Nine Season Reflection on my Good but Mid Career

[Advantage 2,915]

NINE SEASON REFLECTION ON MY GOOD (but mid) CAREER

Written by Viktor Jensen

 

As I start my ninth and final season as a member of the Malmo Nighthawks, I wanted a chance to reflect and share my thoughts on my career thus far.  It really has been a rollercoaster to say the least, with most of our low’s coming during the playoffs.  Always a consistently solid regular season player (85+ points in 5 seasons) but never anything more than that.  I have been a part of one playoff series win……out of nine if you include my stint in the VHLM.  With all that being said, I wouldn’t change it for the world.  

 

I have to start with talking about my team.  I bleed Malmo and have really found it to be my forever home.  I have played an incredible group of players that have impacted my career, and it’s truly wonderful how many of them have spent the majority, if not all of their career’s in Malmo as well.  

 

Jacob Stone was drafted a season prior than I was but has been the measuring stick of elite players as long as I have been in Malmo.  He has been the silent but clear killer for us over the majority of the last decade, and that’s why he broke the all-time points record as a defenseman for the Malmo Nighthawks.  

 

Savaisk Tzesar and Ronald Johnson MacWallaceIII have been great teammates throughout my entire career.  Tzesar goes all the way back to Houston where he was a grinder that didn’t necessarily show much outside of a decently powerful shot and physicality.  Now he has developed into one of the league’s most well-rounded physical power forwards and has had a very solid career himself.  MacWallaceIII has kinda been underrated in his entire career in my opinion as he has been a career point-per-game player and has hit the 80+ point plateau three times himself.  Both are fantastic talents and even better blokes and I will certainly miss them when things are over.

 

Phillip Rave is the younger version of myself but probably a lot better honestly.  I think he can do a lot more than what I did and with him leading the team, I think he can maybe help the Nighthawks find a little more success going forward.  He’s another excellent teammate as well and while a little quieter, he’s a leader in how he currently leads the team on the ice.

 

Reese McFleury was a teammate of mine for six seasons before he retired.  An early mentor of mine coming in and he was a wonderful person to be around the whole way through.  Was sad to see him go but cherish the memories with Reese.  And finally, Ash Sparks was a long-time member of the team.  While definitely one of the guys that had the most energy on the team, he always kept things lively and did so while being consistently excellent tending our net.  Goalies are weird and Sparks was no different, but my time in Malmo is nowhere near the same without the impact he has had.

 

Last person I want to mention is Kaleeb who was the best General Manager you could ask for over the course of my eight seasons under his leadership.  Always a great communicator and someone that we could rely on.  The fact that so many of us stuck it out for so long should tell you everything, especially when we weren’t even necessarily finding playoff success.  The culture and atmosphere have been everything in Malmo over the last decade, and I think Lucy will bring that forward into the future, now that she has taken over.This list of players doesn't even include some of the guys who played less seasons but still were awesome teammates like Bobandy and Skor.   

 

Going into my last season, I do have a few goals that I would like to achieve.  I would be lying if I didn’t admit that reaching the top of goals, assists and points for Malmo’s all-time leaderboard wasn’t on my mind.  To me it would be an awesome accomplishment for the team that has had my heart for the entirety of my career.  And with so many tremendous players at the top of that list including Stoner and Condor, it would be such an honour.  

 

The obvious accomplishment I want to achieve is winning a Continental Cup.  I have never had the chance to win any championship over the course of my professional career, and while Victory Cups are nice, that isn’t what we play for.  It will be a tough task but I am hopeful that we can put things together over the course of the season and ride a heat wave into the playoffs.

 

Finally, I honestly just want to enjoy it.  Nine seasons is a long time and I have truly grown up over the course of my career.  I’ve done a lot with a lot of great people and I just want to finish it off playing with the same lads that I've shared a locker room with the whole time.  

 

With that being said, I don’t necessarily know if this will actually be the end of my hockey career.  I have had some conversations with some lower level European teams because I just don’t know if I can give it up.  I can see that I am getting a little slow for the VHL, and while I do think I can still do it at this level, every season gets harder and I feel a little bit more behind at the beginning of each and every season.  My passion for this great game still grows though and I do think it would be great to still one day maybe be part of a championship team, if we don’t accomplish it in Malmo this season.  Plus, I know some of the other guys will probably do similar so it would be amazing to play against them, or who knows….even with them, after this season ends.  

 

If you made it this far, thank you for reading this little column about the definition of Hall of Consistently Good (but not elite).  I have loved my time in this league and I hope to truly end it with an impactful bang.  So look out come playoff time, cause maybe this is finally our year!

 

 @scoop @comrade cat @RJMW @tcookie @Spaz @KaleebtheMighty @DarkSpyro @LucyXpher

[Daniel Janser 2,218]

2 hours ago, Advantage said:

With that being said, I don’t necessarily know if this will actually be the end of my hockey career.  I have had some conversations with some lower level European teams because I just don’t know if I can give it up.  I can see that I am getting a little slow for the VHL, and while I do think I can still do it at this level, every season gets harder and I feel a little bit more behind at the beginning of each and every season.

I think Kladno has no age limitation for their players 

[Banackock 8,151]

congrats on getting the points part of it i assume last sim

[JCarson 760]

This is a great article.  Having the ability to look at how a team, and the players have behaved and progressed over a multi year period is a unique perspective. TH=he fact that a player chooses to stay on a team that is not competing each and every season yet speaks positively of their time is truly amazing.  You can see in the writing that this player is enjoying their time in the VHL and in the community at large. I give this article a 10 out of 10.  Keep enjoying the VHL and the experience as a whole.

[Advantage 2,915]

1 hour ago, JCarson said:

This is a great article.  Having the ability to look at how a team, and the players have behaved and progressed over a multi year period is a unique perspective. TH=he fact that a player chooses to stay on a team that is not competing each and every season yet speaks positively of their time is truly amazing.  You can see in the writing that this player is enjoying their time in the VHL and in the community at large. I give this article a 10 out of 10.  Keep enjoying the VHL and the experience as a whole.

I give you a 10 out of 10 

[SleepyPlayz 63]

Carson already rated this but as a career reflection, I kinda wanna rate it too!

 

Firstly, color coding the names with green really does help separate different paragraphs nicely, as it can be quite the drag to read something like this raw. By using colors to separate not only the players mentioned, but also the title, there's a nice switch between the points you're trying to make about each player's impact on your own player's career. Speaking of the switch, as a whole, this article about your player's journey is worded and structured quite nicely. It has a clear title, beginning middle and end, it gets straight to the point You also have clear goals listed out for your player, which is also a very good part of this. While I would argue that some of the points about other players have been a little rushed, that also may mean there's very little to say about them as a player, not in a mean way, but as in, you can't explain it, which is alright. The perspective you choose to take also makes for an interesting read! 10/10, would be 15/10 if I could, it was a nice read!

[Advantage 2,915]

Week 2/2