Rookie defenseman John Grossmann is just enjoying the ride. He has enjoyed his first season playing professional hockey for the Vancouver Whalers. However, it has not been all daisies and rainbows for the rugged 6'3" defender. After being selected in the 7th round, Grossmann though that he wouldn't go anywhere with his hockey career. He figured he should just pack it in.

"If you're selected past the first 3 rounds, chances are you're not going to be given a chance to show what you can really do. You also start doubting if you can do anything at all. You can give me a list of all of the guys who made it after the threshold, but I could produce a list three or four times as long of the guys who didn't."


Grossmann's post-draft picture

However, Grossmann pushed on, fueled by the knowledge of the people from around his area that have made great careers, and worked harder than he ever had in his life.

"I showed up to camp pretty out of shape. It wasn't that big of a deal to me before because I tend not to move much on the ice. But when I showed up to camp and saw that everyone had put in so much effort, I knew I had to try."

So try he did. He spent ridiculous amounts of time in the gym, getting bigger and stronger, and on the ice, improving his puck handling and shooting.


Grossmann doing some plyometrics to increase flexibility

"Everyone discounts me because of my lack of offense. I can understand that, but every team needs one of me. I just do my job and do my best to lead by example. That's what you're going to get out of me."

At season's start, the Whalers sputtered out of the gate. They just were not scoring, and Grossmann felt partially to blame. He felt like if he worked harder to improve his offense, his team wouldn't need to change it's lines every game. However, with the line changes, Grossmann found himself getting increased ice time on both special teams.

"Yeah, the start of the season wasn't fun. We just couldn't get anything done offensively. No one in the locker room knew what was the issue. We had two of the highest profile offensive guys in the league, but just couldn't score. Maybe it was the lack of a puck moving defenseman, I didn't know. All I knew is that I wasn't contributing. We weren't getting blown out every game, but we kept losing and just leaving our goalie out to dry."

Grossmann didn't know what he could do to help and the team fell to the bottom of the league with three wins in thirty or so games.

"I've always been a part of winning teams. Success everywhere I've gone, so the season's start was a shock to me. We were the laughing stock of the league. An easy W on everyone's calendars."

When the team needed a shakeup, GM Dooley provided one with the trading of soon-to-be superstar, Pajari. The trade came as a shock to everyone in the NWJHL community, including Grossmann.

"That trade definitely rocked my world a little bit. I mean, here was the highest drafted player in our organization, the best offensive player on a team that desperately needed offense, and he gets traded away. I'm sitting here thinking if he can get traded easily, so can I. So I worked on refining my game a little more and trying to take it to the next level. I had to show that I deserved to stay."

The trade deadline came and went, and Grossmann is still donning the blue and green. The trades that shook the NWJHL world seemed to have paid off for the Whalers, as they are seeing more wins in their column. Grossmann is even putting up points on a semi-consistent basis now.

"Galchenyuk is a great player. It just seems like he's everywhere at once. His vision is extremely good, and everyone on the team has benefitted from it. I think once the playoffs roll around, we could play a serious spoiler for a favorite. Everything is clicking right now for us. Yeah, we're still losing some games, but we're putting up shots and scoring goals. That's what is important. Losing happens to any team, it just happens more often when that team is putting up 10 to 15 shots a game like we were. Now that we're getting more opportunities, we're winning more games."

It's been an up and down season for the Whalers, but John Grossmann is just happy to be a part of it.

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765 words, 2 images

Nice article, althoughI noticed on thing, Brodin was the captain before, not Pajari :D

Originally posted by Syckez@Jun 4 2012, 08:08 PM
Nice article, althoughI noticed on thing, Brodin was the captain before, not Pajari :D

Whoops...I'll go change that.

Nice read man! good luck in the upcoming draft!

Originally posted by Tran@Jun 4 2012, 08:21 PM
Nice read man! good luck in the upcoming draft!

Thanks, man. Same to you