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Jepox · 01-27-2020, 07:37 PM

Nolan Sawchuk of the Simulation Hockey League professional team known as the Tampa Bay Barracuda was pretty much always great at hockey. From a young age he was known as a hockey phenom among his community in Selfoss, Iceland. He learned all of his skills from his father who played for years in the Swedish Hockey League. His family would eventually move to Reykjavík when he was 8 and he began to play up an age group. He was pretty great at other sports but he stood out among his peers on the ice. He would move to Canada at the age of 14 and would go on to play in the Simulation Major Junior Hockey League for the Kelowna Knights. He would get drafted to the Tampa Bay Barracuda later on and would become a consistent player. He is very fortunate that he was able to use his skills to earn a living for himself and his family.

159 words

*NorwegianDemon* · 01-27-2020, 07:42 PM

Anders grew up in Norway, while hockey is not one of the most popular sports there, Anders tarts playing early, when he was five years old. Child is Norway are encouraged to take part in a sports activity as soon as they can walk, so Anders had to choose one before he was old enough to start school. When he was four years old, Anders father he would sign up his kid for skating lessons, so Anders learned to skate at the local ring. After one of these training sessions, a young hockey team was scheduled to play and this is the first time Anders witness a game of this sport. After five minutes of watching, Anders told his father that he wanted to play this sport. Therefore, his father sign him up to the local hockey team the following years and this is how Anders start playing the sport that is now providing him a living.

157 words

*Fluw* · 01-27-2020, 08:26 PM

Patrice Nadeau grew up in Quebec City and was the first of his family to actually play the game of hockey. His family up until this point were only fans of the SMJHL team, Montreal Militia which at the time still existed as an organization before being rebranded to the Kraken during Nadeau's playing career. Growing up Nadeau idolized Brett Broadway of the Los Angeles Panthers and at 5 years old, S30, Nadeau put on the skates for the first time and was determined to make the SHL. Little Patrice had lot's of issues getting used to his position because he was quite small for his age group. That never stopped him however and he continued to push on battling through what the world threw at him and little did he know that he would grow up to make the SHL and it would allow him to live his dream. Coaches knew Nadeau was going to be a good player in the league by the time he was 16 years old as he was already projecting to be a star between the pipes and true enough in the future he would be the best goalie of his time in the SMJHL unfortunately his SHL career took a hit after multiple hip injuries kept him playing minimal minutes, and poor training performances from S49-S51.

dankoa · 01-27-2020, 08:39 PM

Being the son of SHL royalty in former West Kendall Platoon defenseman Kari Kekkonen, the pressure was always on Kaarlo to be a good player from the jump. When he first started playing hockey as a young child in Akaa, a small town in the south of Finland, Kaarlo didn’t prove to be as instantly great a player has his family would have hoped, and in fact, he struggled early on to stand out for any good reasons. From as soon as he could walk, his father had him with skates on and a stick in hand at the local rink. Kaarlo could never seem to skate with the kind of flow needed to accelerate and raise his game, something that plagued him until he was into his teens, and it looked for a while as if a career in hockey may be something unobtainable for the young Kaarlo. He also lacked a sense of purpose and urgency around the net, leaving him unable to score the kind of goals his team really needed of him. It was only after much intensive coaching from his legendary father, and some additional help from his uncle Kaapo that Kaarlo was able to start to show the promise needed to get where he is now. It’s important that one remembers the way you get somewhere might take longer, like it did for Kaarlo, but it’s okay as long as you make it in the end.

242 words

RainDelay · 01-27-2020, 10:22 PM

First, I gotta say I love the Anthology idea. I hope there’s a PT to reflect on your time on the site as a whole.

Anyways...

The first time Corey Thomas Carragher put on skates, it didn’t actually end up going very well. He was slipping and falling left and right. Not exactly the auspicious start that some hockey players have even in their toddler years. He wasn’t a naturally gifted hockey player. But that is ok. If there is one thing he knew from a young age, though, it was resilience. He had a lot of stuff thrown at him at a young age and it taught him how to be strong and how to be a fighter. He knew that if he put his head to it and kept grinding, he could reach the stars. The possibilities were endless, and once he honed his craft even further, the skill just began to take off. He was around 8 years old when he knew that his future was in hockey, and from there, the dream was closer to becoming a reality.

