Claimed:Phil Hamilton's Biography - First Edition [Final 10/10]

[Phil 5,129]

Hamilton's Beginnings

 

 

 

Picture a quaint little town in England. There are rolling hills with  the greenest grass, an old church which when you pass it you can smell the history coming from within it, a pond with tall reeds and a variety of ducks and swans happily quacking away. People pass each other in the streets and smile politely to each other and the grocers are very friendly and talkative. On the edge of town, farmers' fields are growing crops with cows, horses, and sheep grazing peacefully without a care in the world. Just off the M40, on the outskirts of town, there is a little wooden gate which leads up a dirt driveway for about 200 meters. It ends at an old mud house, two stories tall surrounded by a lovely front lawn and a wooded area of about an acre, hiding the house from view of the M40.

 

That is the house the Hamilton grew up in. His great-grandfather had built this house with his bare hands and now for 3 full generations his family has lived there, in the outskirts of that nice little town called Gerrard's Cross.

 

The town is about 20 miles north-west of London, and it is quite easy to get to. Just a 20-minute train trip and you are in the heart of London. Hamilton's dad used to take it to work every day. He was a factory worker and worked hard to support his family of 6. He was a very traditional man and a very typically British man. For those who don't know what that is, picture George Banks from Mary Poppins. He carried himself with a quiet dignity, enjoyed his cup of tea in the morning and when he got home in the evening, he ran an orderly household, and was a creature of habit.

So you can imagine the ruckus that was stirred up when Hamilton, at just the age of 7, said that he wanted to be an international hockey player.

 

"By George, how the devil are you going to do that?" his father had exclaimed. "There's not an ice rink in this town and the closest one's in London. How are we going to afford your equipment eh, what? Elbow pads, shoulders pads, chin pads, knee pads - the lot! I break my back trying to support my family and there's no way that we can deal with this expense. We simply don't have the disposable income to support this charade. Rather, I said, why don't you play football? That only requires some boots. Now scram before I give you the old what-for."

 

An animated character, Hamilton's father was. And as I mentioned, he did not like change. He was a very traditional man. However, Hamilton was born in May and for those who follow any sort of Astrology you'll know that means he is a Taurus and Taurus' are easy going, until they find something they want.

 

So Hamilton, during the day, got a little job at the Grocers. He bagged everyone's groceries and smiled cheerfully at the customers, engaging them in conversation. He worked for 3 years without another mention of "iced hockey" (or whatever the devil that God forsaken sport is called) but then, on his 10th birthday no less, Phil confronted his dad, handing him over every penny he'd earned and said that this should be enough to cover his equipment, the league enrollment, and the transportation costs.

 

 

With tears shimmering in his eyes, Mr. Hamilton hugged his boy tightly. That very day he marched down to London with Phil, his chest puffed out, and a look of the highest pride on his face,  and signed him up for the London Hockey League.

 

Hamilton was a big boy, to say the least. At 10, he was already as tall as his father, who stood at just 5'7". He must have gotten his height from his mother, who, although was British, had her entire family come from Sweden. His mother dwarfed his father at 6'1" and so it is safe to say that Phil got his height from his mum's side.

 

The question that remained, from his father's perspective, is how Phil had gotten into hockey? On the weekends, his father would watch the footie and cricket, along with the occasional rugby match, when the Red and Whites were playing, but hockey was barely ever on the telly, so how had Phil gotten it in his head that he wanted to badly be a hockey player?

 

The answer lies somewhere buried deep inside the sports section of the Guardian. There was always a little section boxed off about the renown international hockey league, the VHL. Hamilton would closely follow the English skaters, particularly Phil Villeneuve who had managed to make it into the VHL and played not too far away in Riga, Latvia. Of course, a few other (more impressive) players to come out of England included Phil Rafter, David Smalling, and Leeroy Jenkins all phenomenal players. In that section in the paper, it gave box scores for the league and a little top scoring table, as well as a link to the VHL's website for full play-by-plays of games and stats. Hamilton poured over the stats and watched and re-watched the highlights for hours on end. He loved the idea of gliding over ice with knives attached to your feet. He needed so badly to be part of that world.

 

 

So there's the short answer. Of course when Hamilton first took to the ice, he was pretty horrible, like basically all the others. In his first season on his house-league team all games were very formulaic. Whoever could stay on their skates the longest would win. Hamilton's strength was actually skating backwards, and that how he decided he wanted to be a super-star defender.

