Shane Mars Biography [2/2]

[Spade18 1,305]

Shane Mars grew up in a regular hockey family situation.  His Father, Jack Mars, had a cup of coffee in the AHL, but ultimately, spent most of his hockey career as a local Referee.  Shane’s Mother, Deborah Mars, also worked as a manager at the rink, giving Shane ample time to work on his game as a youngster. Mars always sites his parents as what gave him his love for the game.  Being an only child, he says, he spent most of his young life being dragged to the rink and spent more time there, than the apartment the family called home in Morristown New Jersey. 

 Growing up in the vicinity of Morristown New Jersey, Mars had many options when it came to playing high level hockey.  His name is painted across the record books of the New Jersey Rockets, The New Jersey Colonials, and the New Jersey Freeze.  Goal scoring seemed to come easy to the young winger as he tore up the New Jersey leagues. His travel teams were regulars as state championship winners and many of his teams won major regional tournaments on the back of young Mars’ timely clutch goals.  His play and more precisely, his goal scoring, caught the eye of USA Hockey scouts.  The hockey world was aflame in anticipation of seeing if Mars could bring his incredible goal scoring talent to the semiprofessional level and around the time of his 16^th birthday, Mars was entered in the United States Hockey League Draft.

The Green Bay Gamblers had the 1^st pick of the draft and to the surprise of no one, they took Shane Mars with the pick.  The Gamblers original plan of easing Mars into the professional game was cut short when he burst onto the scene with a hattrick in his first game.  From that point on it was smooth sailing for the winger as he posted an impressive 75 points (41 Goals and 34 Assists) in 60 games in his first season. 

There was a lot of pressure from the Canadian Hockey League for Shane Mars to jump ship.  So much so that Mars was taken high in the draft by the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League.  Mars decided to stick with his guns and stay in the USHL with the Gamblers. 

His second season saw his scoring totals increase and he finished the season with and impressive 93 points (53 Goals and 40 Assists) in 60 games.  Many scouts say that this is the season where Mars perfected his slap shot.  Usually relying on his killer wrister, Mars was not well known for one timers, or winding up and letting it fire that often.  With training and dedication, he worked the shot into his portfolio, scoring his 50^th of the season with a slap shot off one knee in an all or nothing shot to win a game in overtime. 

His third and final full season in the USHL saw him break a record no one really considered breakable.  Entering the full week of the season, Shane was sitting pretty at 64 goals on the season.  And Rod Taylor’s record of 68 goals in one season was there for his taking.  His last week saw the team play 3 times, and in legendary fashion, Shane Mars scored 3 goals in each of his last 3 games to finish the season with 73 Goals, and 56 Assists for a total of 129 points on the season.  It may be a long time before we see another goal scorer break that number. 

In his last season of the USHL Mars was once again on pace to post record numbers, but as he was of age to sign a professional contract, he jumped ship from the USHL to the VHLM for the end of the season.  Playing in only 4 regular season game for the Halifax 21^st before the playoffs started.   In true Shane Mars form, he posted 9 points in those four games.  After the wild card round, Halifax took on the Ottawa Lynx in the first round.  Mars help Halifax to a game 6 series win with 4 Goals and 5 Assist for a total of 9 points in the first round.  Halifax would then take on Las Vegas in the Finals.  Another 6 game series would unfortunately see Halifax coming up short and Las Vegas taking the Founders Cup home. In the final series, Shane Mars put up an additional 3 goals and 6 assists bringing hit total for the playoffs to 18 points.  The sting of losing the Founders Cup was softened by Mars being awarded the Skylar Rift Trophy for VHLM playoff MVP, one of the few times the award has been given to a player on the losing side of the finals.  This lead into Mars’ most important off season yet.  Mars has buckled down and trained hard, and through his effort he was taken with the 3^rd overall pick in the VHLM Draft by the Minnesota Storm.  Mars is looking forward to this next chapter of his career and cant wait to make it to the big stage of the VHL in the coming years.

As Mars enters the league, many are looking to compare him to the 1^st overall pick in the VHLM draft, HHH.  Many would expect HHH to have a steadier, better career than Mars.   I am here to tell you that those people should be shot.  No, getting shot would be too easy of a punishment for those people. Who ever thinks that HHH will be better than Shane Mars should be beaten with a rubber hose, then tied up with said hose and thrown off the roof.  HHH’s Agent Beavis, is notorious for representing busts the world over. A word to wise would be to put your money on Shane Mars to Win the Rookie of the Year in the VHL in S66, because I can guarantee you he will be coming into the league swinging for the fences.

[hedgehog337 3,483]

OMG HE DID A BIO WTF

 

 

Edited February 23, 2019 by hedgehog337

[FrostBeard 2,049]

An amazing story of a player who is willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of being an all time great! Success is in his blood and so we can see that in his comparisons with other amazingly talented players! It can be clearly seen that his family had a lot to do with raising him up "right way".

8/10 Truly interesting and thought through story of a young man striving for greatness!

Edited February 26, 2019 by FrostBeard

[TheFlash 317]

Well written! Lots of pictures, which I like. You took a shot at your draft rival HHH, so good on you there. You guys are likely going to be 1 and 2 in the draft so I'd hope he replies to his. Should have @'d Beavvis. The only thing I didn't like was how your paragraphs were structured. It looked like you may have centered the whole article. Just looks off is all. Good job other wise!