Congratulations on being drafted! The hard work starts now, and your teammates are all ready to get to know you!.
Written option: You just walked into the lockerroom for the first time. How did your new teammates respond? Did they organize anything to welcome you and the other draftees to the team? Must include at least 150 words.
Graphic option: Make an image depicting a couple of members of your team hanging out together in the locker room. Must include the team logo somewhere.
Reward
3 TPE for doing the thing. (Just one of the things, not both.)
Only S73 SMJHL Rookies (S74 SHL Draftees) are eligible for this PT.
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Everyone loves pizza, there are a lot of different kinds but everyone loves all of them. Imo's Pizza is a favorite among the Newfoundland locker room. The creamy provel cheese, the sweet tomato sauce, the crunchy flaky crust. The Berserkers go crazy for it. So needless to say when Cracker Pizza walked in the room everyone lost their minds. People started arguing over what the best kind of Imo's pizza was. Some love meat lovers and some advocated for Hawaiian. The one thing they all agreed one was St. Louis style pizza is the best pizza style there is. There was a party organized around Cracker Pizza entering the locker room for the first time. People came up to him crying and thanking him for joining the team and gracing them all with his presence. Cracker being ever the nice guy he is, brought toasted raviollis for everyone. To really show them that warm welcome his hometown of St.Louis is known for.
From the second Napoleon and fellow rookies entered the locker room, the room's energy exploded with cheers and beers! The coaches and GM really went out of their way to make the new additions to the team feel like they are truly part of the team now. After a few bevvies everybody started to get better acquainted with the newbies and began asking about their experiences before the league and how they came about getting involved in the SMJHL. The following morning the work truly began, coaches had me running lines for what seemed to be hours. Coach really wanted to test my stamina and see how quick and fast I can be. After a quick meal and light nap, we hit the film room... of myself. The primary topic of discussion was my affinity to seek contact with a common tendency to end up in a brawl. We agreed that in order to win as a team, I would have to lean away from starting fights and instead offered a solution... get my hits in a smart and legal way. So that's where I will live on the ice, in the back waiting... stalking.
Benny walks into the Anchorage locker room, his future in the SHL Draft uncertain. He is a young player, in an unfamiliar country, doesn't know English, and is unsure of how to respond to his teammates. His teammates ask him "Your name - like the restaurant?"
His interpreter, Shinji Takahashi, translates. Benny mentions that he was named after the famous skateboarding trick, the Benihana.
"Benny, isn't that more of an English-sounding name?"
Takahashi translates.
Benny states that his name was changed upon arrival in America and that his name in Japan is actually "Tetsuya Hikaru" but he wanted his teammates to have an easier time pronouncing his name, so he chose Benny, short for Benjamin.
His teammates slap him on the back, direct him to his locker, where he finds a note welcoming him to the team, written in both English and badly-written though well-intentioned Japanese. He and Takahashi-san laugh at the attempt, and he thanks his team for the warm welcome.
Dim lights, early in the morning in the Great Falls practice facility. It's the day after the draft; foggy, kind of chilly. The doors to the locker room crack open slowly, and a waft of gorgeous 1-of-1 scent drifts into the room, lighting it up and everyone inside of it. What's this? Such olfactory beauty! It simply must be newly drafted superstar goaltending prospect Yves "Stinky" D'Odeur!!
Stinky steps confidently into the room, realizing he is gifting every person he walks by with the nasal experience of a lifetime, and tosses his gear into an empty stall. There's a silent tension in the room, only broken when D'Odeur says "SMELLS LIKE A BUNCH OF WINNERS IN HERE", prompting the room to erupt into anarchic joy.
It's a humble story, but true nonetheless. They say that there's no 'I' in 'team', but there's a 'me' at the end of 'perfume' and that's all that really matters at the end of the day,
After stumbling into the Raptors’ locker room a whole day late, Shadow Fenix was expecting the party to be over. The draft had happened last night, but he was out drinking, and didn’t see the voicemail from the team’s general manager until the next morning.
