.

“Hey dad, the guy at the rink says I should play on a real team!”

You drove me across the countryside with my sister Sara asleep in the back seat for hours every summer, just so I could keep playing. Every team I made you followed religiously. You sunk your life into making sure I could keep going on this crazy path, and I realize now that it was partially to save yourself after we lost Ma.[/color]

I could feel your pride every time a coach talked to you, encouraging you to keep up what you were doing, that the sky was the limit. I also felt your pride shrink when you, Sara, and I moved to the smaller and smaller apartments, just so you could afford to get me on the ice.

“Hey dad, I’m declaring for the draft”

I know you think it’s too soon. I know I’m too young in your eyes to move to a different continent, but it’s what I need to do to reach that peak. My teammate Jack? His brother, the one that goes by his number, was showing my film to some American scouts. There’s people talking about me in American media, dad. He says they really like me, and there are analysts that think I could play right away. Jack’s brother even says some of the teams want to take me in the first two rounds, and that guy you like McKenzie just put me in his top 20 too. They don’t think my skating is weird, they like how much I love to play defense, and they know how good I am at scoring. I keep saying I want to be the best two-way player in the world, now’s the time to make it happen.

The national team thinks I can do it too, they’re excited for me, and think I could be playing with them some time soon. Imagine that dad, I could play for the national team in a few years. Think of what that would mean for Coach Muller, Boris, and everyone else that’s helped me along the way. What I can do with our family’s name on the back of one of those SHL jerseys.

Sara wants to apply to American universities next year, and when that happens I can bring you over too. You both put everything on the line for me these last 10 years. Now it’s my turn to do the same thing for you and Sara.

And for Ma.

See you soon, North America.

Jimmy Wagner

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