Ben Hafkey - Rags to Riches [2/2]

[McLovin 466]

Ben Hafkey

LW

5'9'', 172lbs

Philadelphia Reapers

Vancouver Wolves

 

Rags to Riches

 

Early life:

Ben Hafkey, nicknamed "McLovin" was born on March 22, 2000 in Denver, Colorado and has been surrounded by hockey his entire life. His father was a die hard hockey fan, constantly taking Ben to games and teaching him how to play with the moral support of his mother. Growing up in a below average income household, his family struggled to find ways to let their son play the game he loves. At age 4, his father managed to get Hafkey playing with a team, first lacing up his skates playing for his local Skate City U8 program. Immediately he started turning heads with his explosive skating and heads up offensive awareness. By age 6, his father had received an offer from a local U12 team that wanted to recruit Hafkey into playing for an actual touring team. Reluctant at first, his mother and father agreed and Hafkey begun touring Colorado with teammates almost double his age. His speed and skill immediately transferred over and he began tearing up the league with consistent multi point games and a surprising amount of hockey IQ 

 

 

Hafkey playing in his U12 inline hockey league

 

As the season went on, he began to show an interest in goaltending and laced up the pads at age 8 for the first time, stopping 12 out of 13 shots for a 3-1 win. Enjoying the position, he continued to play goalie until his team requested he swap back to skater for a game. He then began to swap back and forth between skater and goalie depending on what his team needed from him, proving to be an incredibly flexible asset for his team as they went on to win two state championships, one as a goalie and one as a skater, as well as a silver medal at the U12 league "All-Star Goalie Competition." As life went on, an 11 year old Hafkey decided that touring was too tiring and he wanted to stay closer to home, resuming play with his local Skate City program, now playing in their own U12 league. Continuing the style of play he had before, his size provided many advantages to his style of play, practically skating circles around his opponents who couldn't keep up, and using a surprising amount of strength to roof shots top cheddar and send hard passes to his teammates. This continued until he graduated middle school and began looking for competition and skill closer to his own.

 

High School & College:

At the age of 14, he was ready to step up his game and began playing for his expensive high school program, the "Heritage Eagles." Initially struggling to adapt to a higher pace and more physical game, Hafkey had doubts that he could succeed considering he was generally smaller and less physical, meaning he was getting laid out more often and getting injured more frequently, but with more motivation from his mother and practice, he learned that he could use his size to his advantage, burning past and around defenders with speed and using his awareness to create plays for his larger teammates. In his final season with the Eagles, Hafkey put up a franchise best 19 goals and 34 assists for 53 points in 29 games. Because of this stellar performance and him entering his senior year at his high school team, Hafkey was offered a once in a lifetime opportunity. The US Developmental Team had scouted a few of his games and figured with his skill, he could provide a serious offensive punch to the team. Hafkey, of course, took the offer and graduated from Heritage on top, potting 10 points in 6 games and winning the national championship with them in his final year.

 

 

Hafkey skating with the US Development Team for the first time.

 

Between post-graduation life and playing for the U20 US National Team, Hafkey turned on the jets in production, putting up 17 goals and 27 assists for 44 points for the US National Team in just 26 games. Going on to play in the World U20 Championship, Hafkey continued high scoring production, providing his team with 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points in 7 games, tying 9th place in the tournament in scoring. In the gold medal game, Hafkey scored a goal, but his team unfortunately lost to Finland 3-2. With his National Team season coming to a close, he could now focus on getting a scholarship to play for a University, eventually getting an offer from a local school, the Colorado College Tigers. Playing a season and a half with them, he continued to perfect his game, providing elite offense on a struggling team and became a legitimate prospect of the VHL draft. As the season for Colorado College came to an abrupt end, missing the playoffs and providing Hafkey with a lot of free time, he started to show interest in signing a late season contract in the VHLM and began meeting with GM's of the league.

 

The VHL:

In early 2019, shortly after graduating from Colorado College, he was offered a VHLM contract by the Philadelphia Reapers, and played 22 games with them in his first year, putting up 6 goals and 5 assists for 11 points. Hopeful for a full season with the Reapers before a VHL team acquired him, he was drafted 37th overall by the team who originally signed him in free agency, the Reapers, and had his professional rights drafted by the Vancouver Wolves. Being offered a 3 year contract with the Wolves, Hafkey was finally able to return the favor to his parents who sacrificed so much to let him play the game he loved. He was able to buy them a nice house in Philly with season tickets to Reapers games. Feeling blessed and lucky by the path bestowed upon him, he felt it was only right to prove all of his doubters wrong by playing the best hockey he can and showing everybody that he belongs where he is.

 

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Biography stats from WordCounter

Edited May 7, 2019 by ItsMcLovin

[Walter Fizz 84]

Review: Solid Biography. I’ll say this. The only thing that you probably should’ve included is maybe his personal life, but that’s not needed we’re are just here to drop the gloves. That being said it’s nice of you to give reviewers a nice tip of the hat at the end proving word counter stats. Also why the hell did you have to flex, Hafkey...? You didn’t have to mention to us twice BladeMaiden offered him a contract, but besides that everything seems good.

[fonziGG 1,068]

Review:

This is a great biography. Granted I didn't get a feel for who he is as a person, although you did great at highlighting his overall stats during his upbringing. Also I liked the fact that you provided a word counter! Certainly helpful. Otherwise this was good on the eyes and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.