Looking Back on The 1st Year of My Career

[Ozzy Batty 275]

So this is how my first season in the VHLM ended…with a whimper instead of a shout. When I left my home in Bath to seek my fortune in North America as a part of the VHLM little did I realize how the season would progress and finally end.

I joined the Mississauga Hounds because I felt that I would have a great opportunity there. The team didn’t have many forwards, I don’t think there was even a Center on the team when I joined. But I feltit would be a good place to start my career. If I got lucky I might score some goals and help them win some games. Even though I had joined before any games were played, I didn’t have much of a basis to build from. But that didn’t stop me from working. I spent so much time on the ice, getting to the arena when it opened and closing the doors as it was being locked up for the evening. I had blisters on my hands from practicing so long. But over time, they turned in to callouses. I felt my legs getting stronger and my eyes, as impossible as it seems, got even a little sharper. 

Finally, it started to pay off. My partnership with my teammates, Clapbomb Bardownski III and Konstyantyn Shevchenko, took the league by storm as we accumulated 333 points. To be part of this scoring threat was beyond my wildest dreams. The craziest part of all of this is that I ended up 3rd on the league points leader board. I felt like we were unstoppable…especially after the additions the team management made at the end of the season.

Looking back on the season, before the playoffs began…I felt we were in with a chance. The season started slowly for us. But the team started to come together as the season progressed. The team management slowly added more and more players. With each addition, we got just a little bit better. The wins started to outnumber the losses and we ended to season on a strong run of victories. The locker room was excited, we knew that we had gotten good enough to win…the question was if we were good enough to win in the playoffs. We felt we were…but we all know those questions have to be answered on the ice so we settled in to do what we knew how to do…play hockey.

We sadly lost in the 1st round of the playoffs…I really felt we could pull off a 1st round shock, but it wasn’t meant to be. 

But for me, I ended the season with an unbelievable 114 points. I scored 43 goals, 71 assists and had 4 game-winning goals. 

What comes next for me, I don’t know. But for now, I will head back to Bath and spend some time with my family. I don’t know if I will ever be able to top the season I had…but it will be fun to try…
They say I am a top-5 draft pick…some even say I will go 1st overall. I don’t know about all of that. There is still a lot of hockey left to be played…it just sucks we are not a part of it…

Between you and me though…I would trade all of my success to win the championship…accolades are nice…but trophies are so much better.

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