The party, however, was just getting started, or more accurately, a second party was just getting started now that all the rookies were here. Streamers exploded, people cheered, and Fenix was warmed by many welcomes and hellos. He smiled to himself, knowing that this was going to be his team for the next few years.
He found the locker with his name on a plate above, and took a second to bring it all him. The hard work, the dedication, and the long hours on the ice all brought him here. It wasn’t the SHL, but it didn’t matter to Shadow Fenix. He grabbed the beer that was handed to him, took a swig, and exclaimed “Biggest bunch of beauts in the league. Let’s win it all…” and the rest is history.
There are certain cultural norms and taboos that surround the locker room in practically any team sport that, unless authority figures work to stamp out, will swirl in like the mist and settle: veterans get first choice of lockers and seats if changes come about; rookies and youngsters do the menial work; nobody touches the stereo without expressed permission from the captain, and so on, so forth.
Many of these cultural traditions are, unfortunately, North American in origin. And Finland is not North American.
So it came to be that when the doors to the Detroit Falcons complex were formally opened at seven a.m, the early birds of the team walked into the locker room to find a severely jet-lagged Simo Jaaskelainen snarling along to what he'd later explain was famed Finnish death metallers Children of Bodom, having parked his bags squarely in Wayne Holloway's spot. Second impressions are just as important as the first, right?
Given that Emil Karlsson was lucky enough to play some games for the Detroit Falcons at the end of last season as a free agent, his welcome into the locker room as a draftee was a little bit different to everyone else's, but still largely the same. The veterans and returning players on the team made a real effort to make everyone who'd been drafted there feel welcome and organised a few poker nights and the like during training camp to help ease everyone into the team. Disappointingly for Emil however, his games played last season didn't exclude him from taking part in the rookie dinner, where all of the draftees had to pitch in and buy a rather expensive meal for the entire team at one of the priciest restaurants in the city. I won't say how much it cost in total, but all of the rookies were living cheaply for the rest of the week afterwards. Although it was pricey, it was a good bonding experience and it looks like all the rookies have really warmed to the team and the locker room already.
Bog Damsel struts into the St. Louis locker room, completely unaware of what waited for her on the other side. She'd spent the last few days wallowing in the muck of a farm, learning all she could about the ways of scarecrows before her initiation to professional hockey. Not only that, but she took the time to fight over three dozen scarecrows (and attempt to fight at least a dozen crows) just in case.
In the end, the scarecrow locker room wasn't exactly what she expected. As soon as she got there she wasn't met with glorious, immortalized combat - but a delicious cake, with party hate No, not really. The locker room was abuzz with last seasons success, but overall her new teammates had trepidations about her ability to contribute to another title. They were welcoming, but immediately pointed out her high top converse covered in muck, lack of skates, and inability to hit a puck of any kind. But she'd prove them wrong...with time.
When Roze and every other QCC rookie got the locker room the atmosphere was great. Roze felt welcome instantly. Roze doesn’t speak english the best but his Latvian D partner helped translate some things, and when he didnt know something Roze would try to translate it. Roze also met the new twins playing for QCC, and he already know’s he’ll have an extremely hard time telling them apart.
“You think we get put on the same line?” Roze asked Tymer in Latvian
“Probably. Would be fun to play with you.” Tymer responded
“What’re you guys talking about?” One of the twins asked as the other walked up to
“Latvian.” Roze replied
“No no. They didnt ask what we were speaking, what were speaking about. we’re talking about if we’ll play with eachother.”
The conversation continued as the rookies all got to know eachother better. Roze could already tell that the chemistry on this team would be a heavy strength going into this season and the ones after.
09-28-2023, 08:41 AM(This post was last modified: 09-28-2023, 08:42 AM by ibuprofenaddict. Edited 1 time in total.)
Mom,
I know its only been a few days since you left, but i wanted to update you on what I've been up to. I chose to just email you because its late at night back home and i wanted to be able to get some of my thoughts down without keeping you awake with an endless text stream!