*thiefofcheese* · 01-27-2020, 10:31 PM

Written task: Write 150+ words about your player's early childhood as they began their long journey to the SHL. What was it like the first time they picked up a stick or put on the pads? Was your player already a naturally-talented superstar before hitting double digits in age? Was your player a bit slower to pick up the sport? Focus in this PT on the earliest portion of your player's life and their relationship with the sport of hockey during that time.

In Russia hockey is a normal part of many kids' lives. However, Ivan came from a rough area of town and his family did not have the money necessary for a structured hockey education. He started as a small kid on a pair of hand me down skates and working simple skating skills. He would then find various sticks and pieces of wood to use as a hockey stick and began to emulate some of the older kids in the neighborhood. It wasn't until his early teens when Ivan finally got a chance to play on a structured team and learn how hockey is really played in a group. This transition was tough for him as his skating skills and hands were great, but he had little concept of the size of a rink nor the players around him. These new concepts almost ruined the game for him as he felt it was overly restrictive. But he was mentored by an older kid and things began to fall into place.

Code:
170 words

Naosu · 01-27-2020, 11:43 PM

Ryan Shepard was introduced to hockey very early in his childhood. He learned to skate shortly after learning how to walk, and got a stick for his fourth birthday. He wasn’t a natural at this point but spent a lot of his time playing with his hockey gear when he wasn’t watching the SHL games his dad had on the tv. Being from Northern Alberta, little Shepard hounded his dad to take him to the outdoor rink when it wasn’t severely cold. There he would practice and ask his dad to give him coaching on how to improve. After his first winter with skates, Shepard became quite competent on them but still needed to work on stopping. During the summer months his dad would take him to the indoor rink sometimes, but most of the time little Shepard could only practice his stickwork in the driveway. This early on, he would practice shooting at an empty net, and carrying a puck around some pylons. He would move on from these simple drills quickly, however.

Rublic · 01-28-2020, 12:41 AM

This is an extra special PT for me as I have officially been around for 48 seasons. I have seen many different versions of the SHL with pros and cons to each. My current Player Atlas Rush has recently surpassed my person best in TPE as I have now surpassed my 863 tpe that I was able to amass with my first recreate back in season 17 as Bronsen Zerchai. While Atlas has been built very similarly to Bronsen Zerchai, Rush has been build has been a little bit more refined. Zerchai focused more on the defensive side of the game. The reasoning behind that is due to person business Zerchai would miss a significant amount of TPE throughout the season. For this reason I knew I couldn't build him to have a 200 ft game. I also realized everyone wants to get points so I will focus Zerchai to be a defensive specialist. While I still have a Very busy personal life I have put more effort in rounding out Atlas Rush's game. Puck possession is his best strength with a hardy ability to put the puck in the net. While in Junior he lead the league in hits for 4 seasons in a row with the 5th being his rookie season where he finished fourth in hits. Rush is now going through his second season with the Calgary Dragons where he is currently being utilized on the third line defending future hall of famer Esa Parmborg. Rush finished third on the Dragons in hits with 137 with roughly 14 minutes of ice time. He finished behind Dragons Stand outs in Nicky Pederson Jr @mstuk41 and the never aging Augment in @~~Mike Izzy~~ Rush looks to see his role increase this season as he was recently named the one of the Alternate Captains for the Dragons. Rush understands that providing more ice time is a process as the Dragons have a VERY strong offensive core and he knows that his time will come. He will be looking to contiunue to help the Dragons in any way he can with the ultimate goal of bringing the cup back to Calgary!

***Rankle*** · 01-28-2020, 01:25 AM

When James Ronlain was a young child, he never thought that hockey was gonna be the sport for him. His parents pushed baseball on him hard as it was certainly one of the least expensive sports he could play. But, one winter he told mom and dad he wanted to learn to skate, and from there it was history. He was never once the best player on any of the peewee teams, nor was he ever the worst. Just painfully average for years and years and years. But still he had plenty of fun and made tons of memories with all his friends as he went from league to league approaching high school. He honestly couldn't complain. Hockey when you're a young kid isn't really supposed to be about winning, it's supposed to be about building fundamentals and also having fun and with any luck, you'll come out a lifelong lover of the sport on the other end.