Every couple of days he would journey into London during the Winter months and practice intensely on his skating. When he could not be on the ice he worked on his puck control and stick control on the concrete outside his house. He developed his skills steadily and was like a laser beam of focus.

 

A few years pass by and we pick up his story at age 14, where he tried out for, and comfortably made, the London Lightning, the highest level of ice hockey offered for his age group in England. This is where VHL agent Phil Knight first caught a glimpse of him.

 

"As soon as he stepped out onto the ice my first thought was 'who is that orangutan?'" recalls Knight. "I had actually come to see the 10pm game when the 17-year olds took to the ice for scouting purposes, but my flight had arrived early so I figured I could watch this  game for the enjoyment of it."

 

"My second thought was that this kid probably could not move at all on the ice. He was meant to be the brick wall and stop shots getting through. But as soon as the puck dropped I watched in awe... the kid had unbelievable mobility for such a big frame. His passing was excellent and he was ordering everyone on the ice in the most commanding and respectable way imaginable. I remember glancing around the stands to see if there were any other VHL scouts there (of course there weren't - this is England - and I hold the monopoly of players in England) but I was just mesmerized by his play. I brought out my notebook and start scribbling pages and pages of notes. I'd keep this kid in the back of my head as a prospect for my next signing."

 

Knight was so impressed that he actually hung around the change-room after the game to meet Hamilton. He introduced himself and chatted with him for a few minutes before rejoining the fans in the stands to scout out a 17-year hot-shot.

 

"I... it... well, I was speechless." Hamilton stammered. "He introduced himself as Mr. Knight, but when he told me he had represented Rafter and currently represents Villeneuve I saw him as my ticket into the league. I honestly couldn't tell you what we talked about. Luckily I had regained my composure near the end of the conversation enough to ask him for his card. I stuck it in a little frame and nailed it to the wall in my room, where it still resides."

 

Knight periodically came back to watch Hamilton's play develop and improve over the next three seasons. Hamilton was by far the most dominant player in the league and Knight barely had one concern if he were to take him on as a client:

 

 

"To tell you the truth the only reason I ever even checked in on him is to see whether or not he'd be as dominant with people his own size... whether or not his competitive edge would be lost when facing bigger players. But Hamilton kept growing, as well as his lust for the game. The intensity level he brings to the ice is incredible. I knew when I first saw him that I was going to sign him but I never anticipated him to be so dominant for so long here. He is a generational superstar."

 

How dominant you ask? Well, below are his stats and his individual accolades from his 4 seasons with the Lightning. We decline to list his team accolades as then the list would be unbearably long:

Age 14:
34GP | 5G |56A |61P | +41 | 38PIM | 101HIT | 110SB
Top Defenseman
Most Assists
Top Leader
Most Dedicated

Age 15:
34GP | 7G |60A |67P |+46 | 32PIM | 140HIT | 113SB
Top Defenseman
Most Assists
Top Scorer
Top Leader
Most Dedicated
MVP

Age 16:
34GP: 6G | 63A | 69P | +50 | 125HIT |124SB
Top Defenseman
Most Assists
Top Scorer
Top Leader
Most Dedicated
MVP

Age 17:
34GP | 12G | 60A | 72P |+48 | 141HIT | 123SB
Top Defenseman
Most Assists
Top Scorer
Top Leader
Most Dedicated
MVP

On top of all of this, for four consecutive seasons he led the league in plus/minus rating and London had won back-to-back-to-back-to-back Championships for the first time in the history of the league.

 

Knight has been practically bursting to unleash Hamilton upon the VHLm but he needed to wait for the right time. With Villeneuve announcing his retirement today, May 26th, 2015, that time has finally come and so this is where we end the first edition of the Phil Hamilton biography, but rest assured, this will not be the final installment.  

 

 

[DollarAndADream 3,357]

Overview: 5/5 - Great stuff. It is not often that I read a Bio that feels like it came right out of a book. Awesome read. I will be watching this kid thrive on the ice.

 

Grammar: 3/3 - Nothing really.

 

"and a very typically British man." - very typical British Man. ?

"and that how he decided" - that is how

 

Presentation: 1/1 - Looks great.

 

Over 1000 Words? 1/1

 

Overall: 10/10

[Kendrick 4,741]

Claimed