Claimed:From cartoons to the phenom - The Bio of Gunča

[hedgehog337 3,483]

 

*Guntis is taking selfie shortly after he was born...I'm lying, it's his mother who made this photo.*

 

CHILDIE. His child days were pretty basic until he turned 13. He was born in Jelgava, the fourth largest city in Latvia. Fun fact: his initial weight was ''only'' 9,01 pounds and nobody could see a reason why he would turn into the hell of a fatso...I need to mention his parents as well - his mother was and still is a ''Hercogs'' restaurant's chef; his father was an editor-in-chief in ''Diena'' newspaper, now he is doing the same job in ''Latvijas Avīze''. So we certainly know now that his parents were good with money, even though they already had a child, Guntis' brother. Despite of having love from both parents, Gunča was spending more time with his mother and if you were reading my third sentence, you should know that his mother was and still is a chef in the restaurant. Unfortunately for Guntis, his mother didn't react immediately when he started to grow up fat and she woke up only when he turned 9 and his weight already was 114 lbs. It was too late though...

 

 

 

*Number thirty something = Guntis Petenis*

 

 

FAT TEEN WITH HOCKEY STICK. Guntis was so obsessed with eating much food (especially greasy ones) and with doing nothing that his parents almost lost hope. Actually the rescue came from an unexpected place - Guntis also liked to watch TV a lot...

 

...It was a wonderful sunny summer day, so almost everybody were already swimming in the river of Liepupe. Almost everybody, because Guntis was sitting on the couch, eating his favorite pancakes with strawberry and watching TV. He was watching a cartoon when he accidentally switched the channel to KHL TV. Well, nothing special, you say? When the parents and his brother came back from Liepupe...he still was watching hockey. Surprisingly, the hockey game impressed him a lot and in that day he found his dream. He told his parents to buy a hockey stick and an equipment and when the winter came, he took his ass off out of couch and went to the local ice rink, despite his parents weren't sure why he even should make a try on it (like how 13-year 231 lbs guy can even skate?). The guys who were already doing the warm up, didn't understand him either. But they allowed him to try. Also, they quickly realized he can be a decent goalie if Gunča could drop some weight so they put him immediately in the net. That continued till the next winter when everybody realized Petenis can actually skate, and it's nothing that he already passed the 300 lbs mark. They decided to put him into defense position to make fun of him, because they still didn't believe in him. Their opinion about Petenis turned 180 degrees after the match - during the game, one of them was sent fly against the boards and another one almost got concussion after a hit from Guntis. After that, everybody realized that he is going to be bigger than being a clumsy fatso in local ice rink. 

 

 

 

*Petenis' first professional team logo*

 

 

FIRST OFFICIAL GAMES...IN LITHUANIA? By ''everybody realized'' I meant his parents as well. Nothing could stop Guntis from being a professional hockey player and the only missing thing was a professional equipment: imagine to see an equipment for >350 lbs players in sport stores lol. But his parents were rich enough to order the hockey stuffs for Guntis and soon he was ready for the big fight. Unfortunately for him, Latvian teams weren't ready for the 361 lbs guy (yes, he continued to gain the weight), so he needed to find a team outside of his native country. And he found it pretty soon - the farm of best Lithuanian hockey team SC Energija, ESSM Energija Elektrenai was looking for more young players and they decided to take a chance on Guntis, despite of his weight. They didn't know yet this is going to be one of the best decisions in ESSM team's history. Guntis wasn't doing a lot of things - he just continued to send bodies against the boards, but that was enough to stop 80% of opponent attacks. His peak in Lithuania came in 2012, when his team became the Lithuanian champ and Guntis was a big part of this success. After that, he spent one more season in Elektrenai and then took one month off to consider his future options. 

 

 

 

*Guntis shows his Paint skills. But his shape wasn't so far from that guy.*

 

 

VHL. This always happens with the kids who were sitting in home too much and Guntis wasn't an exception. He needed to do something to achieve his dream and he made the hardest decision so far: he decided to try his luck in North America. There were two options for him - trying to make his career in NHL or going to VHL. After some thoughts, he chose the VHL league. He declared early in S49 and he was sent to the waiver market. Ironically enough, it was Moscow that took him so he didn't even need to move to NA. The first big travel happened after the S50 VHLM draft, when Ottawa drafted him with 4th overall pick. Before that he was drafted in the first round by Seattle. His sophomore season turned out beautiful - 400 hits in 70 games and good performance in VHLM playoffs. Even though his Ottawa lost to Yukon in NA semi-final series, his physical performance was impressive enough for Blake Campbell to call him up after that season. His debut happened on September 24th, 2016 against the Reign. His playoff debut - November 5th, 2016 against the Legion.

 

 

Despite making it into the VHL league, his main achievements are still remaining locked - he is hoping for the personal award (if BoG will implement the best Defensive Defenseman award, he would have more chances to achieve his dream). Also, he wants to win a Continental Cup, which is pretty obvious. Right now Seattle is considered as one of main favorites to win it all, so Guntis might lift something big at conclusion of this season. At least I hope for that. 

 

 

The rest of the story is very well known for you so this is the end. 

 

I'm out.

 

 

10 TPE goes to Petenis. 

[Banackock 8,160]

u r #1

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