Code:
158 words

Chomp Chomp Water Dog Barracuda

Scarecrow Noises Scarecrows

***_Blitz_*** · 01-28-2020, 01:35 AM

The first time I put on skates, I was nine years old. I took two steps and fell right on my ass. Somebody yelled at me to get out of the path, since the newly-built ice rink at the Fish Hawk Rec Center was pushing capacity and I was in the way. The rink was the first new facility built there in ten years at the time.

I wobbled back over to the bench where my Dad was sitting with my sister, brother and our stuff. I sat down and started pulling at the laces. Dad looked up from tying Joey's skates and just said, "Quittin', Dan?"

He used to say that there's no shame in being a quitter except the shame you assign to yourself. If you gave it all you've got and did all you can, sometimes you have to quit. But if you haven't done that, have you really even started?

So I said "NO!", re-tied the lace I'd just gotten loose, and stomped out onto the floor.

I slipped, getting out, and fell on my face. I busted my lip on the ice. It made me mad. I've never taken bleeding out there well. I got up, realized that the crowd was too thick to skate right back to the gate, and had to skate all the way back around.

It was a slow shuffle, but I eventually made it back to the gate. It took multiple laps, on account of there being so many people, and by the time I was able to get back to my Dad, I had found a rhythm. He didn't comment on my bloody lip or the spots on the front of my hoodie. Nicole did, and she was the one who told Mom when we got home.

On our way out of the rink, a guy stopped us. He introduced himself as the youth hockey coach, handed me a flyer, and asked if I'd ever considered playing. I said "No," and he said, "Well you've got the basics down, it looked like. Skate, get back up, and keep working until there's an opening. You look like a hockey player to me."

I was sold, and the rest is history.

Winstobick · 01-28-2020, 02:46 AM

Sergei Potvinov grew up poor in the small town of Annopolis, Russia. His mother died when he was young and his father tried his best to make ends meet. In order for Potvinov to get involved in ice hockey, his father had to tie sharpened blades to the soles of his boots with fishing line and twine. For this very reason, skating was Potvinov's weakness. He realized early that he didn't have to skate as much if he stayed in goal, thus a goaltender was born.

Potvinov played against kids that were older and better than him while he was growing up. This helped him become better as he had to learn to keep up with the competition. However, being from the smallest town in Russia meant there was no exposure to SMJHL scouts and Sergei Potvinov was not drafted or even ranked for the draft. His father, seeing the talent that his son had, sold his small farm to pay for a plane ticket to Anchorage for a try-out with the Armada for the back-up position. Potvinov proved he had the talent and work ethic to improve and the Armada promptly signed him to be their back-up.

This helped put him on the radar of SHL teams and Potvinov was chosen in the 2nd round of the S52 SHL draft by the Chicago Syndicate.

majesiu · 01-28-2020, 06:02 AM

PBE Affiliation

JSS331 · 01-28-2020, 11:47 AM

PBE Cross post

Jenny · 01-28-2020, 03:41 PM

Olivier started playing hockey in Lyon when he was five. His parents wanted him to learn to skate, but he watched a hockey practice after his lessons when he was four and wanted to try it, so they let him the next year. He loved it like he loves basically any sport he watches or tries, and he was good at it, but he was much more into playing football - it's a much more popular sport in France and his mom was an avid fan. Some of Olivier's earliest hockey memories are being dropped off at the rink early on his dad's way to work at a bakery and walking to school from there. At 13, Olivier quit playing football entirely when his parents died and moved back to Wales with his grandmother, where opportunities for hockey were better because the SHL universe is weird. Three years later, he was drafted to Anchorage.

***frithjofr*** · 01-28-2020, 04:31 PM

Darnell Johnson began his long journey to the SHL in the most unlikely of places - On the not-so-mean streets of St Petersburgh Florida, playing Jr Soccer. Far from a stand-out at a young age, Darnell was always a little small for his size and a bit clumsy. As he aged his technical ability improved, but he always relied on that great base of stamina he built up from his youth. A coach always used to say "If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort," and that was a mantra Darnell took to heart. Work harder than anybody else, and that was the origin of the Darnell Johnson we all know and love. With an emphasis on high motor, grinding physical play and a lack of technical ability leading to an emphasis on clinical positioning, it was no wonder Darnell gravitated towards the back field, lining up on the wings in defense even from an early age.

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