Claimed:KJA and the Draft

[d3vilsfire 132]

Konstantin Jaroslav Azhishchenkov arrived in Stockholm, Sweden a week before the annual VHL Draft. According to his parents, KJA was quite nervous.

 

“Stepping off the plane,” said KJA’s mother, “Jaroslav almost tripped on his own feet multiple times, and was constantly going through ‘what-if’s.’ We know he is shy, but this was downright nervousness.”

 

The entire Azhishchenkov family made the 4390 mile flight from Port Huron, Michigan to Stockholm, Sweden, and decided to make the occasion a family vacation.

 

“We tried enjoying and exploring Stockholm,” said KJA’s sister, “But Jaroslav was so busy reading the news on his phone, trying to learn if there was any new developments. At some point we gave up on him, and left him at the hotel that the VHL provided the S37 draftees.”

 

At the hotel, reporters interviewed KJA on his thoughts about the draft.

 

“I am really excited to be here in Stockholm, and I am super jittery about the upcoming draft.”

 

KJA spent the day with Ottawa Lynx teammate Travis Boychuk at the hotel playing video games on Boychuk’s new PS4 in the lobby. Many spectators and hotel guests were treated into seeing two young men laughing and cursing in Russian in the lobby as they played on the hotel’s projector.

 

“I had a lot of fun with Boychuk,” said an exhausted KJA. “I never knew playing video games with him would be such a work out, but it was definitely a lot of fun.”

 

The next day on the eve of the draft, all the draftees who were going to attend the draft, jumped on the buses headed to Hovet, Sweden to enter the AIK’s ice hockey stadium, the Ericsson Globe, from which the VHLM draft was being held.

 

“The [Ericsson] Globe was definitely interesting,” said KJA, “but it only has about 13,800 seats in comparison to Madison Square Garden, which has about 18,200 seats.”

 

After practicing and going through procedures so that everyone knew what they were doing, the next step was to conduct interviews with eager journalists and wait. KJA decided to not spend anytime interviewing with the journalists, but instead decided to spend the day with his family and near the end of it, play some poker with some other draftees.

 

On draft day, everyone was nervous. The breakfast area was oddly quiet. Everyone got dressed in their suits and ties and got ready for the event that would change their lives forever. KJA, donning a white suit with white shoes, was ready for the draft.

 

“I have waited and worked a long time to get here,” said KJA, “and now I am ready for wherever I may go next.”

 

Upon arriving at the Ericsson Globe, all the draftees got registered and seated with their families. Only an hour after the draftees sat down, the draft began.

 

Many were listening to Kendrick’s “Blades of Steel,” to hear what the experts thought about the draft, and the news about the draft.

 

The first name that was called was no surprise for anyone as defenseman Slaeter Fjorsstrom was tied with Tom Slaughter as the consensus number 1 pick. The following pick was eye-catching as instead of going 2^nd overall, the New York Americans decided to pick Jakob Linholm. This is something that the analysts did not expect as they thought Tom Slaughter would be number 2. This proved to be inconsequential because the New York Americans owned the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th pick in the draft. The New York Americans then followed their Linholm pick with the picking of Tom Slaughter and Logan Laich.

 

 

At this point, KJA was a little uncertain of his spot in the draft as he was once considered a top 3 pick and now was a mid to late 1^st round pick. However, the Riga Reign, who actually traded up to hopefully draft KJA or another great player, answered KJA’s dreams and had GM Mike call KJA up to the stage to don his Riga Reign jersey.

 

KJA could not hold back tears of joy when he heard his name being called by GM Mike of the Riga Reign. It took him several moments before he got up from his seat and went on the stage to accept the jersey and to take pictures.

 

“I cannot describe this feeling of pure joy to be drafted,” said KJA,”I have made it passed one hurdle of my journey to the VHL.”

 

KJA is expected to spend the majority of the next season in the VHLM.

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

Lots of fun with KJA!

[AwfulHomesick 148]

Content: 3/3 - Great story. We all had fun that day and I'm sure all the first gen players will definitely have the S37 draft as a constant memory in their head when they're all well into their VHL careers. Best of luck to you.

 

Grammar: 2/2 - Nothing found.

 

Appearance: 1/1 - 

 

Overall: 6/6

 

Final: 6/6

[Frank 5,209]

Claimed