Thorvald Gunnarsson's biography [2/2]

[Saelven88 58]

Thorvald Gunnarsson was born 13 May 1996, in the small city of Lahti Finland. He is the oldest of three siblings and the only son born to Gunnar Jógvansson and Eimi Sigurdardóttir, who had moved to Finland the year before Gunnarsson was born.

 

Gunnarsson was an active child, often out exploring he world around him. His father taught him to fish and he maintains this activity to this day. His sisters Asta, and Maja were born two years later. Due to his energy and rough and tumble nature Gunnarsson was often in trouble for playing too rough with his sisters. He soon learned that if he wanted to play rough he best do it outside and with friends, not his sisters.

 

School Life

 

 

Gunnarsson attended Renkomäen Koulu for his compulsory education. He was a solid student placing firmly in the middle of his class, while not standing out as a discipline problem either. Gunnarsson never showed any real interest in his studies and always longed to be outside the classroom. Much to his parent's disappointment Gunnarsson never seemed to be cut out for academic life. Still he put forth a good effort and managed to get into a good secondary school.

 

He would struggle in this school, however, finding it difficult to balance school, hockey, and a social life. He prioritized the latter two, with hockey always being his top priority. And once he was selected to the U18 team this only fueled his ambitions more. At 18 with only a year left to complete his secondary education Gunnarsson withdrew from school to begin his professional career as a goaltender. This decision disappointed his parents, a software engineer and nurse, but they understood that their son's future was in hockey. However, at the insistence of his parents Gunnarsson managed to return and finish his final year of study at the conclusion of his first professional hockey season.

 

Hockey Life

 

 

Growing up was not easy as the older brother to two younger sisters. Gunnarsson had to look out for his sisters but they did not share his interests and exuberance. With both parents working and the rest of the family living in another country, Gunnarsson's parents turned to sports to try and tame their wild child. At the age of five Gunnarsson began to play hockey and he instantly took a liking to it. From five until ten he was a star winger for his youth league, until an injury to the team goalie saw him make a mid game position change. He never looked back.

 

Two years later and scouts from developmental programs were calling and writing the family weekly, trying to convince them to send Gunnarsson to their school. Since the family was not short on money, and Gunnarsson was so passionate about the sport, they took every opportunity to let him play and develop. At fourteen Gunnarsson started to attract national attention with a streak of 175 minutes without allowing a goal.

 

Gunnarsson was invited to try out for the Finnish U18 team at 15, but was unable when his father was involved in a traffic accident. Gunnarsson gave up playing hockey to be with his family while his father was in the hospital and later rehabilitation. Jógvansson would make a full recovery and return to work the next year. After his home life resumed a normal routine Gunnarsson returned to hockey. He was again invited to tryout for the U18 team, and made it as the backup goaltender. He would receive an opportunity to start three weeks later when the starter tore his groin muscle. Gunnarsson shined and helped lead his team to back to back bronze medals in the IIHF U18 tournament. This led to him signing a pro deal with the Porvoo Hunters. After two years in Porvoo Gunnarsson returned home to Lahti and signed a deal with the Pelicans for two years. Now he has transitioned to the next level and has started his rookie year in the VHLM playing for the Halifax 21^st.

 

 

 

Daily Life

 

Since moving to Halifax, much has changed for Gunnarsson. He no longer has his family around him, and they are eight hours ahead of him. He will wait up after his games and call them when they get up at 0800 to tell them how he did.

 

He has formed some new friendships with Winger Acyd Burn and the other goaltender Michael Johnson. At 22 Gunnarsson is older than most other players in the league, and he has more pro level experience, but he has found that the level of competition in the VHLM is much higher than what he faced back home. He has enjoyed rising to the challenge and hopes to forge a strong career in the VHL some day.

 

Gunnarsson will often spend his off days fishing, or reading. He is a much more relaxed adult compared to his rambunctious youth days. Gunnarsson has taken the opportunity to travel a bit on his off days as this is the first time in his life he has been outside of his native Finland. While not a big fan of museums, Gunnarsson has visited the Museum of Natural History in order to learn more about the area he hopes to call home for the next season.

 

In the coming off season Gunnarsson plans to travel to Asia and Africa with his family. The biggest adjustment in his life so far has been how important cars are to everyday life. At home growing up Gunnarsson's family had one small car and it was used infrequently. His parents often used public transit to commute to and from work, and the children did the same with school. The car was more often used to transport Gunnarsson to and from hockey games in his youth.

 

Looking forward Gunnarsson says he plans to buy a farmhouse back home in Finland, somewhere quiet. In the more immediate future he has begun looking for a pickup truck as that seems to be what most of his Canadian teammates have, and would probably do well in the local weather. He plans on visiting as many countries as he can and has plans on learning to scuba dive.

Edited May 13, 2019 by Saelven88

[fonziGG 1,068]

Review:

 

I think you could've combined the Hockey Life and School Life sections into one to form a nice narrative for your bio. Other than that, sounds like a solid bio.

[ConnorMcdavid 180]

Review:

 

Overall an informative, nicely developed backstory.  I enjoyed the twists in his personal development like when his father was sick and he stepped away from hockey. 

 

There are a few instances where there seemed some repeating between the different sections that may be unnecessary. Besides that, we’ll written and well done. 

 

Also, good choice he made in moving to Halifax