Claimed:Slava Aleksei Biography

[Tyler 885]

Slava Aleksei

Right Wing

Minsk, Belarus

Born in 1999

 

Slava Aleksei was born on March 13th, 1998 in Minsk, Belarus to a father who was a former footballer and a mother who was a former basketball star in Eastern Europe. The athletic blood has flown through him since he was a child though his sport of choice was vastly different from the ones his parents excelled at. Ice hockey was always Slava's first love, something he was good at that his family was able to unite over. He grew up in a household that valued physical education above any other type of education, valuing the human body as the vessel that life exists out of. As such, his parents had him playing sports his entire childhood but as mentioned above, hockey was always the only sport he ever truly cared about. He began playing for local youth teams where it became apparent rather quickly that he had talent the others did not. He was a better skater, better puck handler but more then anything, he was just more willing to learn. To listen to the coaches and to grow his game to the point he is now. While others viewed hockey as a way to pass the time, he viewed it, even from a young age, as a way of life. 

 

He was always quite dominant in playing against the talent in Minsk. His parents were always looking for options as to where to move to get him better competition. At first, they were eyeing a move to Moscow due to its cultural similarities and language similarities to Belarus, the youth team that was in Moscow was not willing to accept him. They looked at teams in Paris, Bratislava, Prague and Bern but none of them were willing to accept any new applicants at that time. Despite what he had shown on the ice, many were worried that his quality of opponent was below the level he would face in the bigger leagues. Eventually they narrowed their search down to the two teams that would accept him immediately. One was in Berlin while the other was in Copenhagen. The team in Berlin was based in a more competitive league while the one in Denmark had a former Swedish Elite League as its head coach and director of the entire organization. Though the decision itself was not an easy one, they eventually decided on Berlin as it was always Slava's end goal to play in the professional ranks someday and his family viewed that as his best option to make his dreams come true. 

 

 

At thirteen years old he moved to Berlin, Germany to play in a more competitive league then what could be offered to him at home. He was playing with kids ages 13-15 and was already one of the best players in the league. Never one to be content with how he was playing, the young child spoke with his coaches to figure out a way to improve his game. The key hole to his game appeared to be his inability to read the play defensively. Although he was obviously someone for whom the offensive game came naturally, the defensive side of the game was always something he needed coaching in, and remains a key hole in his game. Despite this hole, by the time he was 14 youth teams across Europe and North America were salivating at the prospect from Belarus. After much deliberation, his family decided it would be best for him to remain in Europe and agreed to sign with  Dinamo-Raubichi Minsk of the MHL. After one year in Germany the boy moved back to Belarus to play with his local youth team.

 

 

being only 15 at the time, Slava was reduced to a training role for his first year back home. He spent most of the year off the ice working on his conditioning as well as his physical strength. The coaches also wanted him to watch more and more tape as to make sure he was learning how to play hockey without the puck. Though a year off the ice would be detrimental for most kids, Slava had the natural ability to, in his 16 year old season, jump on the ice and become one of the best rookies across the Russian Junior League (MHL). He scores 8 goals and added 14 assists for 22 points in 33 games in his rookie season in the MHL while helping his team qualify for the playoffs. Though they lost in the opening round to a more experience team, they managed to take the series to 7 games while Slava contributed 4 goals and 5 assists in those 7 games, benefiting greatly from playing against the other teams bottom pairing defenseman and exploiting other teams lack of foot speed. 

 

 

In his 17 year old season, the Minsk native put up 24 goals and added 20 assist for 44 points in 41 games while playing on the teams top line alongside two 19 year old's who have since signed KHL contracts. In the first round of the playoffs, Slava was hit from behind in the corner by another teams top defenseman which knocked him out for the playoffs halfway through game two. He scored a goal in game one but his loss contributed to his teams early exit, losing in round two despite being one of the best teams in the league that year. It became apparent that he had accomplished just about everything he could accomplish at this level and the only question left was whether he would play in the VHL or the KHL. Though he could have been a top pick in the KHL, at the advice of his family, Slava has decided to make the move to the Victory Hockey League and will be a prospect in the draft. He is seen as a dynamic offensive threat who still has much room to grow defensively, but he is someone who tries to soak up information and coaching as best he can, so there is little doubt, in the right situation, that he can develop in to a top line VHL player.

 

[1029 words]

Edited February 20, 2017 by Tyler

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