Phil Marleau's Biography [2/2]

[Phil 5,015]

Phil Marleau's Biography

 

 

If Phil Knight knows one thing, it’s how to bring about English talent to the Victory Hockey League. He has already found 6 players (granted only one was a bust but nevertheless) and has found his next target: Phil Marleau. So in this piece we will explore how Marleau came to catch the eyes of this Hall of Fame Builder.

 

On Marleau’s birth certificate, it says he was from the British Virgin Islands. This is of course, 4 of a chain of small islands in the Caribbean, and Marleau’s birthplace says he was from the biggest of the Islands, Tortola, and born in the capital, Road Town.

 

Despite this, he is actually thoroughly British. Yes, he happened to be born there while he parents were taking a last attempt at a final holiday together. They left England when Marleau’s mother was 8 months pregnant and stayed for 3 weeks, instead of the originally planned 2. Unfortunately, Marleau wanted in on the sites of the Caribbean and popped out early to the backdrop of blue waters.*

*It should be noted that the only reason he is actually from the British Virgin Islands is because when creating the player – there was no fucking option to pick England!!! This is super strange consider I can still opt to pick Virgin Islands, or Ethiopia, but no matter, it made a nice intro paragraph.

 

 

Now as we all know, the Victory Hockey League is an international league, and teams fly around the world to play each other. With the work that Phil Knight has done scouting out English talent and exposing them to the VHL, the British eyes have been increasingly fixed on the VHL and so broadcasting the games have been more widely spread. So as romantic as it seems to have been born on a beach in Road Town to you, the idea of playing sports on ice was equally romantic to Phil Marleau.

 

He started training seriously at the age of 7 and managed to convince his dad to take him into London to attend a Phil Rafter shooting clinic that he was doing for charity. Meeting the real Phil Rafter, being one of his personal heroes, was more than enough to convince him that one day, he would want to be successful in the VHL, come back to London and give a shooting clinic beside Rafter. That was his goal.

 

Living in Liverpool (or anywhere in England really) Football dominated the culture, but the local hockey league, the Liverpool Lasers, had enough of a following for Phil to know that if he were to make it to the VHL, it would need to be done through that team. Besides, he read about it in the autobiography of Phil Gerrard.

 

When you have a passion. You never complain about anything. You WANT to learn, you WANT to improve, you are DRIVEN to succeed. Marleau was the first on the ice and in the lockeroom, and you’d have to drag him out. After his house league games, he would go home and shower, and then fly back outside to shoot on the net in the driveway. He would beg his dad to go skating with him at the local rink whenever he could. He would train himself, emulating a shift of VHL hockey – bursting from one end of the rink to the other. Doing his own suicide drills, and when he was allowed, take his stick and puck onto the rink – though it would really depend which staff were working. Tony, who was a massive VHL fan, would let him, saying that he would be better than Phil Shankly if he continues to practice like that. But the old grouch Felonious would never let him, or anyone, bend the rules.

 

 

It’s not even worth it to give you his house league stats. He scored multiples times each game, skated circles around the other lads, and continually offered his teammates tricks and tips. When he got old enough (16 years of age), he went to the tryouts for the Liverpool Lasers and blew the coaches and scouts minds. His natural skating ability, and the power he got in his strides, was unmatched. His shot power and accuracy was scintillating. He skated onto the first line and was awarded the “A” in is first year.

 

More than just his skill though, he was always friendly with his new teammates and went the extra mile to help them improve. After the second team practice, he worked for over an hour with the top-line centerman, showing him the best ways to win the draw. The lad was so impressed, that the next day, he asked the coaches to make Marleau the centerman for the first line. This is how he wound up being a center. He always had thought himself more of a winger, with his speed, but he figured that giving his team possession of the puck from the start of play was the best way he could influence his team’s offense.

 

 

Marleau’s first year was more than successful. They won their league with over a 28-point lead in just 50 games. Marleau put up 75 goals and 33 assists and won league MVP. They swept their way to the Championships. This was the year where Phil Knight noticed Marleau. He waited until after the playoffs to approach him and his parents, to ask if he was interested in playing in the VHL. Marleau was only 17 so he needed to wait another full year before being eligible. As Knight remembers:

 

“Marleau’s eyes sparkled when he answered the door. None of my players have ever recognized me. He immediately said ‘You’re Mr. Knight! Rafter described you perfectly! Please come in’. There’s no other way to describe the look in his eyes as fire – the burning flame of passion. I asked him and his parents if he’d potentially want to make a career out of hockey… Marleau practically danced around calling me a straight-up idiot for suggesting anything else was a possibility.”

 

He played one more season for the Lasers. He put up over 120 points, wore the C on his Jersey, was an active part in the coaching process, and won MVP. Knight spent a few hours each week preparing him for what lay ahead – the travelling, the uncertainty, the offers, the rivalries. Marleau’s eyes sparkled teal.

 

Currently, Marleau is sitting at home, awaiting his flight to fly him to the VHLM Dispersal Draft on Sunday. April 28^th. Who knows how he will fare in this renowned league, but one thig is for certain – He’s going to do his best to leave a mark.

 

 

 

[Blawn 20]

Review: Great Bio and interesting early life (even if it wasn't intended, haha). Plenty of pictures to help us along with the story and your story telling and writing are great. I like how you threw some of your other characters like Phil Knight into this new rookies history as well. Lot's of Phil's running around the league now haha, great read and good job.

[Big Mac 310]

Review: As Blawn said it was a great bio. Also I’m pretty sure when creating a player you the U.K is pretty much what you can put if you’re going for England. Maybe it would be better if you could add Headings to separate Early Life and all that mumbo-jumbo. Also (I feel like I’m saying also to much) I’m not sure if that I at the beginning was intended to look weird, but if it wasn’t maybe you should fix it. Hoping to see a good career out of this guy.