Youth
Boris the Forest grew up in Niland, California. He spent much of his youth homeless. His father was in prison so he would travel from city to city with Nina, his mother, as she struggled to find work. Nina would tell Boris that they didn't need to need a five star hotel. "We have a thousand hotel every night," she said. "Just look up at the sky."
Nina loved hockey and wanted his son to play it. She would craft goals out of cardboard boxes and make pucks out of crushed soda cans. They would play hockey for hours along the streets. Boris dreamt of being a pro hockey player. He wanted to make his mother proud.
Near Death
The day Boris almost died, he was trying to protect his mother.
They lived in a small apartment in a violent part of the city.
Boris was playing street hockey when three gangs got into an argument on his block. They started shooting. Boris saw his mother and ran towards her to help her to safety. Boris ended up getting shot four times - twice in the back, once in the neck, once in the neck. Boris spent three weeks in the hospital.
He recovered from his wounds but his brush with death changed his personality. He was angry all of the time, always two seconds away from exploding.
His mother, Nina, encouraged Boris to focus his rage into hockey. In an interview, Boris explained:
“When you're a kid, you fight in school, you fight at home, you fight wherever, you get in trouble. In hockey, you don't. They love you for fighting. You can punch somebody, scream, screw with the guy you're up against. I learned how to become a monster, how to make the game feel like a nightmare for my opponent, if I leave the rink broken and exhausted, you can bet the other team feels much worse."
In a way, hockey brought Boris back to life.
High School
Boris the Forest quickly established himself as a high potential hockey player. He was a young star in high school. His athletic, forceful play turned heads from scouts. There were whispers that Boris might bloom one day into a star.
In his freshman year, he broke his state record and scored 7 goals in a game. His sophomore year he topped with 8 goals, scoring a hat trick in the 1st quarter alone.
"He played like his life depended on it, he didn't leave anything behind," an old teammate said.
At 15 years old, he helped lead his team to the state finals and notched 4 assists in a close loss. He was a young hockey phenomenon. By his sixteen birthday, he disappeared from the game.
"It's a tragedy what happened to Boris. He had it all," his coach said, "then one day it's all gone."
Quitting Hockey
During a game, Boris wondered why his mother Nina didn't come to watch him play. At half time, his coach called him over. There was bad news from the police department. "I'm sorry to tell you this but your mother died."
His mother was found dead at home from an overdose. Boris didn't have a chance to say goodbye.
After her death, Boris was so grief-stricken that he stopped playing hockey altogether. Boris turned to drugs and liquor to keep the pain at bay. His coaches tried to get him to return to the sport but Boris flew into a rage and got into a brutal fight with them. He was suspended from the team.
"Boris was into some bad drugs," a coach said. "He wasn't in his right mind. A lot of people criticized him behind his back, but I still believed in Boris. We've all been sick. I was hoping for his recovery."
After bingeing on drugs one night and falling asleep, Boris dreamed of his mother Nina. They were on a beach at night and lived in a Thousand Star Hotel. Nina looked at Boris with kind eyes and whispered, "baby, get your shit together and get back in that rink.”
Boris' dream was a wake-up call. He waited outside practice and begged his coach and teammates for forgiveness. They all cried and welcomed him back.
Boris returned to the hockey rink and, even though heartbroken, played his heart out. He pursued hockey with a renewed single minded focus and helped lead his team to a state championship with selfless playmaking.
The Tattoo
Boris has a tattoo of his mother's name - Nina - on his arms.
In an interview, Boris said: "I kiss her name before every game, after every game. I live through her. Hockey was everything to her, and it's now everything to me. It's made me who I am in my life. High school - and the death of my mother - was a confusing and painful part of my life, but when I turned to hockey, I could be myself, I was free. It's my temple. This rink, it's where I can be with no faults, it's just me, my skates, and the goal. If I miss it or I make it, it doesn't matter because I'm free."
Boris plays every game in his mother's memory.
The VHLM
Boris the Forest declared for the VHLM 67 Draft and was selected in the 3rd round by the Houston Bulls. Some scouts believe that he fell to the 3rd round because of his past reputation and struggle with drug use.
"We all thought of him as an interesting, high potential player," an anonymous scout said, "but there were concerns about his work ethic and commitment to the game. He was a high risk player who could hurt team chemistry."
Boris' grief and anger never subsided, but he channels it now to his sport and lets it fuel his competitive spirit. He found promising early success in Houston and was traded to the Mexico City Kings early in the season. He found great team chemistry playing alongside fellow young stars Henrik Zoiderberg, Wrike Chyrnoble, Aleksander Rodriguez, Michael Gary Scott, Teemu Lehtinen Jr, and Guillaume Fontenette.
"The Young Kings will live forever, they're a great family," Boris said after their playoff loss to Saskatoon Wild.
After a long VHLM season, Boris is taking some time off reconnecting with high school friends back in Niland, California. He plays hockey with them under the stars, slapping a coke can into a cardboard goal. Boris the Forest is not sure what team will select him during the VHL draft, or what city he'll call home. But he'll always have his mother's thousand star hotel to guide him.
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