Scott Shawinganen - Through the Years, Early Life of a Farmer [2/2]

[Cornflakers 73]

Scott Shawinganen - Through the Years, Early Life of a Farmer

 

Chapter 1: A Star is Born

November 26, 1999, Scott Shawinganen was welcomed to a cold winters eve with the love of his parents William and Florence. Scott was a first born child, he was the prize of his mother’s eye. She babied him for sure, until she became pregnant not shortly after his 2nd birthday. Scott had a busy upbringing, he started Kindergarten late, so he was a bit bigger than the other kids his age. He had a loving personality and wasn’t afraid to make new friends. He was the social butterfly of the family, a real ‘ham’ as they would say. Growing up on a family farm, Scott idealized the hard work of his parents. In the summers they would work long and hard hours, and in the winter, they would maintain, but also follow along with local sports, curling, hockey, skating, skiing, and other outdoor winter activities. The Shawinganen’s liked to stay active. The Shawinganen’s followed the Ottawa pro team quite closely, although they never had enough money to attend a game, or register to play themselves. William took his son out frequently to community events, or even just out on the canal, to teach his son how to skate from a young age. Scott hadn’t intended on pursuing this as a childhood dream per say, it was more of a past time that came naturally. One thing his mother noted, is that Scott would sit in the backseat of the car and sing along to the radio wherever they went. If he was out on the tractor with Dad, or in the hay barn, Scott could be heard humming a tune from the young age of only 4. Some of her girlfriends would joke and say they had a musical star amongst the family.

 

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Chapter 2: Some Things You Just Can’t Learn

As years went on, Scott attended a small elementary school, and the way the rural town was setup, attended middle school at grade 6. He was still quite imposing compared to his peers. His teacher, Mr. Reinstdat, approached him in late October and suggested he try out for the Varsity team. He said the previous year, the team was mostly seniors who moved on, and citing a personal essay Scott submitted, stating his skating experience with his Dad, thought Scott could be a good fit to fill some holes. Mr. Reinstdat was floored when Scott hit the ice. He has such grace and poise with the puck. He wasn’t flashy, or overly fast at first, but he was smooth and didn’t have to look at his feet. He helped some of the other students with their skates, and would help the goalie warm up as well by firing a few shots, he’d usually miss. He worked on his game and genuinely enjoyed himself. Scott would start playing pickup hockey with some of his new friends. He became popular. Scott overheard Mr. Reinstdat talking to his folks saying that “some things you just can’t learn, this kid has IT”. From that moment, Scott had a fuzzy feeling, he didn’t know if Mr. Reinstdat was talking about his prose, or his aptitude on the ice. Scott loved to write poetry, and write music. It was a huge passion for him.

 

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Chapter 3: Success Comes at a Cost

Through grades 6-10, Scott played for the middle school team, it was an odd setup, but in grade 11 and 12, the students went to the High School in the City of Ottawa. Scott showed such great promise that he was approached by multiple boarding schools asking him if he’d consider playing for them. Scott had to turn the offers down. He was needed by his family. He needed to stay close. He had to help out on the farm, and with his younger siblings. He didn’t mind this, hockey was just a fun pastime for him. Mr. Reinstdat told him, if he didn’t play with a high calibre squad, he could regress and could risk his chance of “making it big”. Mr. Reinstdat laid down the law during one Parent/Teacher interview and told the Shawinganens that success comes at a cost. Scott didn’t know it at the time, but Mr. Reinstdat was right. Although Scott didn’t end up playing for any for the three boarding schools who approached him, his parents enrolled him in a Hockey focused High School in Ottawa’s West End, Kanata. Although there was no tuition fee or boarding fee, William had to drive his son across the city every day, and on Saturdays for practice, before regular school hours. William stepped back from helping out with coaching and his son took this on full time on his own. His parents respected this decision and hired a few farm hands to help with the work while Scott could enjoy his senior years. At this point, Scott had quite a few younger siblings, he still lived at home, and was exhausted almost all the time. Eventually he built up quite the stamina, to help his father with a few chores, brace the cold weather trek across the city in the families old Dodge pickup, a full day of school, practice, and then coming home to help milk the cows or clean the coops. Scott was willing to put in the work. He watched his parents do this his whole life. It was his normal.

 

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Chapter 4: Junior Hockey at a Young Age

In his senior year, although not drafted into the O, Scott and his family were approached by scouting staff from the Ottawa 67s. Scott had played substitute for the Ottawa Jr. Senators, a local league, as well as the schools Senior team. He was exposed to long schedules, multiple games, and limited rest periods. He had a work ethic unknown to people at his age. He had an opportunity to try out for the 67s, and during his senior year, he finished out the season with the team, and he played the next year full time for the squad, making it to the Memorial Cup finals, but losing to the powerhouse Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the QMJHL. Scott put up some serious numbers in his years with the 67s. Playing junior hockey at a young age was great for Scotts development. The teams he played on, they were never the league's best teams on paper, but it was something indescribable about his performance that tied everyone on the team together. He finished his second season with the 67s with 38 goals, 81 assists and a +/- of 74. He was electric to watch, and made everyone around him better. He made defencemen join the rush, he helped out his goalie with back checking, and he wsan’t afraid to take charge during intense situations, including a comeback win from behind when trailing Acadie-Bathurst in one game to the tune of 6-3, winning, and Scott scoring the over-time winner, 8-7, on home ice.

 

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Chapter 5: Boston College

After his success with the 67s, some of the core team moved on and was drafted into the VHL, some of his friends were offered contracts with a few teams in the VHLM, and some of them went to play in Europe or NCAA. Scott had a long chat with his friends and family, and he had an offer on the table from multiple well accredited Colleges in the States. He wanted to study Bioinformatics, and Agriculture. He wasn’t yet convinced that he could take his game to the next level. He thought maybe with some development, if he got lucky, and with some more hard work, he could get a degree, and still maintain his level of play, and perhaps, if things still didn’t work out, he could find a job in a field he, and his family, had literal roots in. He decided to commit to Boston College, or at least joined a few Facebook groups for the upcoming 2018 frosh week. But life had other plans. He was approached by the assistant GM of the VHLM Aces, a formidable team out on the West Coast. They were looking to rebuild, and had a successful draft, they were looking for help at C, and as news spread about this, other teams started looking into the backstory of Scott, and realized he could be a huge star with some development. He appreciated the offers, but ended up heading to the Desert State for a change of scenery. He told us that half of the money went straight to his family, his parents are getting quite old now, and can’t keep up as much as they used to. He was very happy that he was able to help them out and provide for them for a change. Even though he only knows how to microwave his Mother’s leftovers Assistant GM Jubo07 assured the Shawinganens that he’d be taken care of. Now it’s time for the next chapter, for Scott to write himself, on the ice, with the Las Vegas Aces.

 

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(1501 words)

Edited August 15, 2018 by Cornflakers
added pics

[Jubo 1,839]

A hockey player, a family man and an ear for music. This is the type of player that we will all be keeping an eye on.
I can tell you wrote this bio with the utmost creativity in mind and kept the character in a progressive state throughout.
I'd like to see you keep up with this level of creativity throughout your media spots etc. It was a no brainier for Vegas to
sign you and we expect you to be the top centreman heading into the next draft.

[oilmandan 688]

very cool story. definitely will be cheering on this player going forward. i wish my bio had been this good