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JumpierPegasus · 09-15-2020, 11:38 AM

Saturday night clouds fell on Mississauga, Ontario in the alley behind the Skyzone on what proved to be a chilly late summer evening. GM's huddled close to each other for warmth, ignoring social distancing protocols as the commissioners droned on about the rules of the draft and when it would commence. Nothing would dampen the spirits of an SHL GM on a night such as this. For some franchises this was time to change their futures and turn their teams around. For some General Managers, they had no idea why they had to be there the entire time behind the Skyzone if they were just going to be picking 30th overall. But we all know why we do it.

The love of the game.

The love of the game that can get in the way of better judgement sometimes. The clock crested 6pm in Mississauga as the clouds got thicker. The sun was no longer visible, and shadows were cast over Nour Harrak's face as he gave his final opening remarks to the GM's on the draft and what the commissioners are doing. His voice boomed out "hey welcome to the Nour Harrak Variety Hour, I'm Nour and we're gonna be talking about the SHL". Silence overcame the draft floor as GM's murmurs stopped, all phone calls ceased ringing, and all eyes were on Nour.

"Let's get started then, shall we?"

The variety hour was a lot shorter than many GM's anticipated, with Nour stepping off the stage and letting Trella and the Tampa Bay Barracuda know that they had 5 minutes to make a selection. 5 minutes was even too long for them, they knew exactly who they wanted. Trella approached the stage and announced his first pick in the S56 SHL Entry Draft is Aleksander Kozlov. With that announcement, the doors to the Skyzone opened up and Kozlov ceased his bouncy fun time with the other draftees. Kozlov braced himself on the bouncy material of the trampoline park, which made fellow draftee Zdenko Baranek lose his balance and fall. An embarrassing site as you witness GM's furiously scribbling down on their draft sheets and moving Baranek lower on their lists.

Kozlov put on the Barracuda jersey being the coveted first overall pick, and went to sit down at the draft table with the Tampa GM's. They had several more picks to come, and Kozlov was important in their ultimate desire to select the best S56 had to offer.

Up next was Toronto. The Toronto North Stars are one of the oldest SHL franchises, being in the league since day 1, being run by one of the most well respected members of the SHL in JKrever, and showing the league exactly how you win one championship in 55 seasons in the league. Tonight was no different.

Robert Lokitonov approached the microphone. A silence erupted over the draft floor. Moments before the draft, rumours swirled that Toronto would select Evangelos Giannopoulos with their second overall pick. People weren't confused, but they were concerned. Giannopoulos is a troubled figure within the SHL, likely one of the worst selections you could possibly make. If he didn't go 2nd to Toronto it was likely he wouldn't go at all.

"With the 2nd overall selection in the S56 SHL Entry Draft, the Toronto North Stars are proud to select defenseman from the Detroit Falcons...

Evangelos Giannopoulos!
Welcome to #StarGang"

Lokitonov's voice boomed from the microphone across the dead silent floor. Covid had led to this draft taking place without fans therefore everything was quiet. The only non-SHL member was the Skyzone employee taking his smoke break in the back alley. He scoffed at the events unfolding behind his place of employment, flicked his cigarette out, and waltzed back inside to his job he hated. Anything was better than watching Giannopoulos go 2nd overall. His disgust echoed throughout the alley, as faces of GM's turned up at the announcement of who Toronto wanted to lead their charge into the future. It was Evangelos.

Evangelos ceased his bounce, walking up to the podium with vigor and strength and confidence never seen before. He approached the microphone... No draftee ever approaches the microphone. He brushed aside Lokitonov who was presenting the jersey to Giannopoulos at the time as he approached the mic. Vape in his mouth he took a long drag and blew several smoke rings into the crowd of shocked GM's.

"I got cats on my line and it's jarring, guns in the whip tell bro dem park it"

His words rang out and he would knock the podium over as a flourish to end his bars. GM Collin Gibbles, who had the next selection in the draft, fell off of his chair in surprise and disgust as Evangelos's words boomed out across the draft floor. Nour Harrak's Variety Hour had some flavour, and it was thanks to Giann. He grabbed the Toronto jersey and instead of donning it, he threw it over his shoulder like it was a crodie who had hit it a little too hard that night. Giann gave two middle fingers to the crowd of GM's, tossed his jersey in his bag, and went back inside to get a bounce in. He did not return to the table with Toronto.

Toronto's 2nd overall pick was supposed to be a stud, but at what cost. At what cost is it to become a crodie to Evangelos Giannopolous? Sometimes that cost is too much. Toronto found that out the hard way by selecting him 2nd overall in the S56 draft. A short time later they would move Giannopolous to the only team that could contain such crodicious spirit in Hamilton, where he will likely remain for the rest of his career. Is he the worst 2nd overall pick in SHL history? No. I'll go one further. He's the worst pick in SHL history period, regardless of selection number. Only time will tell if I'm right, but I am.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

JSS · 09-15-2020, 01:11 PM

bad article

***Ragnar*** · 09-15-2020, 01:12 PM

terrible article. the title and the fact that it's not about me are very contradicting.

Sigs by Me, Merica, High Stick King, Rum_Ham, Jess, vulfzilla, enigmatic, and Carpy

❤!! RIP to the big homies 701 and Mac !!❤

Jala · 09-15-2020, 01:18 PM

I always enjoy your medias JP. Hope you enjoy Hamilton!

JumpierPegasus · 09-15-2020, 01:36 PM

09-15-2020, 01:11 PMJSS Wrote: bad article

bad member

dankoa · 09-15-2020, 01:40 PM

takes some kind of guy to say he wants a team to draft him to then ask out two days later to save the team he actually wanted to go to having to trade up in the draft

FlappyGiraffe · 09-15-2020, 02:38 PM

09-15-2020, 01:40 PMdankoa Wrote: takes some kind of guy to say he wants a team to draft him to then ask out two days later to save the team he actually wanted to go to having to trade up in the draft

That's pretty scummy if true. Probably would have fell to 10 anyway if he was upfront about it

JSS · 09-15-2020, 02:42 PM

09-15-2020, 02:38 PMFlappyGiraffe Wrote:
09-15-2020, 01:40 PMdankoa Wrote: takes some kind of guy to say he wants a team to draft him to then ask out two days later to save the team he actually wanted to go to having to trade up in the draft

That's pretty scummy if true. Probably would have fell to 10 anyway if he was upfront about it

too bad it's not true ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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