Claimed:Life in Yellowknife - Asher Donovan Story [Reviewed]

[Dangles13 373]

Receiving a VHL contract offer was one of the most exciting days of my life, but I'm getting too far ahead of myself here. We need to go back a few years and couple hundred thousand miles away. We need to go up North, far up to the frozen tundra of the capital of the Northwest Territories(NWT), Yellowknife. The largest city in NWT and also the most heavily populated, even if that isn't saying much, is where I grew up and where I learned how to be a man and do things that many others would not even think about doing. 

 

Considering how cold it always is here we spend far more time outside than we should and we spend more time outside than we do inside. People always call us crazy and stupid because we like to play on ice and roll around in the snow when it is -30 Celsius, what those people don't realize is that is considered warm more often than not in the Winter. You get used to being that cold all the time, part of learning to be a man is what my old man always says, after all the time we would spend skating on the lakes you almost feel warm if the wind isn't blowing. I realize that I'm rambling about the weather here but it's one of our pastimes out here and I'm proud that my body can withstand cold that most have never experienced.

 

Did I mention how we would spend every second of our free time skating on the lakes? If I didn't I apologize, there is nothing more magical than lacing up some skates and heading out the Great Slave Lake when it's frozen. Sometimes it's a shinny game with your best friends, I'll talk about them soon, or it's a nice family skate with your special someone and sometimes when it's too cold or too dark it's just you and you alone and it's perfect. There are no distractions and no worries, it's just you, your skates, your stick and a small frozen piece of vulcanized rubber. That's when I'm at my happiest, that is when all my fears and troubles are gone and I can just do what I like to do best and that is play hockey.

 

Houseboat Hockey on Great Slave Lake - CBC

 

CBC did a story about Mr. Craig Scott's rink that he builds behind his boat house every year, that's where that picture came from, and it's a pretty cool thing that Mr. Scott got some exposure for doing something nice like that for us. I didn't play there often because I was either too young or busy playing league hockey but it is still nice to see the community get together every week.

 

Community is a big part of living in Yellowknife, everybody helps everyone because we all have different skills and tools and it's just the right thing to do. My mother always made sure I knew what it meant to be a good neighbour and I would shovel snow for all of the neighbours on my block because I was young and strong or I would help some of the older folks carry groceries home from the local store. I never thanked my mom but she not only taught me how to be a good person but all that physical labour really helped me build muscle mass.

My dad always tried to toughen me up because my mom was always trying to make me so nice, it was like a war they would fight over who could shape me in their image. My dad would always call me a "girl" if I did something the easy way and made sure that I knew how to stand up for myself, my dad was a boxer when he was in college and he made sure to pass some knowledge onto me. 

 

"Grey, he would say, you're a big kid and sometimes when you're big other kids are going to want to test themselves against you to see if they are tougher than you. Through no fault of your own you're going to find yourself in a few fights in your lift and I want you to be ready. I would rather you walk home for fighting over me picking you up from the hospital because you got your ass handed to you."

 

 

My mother hated when he tried to teach me things like fighting but boy am I sure glad he did, I have been in some scraps in my life and I'm only 18. My friend Richard Kuwalke has a bit of a big mouth and a small brain, he causes trouble and I tend to bail him out. One time when we were 14 or so, we were leaving the pond after thrashing these three kids at a game of posts and Richie starts yelling at them and telling them how he's going to do stuff with their sisters and I try to stop him but it's too late. Those three kids charge at us, and Richie is a smaller guy at least Dave was a decent scrapper, and Richie ducks behind me so I grab the first two kids and I throw one in the snow bank and I yell at the other to stop. Well he was so mad because his sister has a bit of a "reputation" and he's clawing at Richie who is still chirping away so I gave him one good shot right on the button and that calmed him down pretty quick.

Richie apologized and the other kids apologized for losing their cool and we headed our separate ways. My buddy Dave says: "Richie, one of these days Grey isn't going to be here to save your ass from the beating it has coming." Richie retorts: "Yeah well we both know Asher is going to leave to play hockey one day."

 

That was probably the first time in my life that I had realized I was going to leave all of my friends and family to go play professional hockey. I was going to leave Yellowknife and I was going to be something more than just a simple kid from Northern Canada. It hit me like a ton of bricks, I was scared, nervous and excited all at once and I didn't know which emotion was winning the three way war. In the end I decided that I loved hockey more than anything and I was going to enjoy every second of it. Which brings me to that comment I was talking about earlier, I have never been more excited than when my agent, Patrick called me and told me that I had an offer to go play professional hockey in the VHL.

 

I never explained why people call me Grey did I? Well to be honest I'm not entirely sure, I understand that Asher turns into Ash but I don't know why people turn Ash into Grey. I've never been a fan of it but so many people call me that I gave up trying to correct them. Anyways that's all I have to say right now, I have a hard time talking about myself and I'd much rather let my actions do my talking for me.

[CowboyinAmerica 2,843]

Claimed

[FacePuncher 1,343]

Overview: 5/5 - -30 degrees celsius sounds terrible! then again i don't know much about celsius....But nice work! sounds like Asher is a great teammate and a really physical player! hopefully that nickname doesn't have anything to do with 50 Shades of Grey.....

 

Grammar: 3/3 - Didn't really see any spelling mistakes, though there were a few abrupt transitions, like at the beginning.

 

Presentation: 1/1 - thats an interesting gif you have there haha. also 10/10 for adding the winky face  

 

Over 1000 Words? 1/1 - 1221 words 

 

Overall: 10/10