Kyson Blake Biography [1/2]

[TMI 20]

The Beginning

Kyson Blake was born to two hard working parents in a Bavarian themed town that knew little to nothing about hockey.  Not only did the town he lived in not have a hockey team, but there wasn't any teams near where he lived growing up.  To top that all off his parents weren't really hockey people either.  So basically from the beginning, Blake was destined to have nothing to do with hockey.  Growing up he barely watched any hockey on TV and instead his sport of choice was soccer.  Soccer was a huge sport growing up in the Pacific Northwest.  In fact in many areas it was THE major sport.

 

By the time he got to middle school, Blake had also picked up baseball to play in the soccer offseason, but soccer was still his main sport and he was starting to be groomed for it, as he had been selected to join the city's select soccer team.  This meant that now Blake was going to be on a travel team and could start to be seen by people with connections in the sport.  This seemed like the ideal path for him to possibly making a go of it in the future as a professional athlete.

 

A New Team Comes to Town

Then as Kyson was in the middle of his 8th grade year a wrench would be thrown into each and every plan he had made for his future at this point.  The $52.8M stadium that a nearby city had built was not only up and running and fully functional, but they had also secured a junior hockey team.  With this being the first somewhat professional team that had been anywhere near where Kyson lived he was super excited about it.  His father on the other hand kind of dismissed it as he wasn't that into hockey and figured they wouldn't be too worth watching.  Once the Wild, now a kind of ironically named team when considering Blake's future, started their first season though Kyson was able to convince his dad to take him to the opening night game.  Not knowing what to expect never being to a hockey game, Blake was pumped but confused.  The hockey itself wasn't that great, but the did end up getting into a ton of fights, which made Blake's dad get into it, and Kyson enjoyed himself enough to feel like he wanted to play this sport.

 

Blake finished out his 8th grade year going to every Wild game he could, but still longed to play as there still was no rec league or anything like it for him to join.  He would play the occasional pickup game with some friends in the street, but overall there just wasn't enough players to play.  Finally in the break in the school year it was announced that the stadium, realizing it actually was a sinkhole and the Wild themselves weren't going to be able to fund the stadium, announced they were going to open not only a rec league, but also develop a traveling team. Straight away he went to his dad and begged him to sign him up for the rec league.  Despite reservations his dad signed him up and now the beginning of the rest of his life had begun.  At first Blake had a rough go of it as he really didn't know how to skate, but despite that, when he found stability he was able to start hitting the puck at the net, just about his favorite thing in the world.

 

As Kyson started high school and his first rec league season came to a close, he started to slack off a bit, or well more like a kid being a kid.  His dad had a sit down with him though and told him straight how it was.  He told Kyson that he needed to practice even when season wasn't in if he wanted to join the travel team and if he wanted to go far in the sport.  He explained that this didn't mean that he couldn't hang out with friends and stuff, but he needed to make it a high priority with his time.  Kyson agreed and spent a ton of time working on his skating and standing  a ways away from an empty net trying to place the puck in every square inch of it.  When it came time for the next season he tried out for the travel team, unfortunately he didn't make it.  This was a crushing blow to him as he knew he was better than some of the other players that made it, but in a small town like this sometimes politics come into play.  Nevertheless, he needed to show them that they made the wrong decision.  In the preseason scrimmage between his team and the travel team, Blake would go out there and score 5 goals barely into the 3rd period.  The coaches, feeling a bit embarrassed told Kyson to sit and never let him off the bench, he didn't care much as he got his on that day.

 

Next Level

Kyson's second rec league season would be a major success as he'd lead the league in points and goals scored and be named the league MVP.  What made it even better to him was that after the awards ceremony the travel team's coaches pulled him aside and apologized telling him that maybe they made a mistake and that they'd love to see him on the team next season.  Of course that was more kind words than anything as he still needed to try out, but now Blake was full of more confidence that I think he could have asked for.  He continued to work on his game over the following offseason to prepare for the upcoming tryout and by now his dad was also out there helping him out as much as he could.  Now being in his junior year of high school and filling out more of his body, he would easily make the travel team and along the way start to get noticed, but not really enough to get excited about.  Then senior year came and Blake dang near looked like a man physically despite his childish looking face.  He was now a captain on the travel team and the pulse of the team.  Kyson's ability would be on display each and every game and as the travel team moved up in division for this final year they started traveling to Canada to play teams.  

 

The Decision

Now the buzz surrounding him was starting to get loud and teams were actually approaching his coach about him.  His coaches advised him to get representation, which they did.  Soon offers actually started coming in, not only from his agent, but also from colleges in his mail.  Now was the real decision time, but it was hard.  Did he want to go off to the east coast and go to a college?  Did he want to join a small semi pro hockey league?  Did he want to join the Wild?  The answer to that last question actually ended up being yes, but it wasn't the Wild close to his home, instead it was the Saskatoon wild of the VHLM and his career as a professional hockey player would soon be underway.

[StamkosFan 72]

Review: Starting as a soccer player is definitely an interesting storyline. Hilarious that his dad got into hockey because of the fights, there’s hope for him ever yet! Sounds like while he had reservations, he was supportive and persuaded him to put the work in. Him not making the team is reminiscent of Michael Jordan not making his high school basketball team. This was a great read, I got pretty immersed in his world. Awesome bio!

Edited November 4, 2018 by StamkosFan