Kevin Johnathen Biography

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I know what you’re saying “Kevin Johnathen is not a Costa Rican name”. You are right. Now here is the story of Kevin Johnathen. The year was 2005.

 

Kevin Johnathen was born to an American mother and father in Costa Rica. Mary Johnathen was the mother. She worked as a waitress in a local restaurant. Tyrone Johnathen was the father. He worked as a clerk at a car rental place.

They lived a happy life in a small coastal town. Kevin lived the life any kid would in a coastal town. He started learning how to surf at around 3 years old. Since both his mom and dad worked he was babysat a lot until he was old enough to go to school.

Kevin first found his love of hockey at the age of 7. Kevin was at the restaurant his mother worked at. They had the Stanley Cup game on the TV. Once he saw the game he was instantly in love, but living in Costa Rica he knew it would be hard to play hockey. Kevin was determined though he started by using sticks and the soccer ball he had. Practicing with it to try and get better. He knew that if he wanted to get good he would have to find better objects. He went to the store and bought a frisbee but it was still very difficult so he gave up. He forgot about hockey for close to 3 years.

When Kevin was 10 his dad got promoted and they had to move to the capital San Jose. At first, Kevin was sad since he would be leaving his friends. Then he was excited because the capital was so big they had a skating rink. He remembered back to 3 years ago and thought “ I can practice some hockey now”.

So they moved to San Jose. Just like any move it was an adjustment. Leaving friends even at a young age was still sad for Kevin. Kevin felt like he didn’t belong, they treated him like a foreigner. 

He signed up for the hockey team in San Jose, now there were not a lot of kids playing hockey so he was able to make it on the team. Once he was on the team the coaches noticed he had some really good potential. He was dominating everyone on the ice despite it being his first year. He was getting confident in himself.

But as always, like I said before moving is tough. Kevin’s story isn’t without some drama. Since he was new to the school he was made fun of, and this took a toll on his mind. He ended up getting in fights at school even at a young age.

The only thing that made him feel good about himself was hockey. So that’s what he did. He practiced and practiced and practiced some more. He was striving to dominate the ice even more than before. It worked and youth scouts started noticing him (yes even in Costa Rica there are youth scouts). 

Eventually, he started playing for the Central American junior team and he started performing well there too. He was getting into fights though and that was not looked highly upon in the juniors so he started getting less playing time. He was getting angry at the coaches for giving him less playing time. Eventually, he just stopped showing up and went back to Costa Rica.

There he went to work in the city and ended up on the streets. With his life slowly falling apart, he looked for a therapist, and that helped him get back on his feet and make some better decisions. He stopped drinking and started renting an apartment. He started playing in some local hockey leagues. And he was still playing well.

Eventually, he caught the eye of another league, the Victory Hockey League, and was delighted by the offer so he accepted. He knew to be closer to the arenas he had to move so he said goodbye to his parents, packed up, and moved to Michigan, where he would be closer to all the arenas. They said he would have to play in the minors for a few years before he could go up to the pros, but he was fine with that, happy he was getting a second chance. The Victory Hockey League was welcoming of Kevin Johnathen, though they did hear about the fights. But Kevin promised he was a changed man and was putting his past behind him. So he went to play in the minors for the Victory Hockey League. 

In the beginning, no team was looking to pick him up, probably because of his fighting record, but eventually, he signed with Halifax, although he signed right as the season was ending so he would have to wait till next year to see playing time. But he noticed that since he signed as a free agent he would have to be released at the end of the season. Then he has the draft to look forward to.

 

Now is this the end, of course not, it’s just the end of one chapter in his life but also the beginning of a new one, like someone once said: “At the end of one story is the beginning of another one”.