Today we had our first team event and practice! I showed up promptly and met a lot of the guys in the lobby where the team had a healthy breakfast laid out to welcome everyone back and introduce the new rookies. We each had to stand up and say something interesting or unique about ourselves, so I told them about how you and dad used to live in America but now you do the beer thing in Europe. The team demands samples, even though we're supposed to be 21 here to drink it. After the meet and greet it was time for our first skate. There was a god awful screeching coming from the locker room, so we decided to head that way to get the claiming process underway. Remember Simo? He was sitting in our Goalie's locker, and had the stereo just blasting this obscure Finnish death metal, i think the band was called Kids of Bedlam or something, i didn't quite catch it. That guy is a hoot, although the older players were quick to set him straight - apparently rookies cant touch the stereo.
Anyway i got my locker sorted (its in the corner of the room and lights above it are burned out - rookie problems) and we hit the ice. Of course, i forgot to take off my skate guards off and i immediately fell and now everyone calls be Bambi. How embarrassing. The good news is, I was the first rookie to get a nickname, so at least everyone knows who i am now.
After that, I think i skated ok but i made a lot of mistakes on the puck and felt like i had stone hands out there. These guys are quick, it'll take some time to adjust for sure.
Emil just walked in and said we're going to some fancy restaurant tonight called Grey Ghost as a team. They have little corndogs made using craft bologna - we'll see what that's all about.
The team was silent, and slack-jawed the first time I entered the locker room. They had never seen a humanoid peanut before, let alone one that was good enough to play hockey. I was used to it though after having spent plenty of time on the road as a "freak show" attraction, the gasps of wonder...and horror sometimes have become a null sensation. Thankfully the General Managers were on top of things and were in there to help break the ice and introduce me to the team. After some obvious questions about how I walk and talk, or get dressed or where I learned to skate at...and then one really weird question about peanuts and bathrooms (I still haven't figured why that one was asked)...the team was pretty accepting. After all, in the main SHL league we have had physical walls made of brick, otters, walruses and other things able to play so they in turn come to the same conclusion: Why not a peanut?
Yukon lockeroom was kinda wierd at first but it fastly made nice and i got into it really fast and it was really fun and stuff i can't wait for the season to start so i can talk in the locker room with the malmutes about it also it was really fun to first chat outside of the draft class and i have been accepted fastly into the malumetes with a lot of help and stuff thanks yukon
The lockeroom was also kinda not what i expected from the talk with everyone i expected it to be a bit like more umm how should i say this a bit more active and stuff but its fun chatting there and posting pictures of the hockey games i go to and some others seem to really like it as well and stuff so its really fun but sadly its not that active
As Ace Guilded tentatively steps into the Timber's locker room for the first time, there's a moment of collective surprise that ripples through the team. It's clear that this rookie has more years under his belt than some of his teammates life spans. The veteran players, some of whom could easily pass for Ace's younger siblings, exchange amused glances. One jokingly asks, "Do you remember the days of black-and-white TV, rookie?" In the midst of the playful banter, Ace finds his assigned locker adorned with a mix of nostalgic and humorous items: a vintage hockey card from the '80s, a "Back in My Day..." plaque, and a pair of reading glasses with a note that reads "For the fine print in the game plan." Chuckling to himself, Ace appreciates the humor in the locker room but also looks forward to showing what he's got on the ice.
Jayba1t![[Image: Cracker_Pizza_sig.png?ex=6516546d&is=651...bb4003576&]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/731624139688902689/1156811782833324062/Cracker_Pizza_sig.png?ex=6516546d&is=651502ed&hm=85177e9aa21de3f23a7c19604990dee4d012444b3f5ccc02608b07abb4003576&)
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No, not really. The locker room was abuzz with last seasons success, but overall her new teammates had trepidations about her ability to contribute to another title. They were welcoming, but immediately pointed out her high top converse covered in muck, lack of skates, and inability to hit a puck of any kind. But she'd prove them wrong...with time.
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