Masxn1 12 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 (edited) Hinga Dinga Durgen Jr. III Biography Early Life Born in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark to two hard working parents, one being a butcher who owned his own shop and made a decent income and a stay at home mother. When he was three years old, he took his first step on the ice, as his father was always a huge hockey fan, especially of the local team Copenhagen Hockey in the Danish league, and always wanted his son to grow up playing hockey. By the time he was 5, his parents enrolled him in a hockey program for youth that were under 7, to hopefully get him to love hockey and not just the thrill of skating. His first few games were upsetting, he was playing forward and just got tired of getting shots and not scoring goals, so his coach switched him to defense. He didn’t do particularly well here either as he wasn’t strong in skating backwards and was too slow to keep up with the faster forwards. His father promised him that by next year he would be playing goalie, as the financial situation didn’t allow for more equipment at the time. Hinga endured the rest of the season playing a mixture of forward and defense ultimately scoring 1 goal. During that offseason his father bought him his first set of goalie equipment, it was expensive but his father was determined to have his son play hockey. He brought his son to the rink every morning to shoot pucks at him and practice all the fundamentals to being a goalie, and every night he brought him to gymnastics to gain flexibility so he could truly be the best goalie he could be. The following season he was only 6 but he was already beginning his long path to being one of the top prospects out of Denmark in years. In his first year of being goalie he played very well, putting up 3 shutouts in 18 games. For the next few years he took hockey very seriously, playing insanely well for someone of that age, until his grandfather died. His grandfather was an inspiration to him, he was the coach of his team, former goalie for Copenhagen Hockey and the one he spent time with on the ice when his dad was busy. He truly built a great bond with him and he was so distraught that he had to take the year off from hockey when he was 11 because he couldn’t handle playing under a different coach when the only one he knew was gone. His father understood, and let him stop playing on the ice but he stressed the importance of staying in shape for next season. So to substitute he learned how to ski and gained even more endurance making his skill set one that was truly special. When he was 12 he made his full return to hockey and little did anyone know, he was about to have a season that is just improbable! His first game, was an emotional one. He worried about having a horrendous game, allowing goals on every shot, his mother who was always the one to drive him to games told him that it would all be ok. His mother's calming words must’ve been like magic to him, because he didn’t allow a goal on 22 shots, even though his defense was sloppy and allowed 5 breakaways to get through he stood strong. His efforts led them to a 3-0 win in the first game and built up his confidence for the rest of the year. For the rest of the season he finished with a .952 SV% and 1.23 GAA, posting 8 shutouts. At this point the outlook on his future looked extremely promising, with European clubs already sending scouts for their junior teams. Durgen continued playing well never allowing over 3 goals a game for 3 straight seasons until he was 15, when he messed up his knee and had to sit out a considerable amount of time. The buzz really wore off during this time leading him to think that his future had just collapsed. High School By the time he was 16 he had made yet another return to hockey, playing for his high school and AAA hockey. His time was completely consumed causing his grades to fall but despite this he managed to play very well in both situations. For his AAA team he managed another spectacular season with a .942 SV% and a 1.56 GAA, and in high school playing even better with a .961 SV% and a 1.31 GAA. He was becoming a household name in Denmark, and received attention from Esbjerg Energy a Danish professional team who offered him to play with their U-18 squad. Posing him with a difficult decision, should he take the risk and pursue hockey professionally and this was the first time he thought to himself “Could I make it to the VHL?” at this point he was only thinking of playing in Europe never even considering going to North America but this was becoming a reality. The other option was a bit safer, going to college, graduating and finding a job. The former seemed much more exciting to him but he always thought “what if it doesn’t work out?”. His father always assured him that, both he and his mother would support him no matter what. Pro Hockey Beginnings That summer Hinga made the bold decision of signing with the Esbjerg Energy at age 17 as a starting goalie. He played tremendously well going against the likes of Rasmus Dahlin and other VHL-bound prospects. He put up a .920 SV% and a 1.72 GAA suddenly gaining the attention of the GM, Gooningitup of the Saskatoon Wild. He called Hinga in Copenhagen and offered him a contract to come play goalie for them. Hinga got on one knee and began crying, thanking God for allowing him to make it through all his hardships. Hinga said goodbye to his parents a few days later, who were filled with joy and pride that their son made it this far, as Hinga flew off to Saskatoon to hopefully become a legend in the VHLM and an inspiration for those in Denmark. Edited February 20, 2018 by Masxn1 Tyler and Sami K 2 Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/47274-hinda-dinga-durgern-jr-iii-biography-12/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sami K 8 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Awesome man! Masxn1 1 Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/47274-hinda-dinga-durgern-jr-iii-biography-12/#findComment-504193 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masxn1 12 Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 1 minute ago, Sami K said: Awesome man! Thanks bud Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/47274-hinda-dinga-durgern-jr-iii-biography-12/#findComment-504196 Share on other sites More sharing options...
HellBillyXIII 61 Posted February 26, 2018 Share Posted February 26, 2018 Word count 1,050. Well put together & Cool story man, I like it! Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/47274-hinda-dinga-durgern-jr-iii-biography-12/#findComment-506172 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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