vhlm Michael Johnson: Struggling Through Adversity [2/2]

[fonziGG 1,065]

Name: Michael Johnson

Age: 18

Position: G

Height: 75 Inches

Weight: 210 lbs.

Birthplace: Vancouver, Canada

 

Michael Johnson is a massive goalie from the big city of Vancouver, Canada. Michael is born to his father, James, and to his mother, Mary. Michael played high school hockey and was also apart of Burnaby Winter Club where he won many accolades as a young goaltender. Michael is an only child.

 

Michael came from an incredibly athletic family with members of his family playing in different professional sports. Mary played ringette on a national level and represented Canada in the World Ringette Championships in the past. James played as a forward on his college hockey team, SFU Hockey (Simon Fraser University), in Division 1 NCAA. James is a full-time teacher and Mary is a lawyer. Uncles of Johnson have found themselves on professional soccer, basketball and lacrosse teams in the past.

 

Early Childhood:

 

Michael first laced up when he was 2 years old, skating on his local pond. He made friends with his long-time best friend, Luke. They both started playing together, Luke played RW and Michael played goalie. Michael’s father, James, was the coach of their local team. Luke and Michael climbed the ladder together and became the talk of the town. They were both the prodigies.

 

At 10 years old, they both were playing U-14. They surprised everyone in the league by being league leaders in their respective positions. Luke was starting to get scouted by WHL teams. Michael on the other hand was not due to his size, they weren’t sure he would translate on that level.

 

Teens:

 

At age 13, Michael started to struggle academically since he was eating, breathing, and sleeping hockey. He looked upto Roberto Luongo and wanted to be just like him in the pros. He was dreaming of one day hearing, “GRRRREEEAAATTT SAAVEE JOOOHHHNSSSON” on the recording of one of his games.

 

Michael just wanted to make his family proud. With that, he got obsessed with the idea of the VHL. At this point, James & Mary were starting to get worried since education was a major importance in the Johnson family. They wanted Michael to have a back up plan in life, incase hockey does not work out in any way.

 

Around this time, Michael started to act out in school. He couldn’t believe his parents wouldn’t support his dreams. Meanwhile, Luke had accepted to join a WHL team in Seattle, his best friend was leaving him and he had no idea what to do. This created a dark period in the family. At age 16, Michael had been arrested numerous times for vandalism, battery and drug possession. WHL teams stopped watching him less and less and it definitely affected him as his game started to get worse and worse.

James decided enough was enough and decided to air things out with Michael. They completely hashed it out and Michael wasn’t super happy about the outcome but started to understand his parents side of the picture. His Winter Club coach also had a sit down and explained that they’re making him the back-up goalie for the upcoming season. Michael was shattered but realized that this was his doing, no matter the circumstances to lead up to it.

 

Michael worked hard in the gym the next morning, realizing his potential. He made a vow that very day to out train everyone he knows. He quit the drugs and focused his anger for when he was on the ice. This is when the tide turned for Michael, he took back his starting spot and put up a .921 SV% and 2.28 GAA with 5 shutouts.

At age 17, he was shocked the league with an MVP performance. His stats included a .938 SV% and 2.18 GAA with a record breaking 9 shutouts. Michael’s resurgence was sending waves around the league. NCAA division 1 teams were sending scouts to try and tie him up in the college scene. Michael was seriously considering taking the college route to get a degree in accounting, since education was very important but this also kept his VHL dreams alive. That was until the VHLM team, the Halifax 21st came in with an offer of their own.

 

At this point, Michael had a major decision to make. Does he continue to further his education by going through the college route or does he take the jump straight into the VHLM? Michael had plenty of conversations with his parents and with Luke, who was struggling on the Seattle Thunderbirds but had picked up the A. Luke had presented the idea that he could potentially become a franchise keeper if the 21st came straight for him, that there was a lot of belief in his ability to go straight to the VHLM. His parents had of course, believed that college was the way to go. Especially since he had offers from Michigan and Boston College, which are great colleges to go to.

Michael had made a trip out to Boston College. He found the college campus incredible especially the campus lifestyle. He had a tour of the facilities he’d be using day in and day out and absolutely fell in love. He thought to himself, Cory Schneider and Thatcher Demko are great examples of goalies at the highest level and that he found some major motivation.

 

Michael then made a trip out to Michigan and didn’t really find it too interesting. He was very intrigued by Boston College’s offer of a starting role which Michigan didn’t offer. Halifax was the last place to go, to see the type of life he could live. He met up with Thranduil and conducted his visit. Thranduil offered him a backup role at the 21st but had shown him these incredible facilities. He was amazed, but thought, backup? Thranduil had made it clear that his every intention was to nurture him into the star goalie he can become. This was what the other offers didn’t have, that direct vision from the GM himself. James and Mary were very impressed by the presentation that was given and gave their blessings to Michael.

Michael has taken up this opportunity, and intends to shock the world. Now in his first season, he knows he has full faith from his staff and teammates and intends to build upon that.

Edited May 7, 2019 by fonziGG
Formatting

[Greg_Di 929]

Review: Great Bio, covers most of his childhood and growing up. Was a very good read! Bio looks great with the pictures. My suggestion would be maybe to spread them out a little more? You have 3 at the beginning and then nothing for the last 4-5 paragraphs.

[Beaviss 4,949]

Great bio @fonziGG im happy there's more Vancouver boys here! 

[fonziGG 1,065]

Thank you @Beaviss

 

You're a dope dude. Go Canucks

[Beaviss 4,949]

1 hour ago, fonziGG said:

Thank you @Beaviss

 

You're a dope dude. Go Canucks

 

Can't wait to see Pete win the calder

[fonziGG 1,065]

2 minutes ago, Beaviss said:

 

Can't wait to see Pete win the calder

 

But does he have Bo's elite head shape? 

[Beaviss 4,949]

14 minutes ago, fonziGG said:

 

But does he have Bo's elite head shape? 

 

Not many people do.

[fonziGG 1,065]

2 minutes ago, Beaviss said:

 

Not many people do.

 

So he does

[Walter Fizz 84]

Review: Its nice, and I can’t find much mistakes except one which isn’t a mistakes necessarily. It would be nice if you included his stats in bold print would’ve been cool. You probably should’ve added more about his early early relationships with his parents. So far so good.