He skated past centre ice with the puck on his stick, beating the forward who had difficulty skating backwards. He maintained control in the offensive zone but got tied up with one of the defenders. In the corner of his eye he noticed another figure, wearing black and orange, approaching him, seeming to make an attempt to pincer him off of the puck. From the blue line one of his teammates decided to cheat and help him out, knocking the opposing d-man away from the puck. Luck is not always in our favour, however, and the puck managed to escape both men wearing white, green and gold, ending up solely on the stick of the final opposing defence-man. He skated the puck out of his zone, with his forward line-mate catching up and joining him. The team previously on the attack was now caught out of position, with only one defence-man ready to intercept. A two-on-one was imminent and with the players already having their energy exerted, there was no chance they could catch up. The d-man chose to slide in an effort to block the passing lane, leaving a single shooter and the goalie facing off against each other. The goalie went down, and the skater, who hadn't yet committed, managed to beat the goalie, high glove side. And then, just like that, it was over. Kelowna had lost to St. Louis, game seven in overtime. Dick Clapper could only watch, with tremendous disappointment, as he lost the puck, and then his man, and had been unable to catch up or take him out or do anything to stop the two-on-one. Here, on the ice, in this league, there were no prizes for second place; only the thought, the constant reminder of coming so close and not being able to finish. 

He woke up, abruptly, to the sound of a nuclear alarm blaring in his ears. His roommates hated his alarm clock, but it was the only tone that could consistently wake up him. Exiting his bedroom and making his way to the bathroom, he saw fellow New England, and previous Kelowna teammate Guy Zheng eating breakfast in the kitchen. 

"It happened again last night," said Dick.
"You have to let it go," replied Zheng, "It's been 3 seasons since we lost."

He knew Guy was right, but how was he supposed to let it go. If he hadn't taken the chance, and just followed the coaches systems, they would have maintained control of the puck and potentially set up a scoring opportunity later in the game.

"What's done is done now, but are you ready for the big day today?" inquired Zheng.
"What are you talking about?" responded Dick.
"Today's the SHL draft! S50! Hopefully a bunch of young knights will get picked early. I thought we would go watch it together," asked Zheng.
"Yea sure, it sounds like a plan. Good call," answered Clapper.

The pair then wandered down to their local watering hole, Taphouse (if you know you know) and sat themselves down at the bar. All the TV's in the establishment had the draft feed live, straight from the source. The draft was set to start in a few minutes and all the pre-draft activities and pieces were all wrapping up. There was a lot of excitement and everyone was waiting to hear who would go first overall in Season 50, a big number and a big draft for the league. 

Was it going to be Ryan Shepard? A first generation player, new to the league but immediately coming in and making a big impression amongst us lessers? Or was it going to be Adam Barron? An equally new player, coming in and making an even bigger impact in the league. There was even the possibility of a more experienced and revered player being taken; Bobby Lane was a veteran user, one who had a player who previously had made it into the Hall of Fame. 

In the end, it ended up being Barron, selected first overall by the Winnipeg Jets. Dick Clapper did not see it coming at all, but Zheng was the complete opposite. 

"Wow! I thought it was going to be Shepard who got the call," mentioned Clapper.
"Really? How could you not tell? That dude was already amateur scout for his SMJHL team!" replied Zheng.
"Well, there are basically two school of thought," answered Dick. 
"Bro everybody knew, literally everybody. There are players that haven't even been drafted yet that knew about this before you," said Zheng.
"Well," Clapper tried to say.
"Everybody!!" exclaimed Zheng. 

After the first overall pick celebration died down, Zheng mentioned that he thought Ryan Shepard would be drafted second overall. It was quite shocking then to see Texas take Ivan Maximus at second. Some might have thought it to be a reach of a pick. That someone may have been Dick Clapper. Maximus will no doubt be a strong play making centre, and a force to be reckoned with for years to come in this league, it is however, not a reach to believe that Texas would have still been able to draft him later in the first round and could have potentially traded down if they were dead set on drafting him. 

Third overall, this had to be Shepard. Texas was just doing their own thing and that's why they didn't draft him at second. What's that? Henrik Lekberg Osterman? I don't even know who that is. I've never even heard of this guy before. What do GM's know that we don't and why is Shepard not being selected. Colorado selected him in the sixth round, surely they could have traded down and still have ended up with him. I believe some expert mock draft makers had him at 10th in their original standings. My own guy, he didn't even have him on the board! Regardless of all this, he's going to be a strong left winger who is not at all afraid to throw the body. Either way, this is going to be a pick that we all look back it. Whether we reminisce in a positive or negative way; well we will just have to see. 

Fourth overall and it still wasn't Shepard. Oh well, we're all over it now, maybe he's never going to get drafted. Why do I even care anyway, I've already been drafted. Toronto still has pulled ahead with an exceptional pick, a veteran of the SHL, one with ties to the Hall of Fame, Bobby Lane. Managing 13 goals in the regular season, this is a spectacular start to his career. Lane provides the veteran support they need and is a great player to base their rebuild around, something Toronto could utilize very well.

Chicago picked 5th and finally, FINALLY, Ryan Shepard was drafted. Allegedly, they wanted a dman, but how could you pass up a player like this if he fell into your laps. A play making centre that we can all see easily slotting into the first line role later down his career; Chicago is very lucky to be able to have him. He won roughly 52% of his faceoffs this season and I believe that we will only see this continue to increase as his career grows.

The first round continued to drone on and the boys were enjoying that alcohol plenty. Dick Clapper was coming in and out of consciousness with no regard to what was going on and who was being drafted, if any trades were being made. He was just having the time of his life. But all good things must come to an end and Guy Zheng pulled him out of the trance and made him pay attention to the newly drafted Kelowna Knight. Andrey Barbashev II had just been selected 15th overall by West Kendall Platoon, which is in Florida for all of you who were unaware. A second generation player, son of Andrey Barbashev I, probably more commonly known as Andrey Barbashev, he is looking to have a career very different than the OG. Another left-winger, it seems as though he will easily be able to put the puck in the net. 

After this pick, Clapper could barely stand and so he departed, and Zheng left with him as the final pick of the first round was not another Knight. 

FIN