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Rotticus Scott's journey to the Kelowna Knights.
#1
(This post was last modified: 04-04-2020, 06:34 PM by Rotti.)

***FIRST ARTICLE***


Born in Portland, Maine, Rotticus Scott the Third started his life on ice, both literally and figuratively. The frigid winters in Maine allowed the up and coming hockey star to become one with the ice, and get his skates on as much as he wanted. Growing up with a professional baseball player as his father, Rotticus had sports in his blood from a young age. According to his father, Rotticus Scott Sr., Rotticus III, or as his dad was called “Rotti”, was skating by the time he turned 4 years old. Even though his dad lived on the diamond, and his brother already being a major NSFL recruit, Rotticus fell in love with the Ice. At his home ice arena, the William Troubh Ice Arena in Portland, Maine, Rotticus often found himself hanging out on the rink, and if not on the rink, he was in the stands watching high school tilts. 

Starting out on the Maine Junior Pirates, Rotticus showed his affinity for the net early and often. Often called a puck-hog, or showoff by teammates and their parents, Rotti was blazing through the youth leagues all around New England. Kids will be stars at young ages for one reason or another, whether it be them being bigger, or faster than the kids around them. This was not the case with Rotti. He had a young growth spurt, hitting 6 feet at 12 years old, but he didn’t grow much past that. He was fast, but not to the point that he’d skate out of his blades, or cherry pick at the blue line when his team forced a turnover. Rotti was different, he was just better. 

By the time he hit high school, Rotti was lighting up the Maine high school hockey circuit. He wasn’t as dominant as he was at a younger age, but he was still in that upper echelon of players in the state. Growing into a tall, scoring winger, Rotti was now in the best shape of his life. While he was strong, and performing well, by the time his junior year of high school came around, Rotti hadn’t gotten the attention at the next level. No scouts from colleges, no tryout offers from junior teams. Even though Rotticus heard rumors of a new team playing at the Cross Insurance Arena across town, it was too much of a risk to stay in Maine against insufficient competition. This was an issue, and Rotticus Sr. knew he’d have to do something to get his kid to the next level. 

Rotticus Sr. made the tough decision of sending Rotti about 5 hours north, to Laval, Canada. He figured being in Canada, and playing against tougher opponents would allow Rotti to get the attention from next level scouts he’d need to play in the big league some day. It was tough for Rotti to make this adjustment, as he had to leave his friends back in Maine behind, and start a new life in Canada. Being just 16 years old, this was a tough task for the young prospect. Somewhat bittersweetly, though, Rotti could really only do one thing. That thing was getting out on the ice, and perfecting his craft. 

As expected, the competition in Canada was far more than it was in Maine. Rotti was now a good player, but far from the best player out there. He was putting numbers up, which caught attention, but he was no longer the big dog. This was hard for him to deal with, and made him think about what would’ve happened if he had just stayed in Maine. His team back in Maine had won a state championship, and his friends got to experience another championship, this time without Rotti. Rotti’s team in Canada was good, but hadn’t seen the same kind of success that he could’ve seen back home. Rotti graduated from school in Canada, and had now started preparing for the SMJHL entry draft.

The rumors Rotti and his family had heard a couple years back were coming to fruition, and his home town now had a team in the Simulation . The Cross Insurance Arena was now going to be home to the Maine Timber, the Simulation Major Junior Hockey League’s newest team. The SMJHL was always going to be Rotti’s first step to the Simulation Hockey League, the real big leagues, but now Rotti could be playing at home for his first few years of pro sports. His father had played in Miami, his brother was drafted by the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers for his minor league seasons, then the Colorado Yeti for his NSFL National Simulation Football League tenure. Now Rotti was thinking he might find his home, back at home.

Going into the draft events, Rotti was contacted by almost half the league for pre-draft interviews. He was training hard, playing as much as he could, and the SMJHL gm’s were taking notice. Early on Rotti was being projected as a 2nd round pick, if not late 1st. His dreams were coming true, he was going to be an SMJHL prospect in no time. Of course, though, everything doesn’t fall into place as it should, right? Rotti’s path to the pros was no different. After a long day of skating, Rotti was at the tail end of his session and while bombing down the ice, he ended up going right leg first into the boards. On impact, he immediately knew what happened. He’d broken his leg.

This was a killing blow for that possible 1st round projection Rotti was carrying. He ended up needing both screws and plates inserted into his leg, and even though he was a hockey player, he’d need to be out for up to 6 months. That would mean during the entire pre-draft season, Rotti would be crutching and scootering his way into meetings instead of his normal confident stride he carried. Rotti sunk into a rut here, thinking his pro career could be over before it even started. He watched his teammates play almost every night, just thinking about how much he wanted to be on the ice. 

The draft was in the back of Rotti’s mind, but his real need was to be back on the ice. Hockey was all he’d known, he devoted his life to the ice, and right now it seemed like this might all be for nothing. The draft was in a couple weeks and Rotti was just now starting to be able to jog on a track. His camp and him could do a lot of talking, but the last question would always be “so when can you skate again?”. He’d need to find a team who trusted him, and a team that knew his drive for competition and winning was more important than an injured leg.

Going into draft night, Rotti had heard some good news that teams were going to be picking him, no matter what. His worries of missing out on pro hockey were gone, and now his only worry was what team would be picking him? Teams were interested, but a lot of guys were going to go before him. His heart was set, no matter where he went, he wanted to play in Maine. Playing in his home town, at the arena where his team played in the Maine State tournament? What could be better! The Timber were scouting Rotti, and he thought everything was moving into place. There was another team on Rotti’s radar, though, the Kelowna Knights. 
Rotti had been in contact with Kelowna, and while he had zero clue where Kelowna was, he was intrigued. Some scouts in the head office along with the gm’s had been talking with Rotti consistently, and they were solidly his 2nd team. 

As it would happen, Kelowna ended up being his final destination. After Maine passed on the hometown kid 4 times, the Knights decided they had found their left winger of the future in the early third round. Upon arriving to Kelowna (and taking a few wrong left turns on his way there), Rotti was put to work. Almost immediately after signing his big bucks entry contract, Rotti was put on the ice. Rotti is talented, anyone can see it, but he’s extremely raw. Kelowna knows this, and have been working Rotti hard to try and acclimate him to the next level. Will their investment of a 3rd rounder work out? Only time will tell.


(1400 words double payout for first time media)

[Image: rotti.gif]

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#2

good article rotti

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#3

@dankoa thank u dank

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