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Slowpoke · 10-04-2016, 07:47 PM

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<div align="center">How We Play Hockey In Andreapol</div>

<div align="center">Vasily Horvat</div>
<div align="center">Kelowna Knights / Winnipeg Jets Prospect</div>

Most of my fellow players don’t know me from Adam. I’ve only been in North America for less than a year, I couldn’t expect them to. I also don’t play or talk a loud game. Everybody thinks that they are going to be the next great one. The next player to inspire a generation. Those are good aspirations for professional athletes, it keeps us driven. It’s just not who I was taught to be, or who I think I am. Let’s be real about the situation, I’m 5’11” 198lbs. I am no prototypical athlete. But again, that’s not who I was taught to be.

I was born in a town of about 9000 people, I am already the most famous person to be born there, and I haven’t even played a game in the SHL yet. It’s quiet where I am from. My father was stationed at Tver Oblast, and when he left the service he started working at a lumber mill in Andreapol. That’s when he met my mother, and the rest is history, here I am, but I’m not here for my life story, I’m here to talk about hockey.

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When people think of Russian hockey they think of Tretiak, Kharlamov, and Bure. Growing up in Russia is to be surrounded by these names, and compared to them daily. In Andreapol, they size you for your first pair of skates before you even learn to walk. It’s all we know. The fundamentals of the game are taught side by side with grammar and math. In school, geography is followed by stick handling. I remember growing up, my brothers and I would get up early and do skating drills until it was time to go to school, and then get back on the ice when we got home. Homework was our extracurricular activity.

It was during these times that I developed the game I play today. I am the smallest of my brothers and I was treated as such. After years of getting pushed out of the crease, bumped off the puck, and being sent to the ice face first I learned I wasn’t that prototypical athlete I spoke of earlier. This was when I learned about leverage, hustle, and tenacity. I lost to my brothers in those early years more than I won, but each day they all knew they were in a fight. As I matured and grew into my body my style of play never changed. I learned tough, systematic, and disciplined hockey, just like Tretiak and Kharlamov. To me, that is Russian hockey.

When I was drafted by Kelowna I knew there was going to be an adjustment style wise. Fortunately, the team has made it easier than I thought it would be. My rookie season was a dream come true, and it was over before I knew it. To share the ice with the likes of Dieter Dominique, Trevor Wilson, and Jason Aittokallio, to learn how they each play and see the game was a game changer. Unfortunately, my rookie year ended more with a whimper than with a bang. An early exit from the playoffs was a heart breaker for the entire team. We also lost the first face I saw when I landed in Kelowna, Dieter Dominique. It was time though as he was ready to move to the majors, it was bitter sweet. Now we are led by a different type of player, Alex Light. I am now one of the veterans who is charged with being a voice in the locker room, and a friendly face at the breakfast table.

Oh how things have changed in such a short time

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Growing up I used to watch the SHL on a tiny black and white TV that my father had in the garage. I watched the speed at which the game was played, the size of the players, and how ungodly good the goalies were, all the while thinking I was never going to be good enough. Now I am skating alongside some of the best hockey players on the planet. Am I one of the best? Probably not. I still get beat in the one on one battles more times than I win, but everybody I play against knows they were in a fight. I am working every day. Not for me, not for you, but for my parents. The ones who taught me what a work ethic is, and the ones who have given me everything.

I was drafted 51st overall by Winnipeg a year after joining Kelowna. Without having played a single game, a single shift, or even seeing the Winnipeg locker room I feel a small sliver of anticipation. I never thought I would get this far. Once I was being pushed to the ice by my blood brothers, and now I am getting helped off the ice by a different type of family. A lifelong dream has almost come to fruition. I just need to remember what those years on the ice back in Andreapol taught me.

Toughness.

Structure.

Discipline.

If I can just focus on these things long enough, ignore the loud voices and bright lights, I may start carving out a home in the SHL. It’s going to be a long road but the path is already paved and I have the best travel companions in the world.

Maybe someday, there will be another little boy in Andreapol, watching hockey on a small black and white TV with his father. Icing the bruises his brothers gave him from their morning skate, but this time the player he will be watching will have my name on their jersey.

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ToeDragon84 · 10-05-2016, 03:18 AM

Fuck yeah get that cheddah you are going to be one of the best if you keep doin it, man. Let's go Jets

Slowpoke · 10-05-2016, 06:36 AM

Quote:Originally posted by ToeDragon84@Oct 5 2016, 02:18 AM
Fuck yeah get that cheddah you are going to be one of the best if you keep doin it, man. Let's go 

Thanks man! Jets

ztevans · 10-05-2016, 08:19 AM

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