The Road of Samuel Ross [2/2]

[Brrbisbrr 207]

Samuel Ross was born on a cloudy February day in 2001 to proud mother , Rhonda and father, Ernest.  Rhonda was a school teacher at Roark Hills Elementary School while Ernest was a mill worker for the local Bausch and Lomb plant.  Neither parent watched or knew anything about the sport of hockey and to most South Carolinians, the sport was for yankees and commies.  To say the state was a little behind the times was putting it mildly since most residents were still carrying emotional scars from the war between the states.  Known to a lot of Sandlappers (native South Carolinians) as the war of Northern Aggression.
    

       Sam had a rather unremarkable childhood.  His parents were unable to have any more children.  He was raised on a steady diet of Braves baseball, Jesus, and whatever mischief he could get into.  With the town of Princeton being rather rural, left him with not a lot of social interaction except for video games.  At the age of 9 the Greenville Road Warriors moved into town.  Sam saw his first game and was hooked.  He wanted to play hockey, his found his calling.
In addition to hockey, Sam loved baseball.  Unfortunately he was about as good at baseball as he was at skating.  There are several milestones in a baseball players career: first homerun, first strikeout as a pitcher, great plays, etc.  For Sam, he had none of those.  He even went through a couple of seasons without getting a hit.  Not only was his baseball talent betraying him, but his teammates were also.  It all came to a head when his Little League team ostracized him for going to Vacation Bible School instead of a game.  Sam wasn't sure why they were so mad, saying "Not like I was going to get a hit anyway."  After this, Sam decided to try hockey.  
    

          Christmas 2011 was a memorable one for Samuel.  That year, his dad bought him his first set of skates.  Sam had never been on ice before and it showed.  After being at the rink for about 2 hours he got maybe 20 minutes of skating time in and a lot of time on his backside.  He was determined to make it, begging his parents to take him back to the rink every weekend.  Sam worked hard, getting tips from everyone he could to improve skating and hockey skills.  One day, either by luck or divine intervention, his quest for knowledge paid off. 
       

         Rick Ames was a retired professional hockey player forced to move south because of a job.  Rick never gave up his love for the game and decided to start a local league.  One problem was finding players from the area.  Sure he got a few players from parents that had relocated, but only enough for a team and a half.  One morning Rick spotted a kid asking around the rink for tips.  Rick struck up a conversation and mentioned that he needed players.  The kid was Sam Ross and he signed up that day even though he had no real experience.

    

        Samuel was assigned to the Slappers A team, Rick’s own team.  At the first practice Ames wondered what he had gotten himself in to.  The players couldn’t skate, shoot, pass or even knew what position to play.  The best way to remedy this, in his eyes, was to have open tryouts for each position.  Ames set up several quadrants with position exclusive drills and the players performed the best would be placed there.  Sam failed at almost every drill, due to his naivety at skating.  However, his baseball experienced helped in one area, goaltending.

    

        Sam and Rick both agreed that if Sam couldn’t skate, at least he could stand in front of the puck and catch it.  That is exactly what happened.  That first season, Rick had managed to scrounge up enough players for 3 teams.  The season would be 12 games and Sam shined through most of them.  He finished the season with a .917 save percentage and a GAA of 1.55.  Both of those numbers would look a lot better if the league was stronger.  

    

        The next year was a breakthrough.  Sam posted a .962 save percentage and only allowed 1.25 goals per game.  He led the Slappers to a league championship.  The league had now grown to 8 teams, thanks to the Rick Ames’s endless hustle.  The league was even getting some mentions at the local ECHL games.  Despite all of this, Sam remained a reserve, quiet and relatively unknown young man.  The local press did not cover hockey and there were no websites that even cared about the Upstate South Carolina League.  The arenas where the leagues games were played at had to rely on an old basketball scoreboad and 2 scorekeepers to manually keep score and post the results on a bulletin board after the game.  The league persevered and got stronger.  So did Sa,

    

          The league started blooming  after the 2017 seasib and so did Sam’s skills.  By the time he was 16 he won 3 goalie of the year awards and was even tutoring younger players on the nuances of the game.  Coach Rick Ames is now regarded as a builder in the South Carolina hockey scene.  Both Ames and Ross won 4 straight championships.   The old basketball scoreboard was replaced by a brand new one specifically for hockey.  The scorekeepers and bulletin boards were replaced by tablets and websites.  The league even raised enough funding to hire some of the better web designers of the area to create a website.  Word of Sam’s talent was getting around and he was no longer this unknown player with no skating ability.
After Sam played his final game, a 6-1 win for the Slappers, he had a decision to make.  The SPHL declined to take him, saying he was too young.  His career looked to be over until he saw an add calling for players in a league called the Victory Hockey League.  This is where one part of his hockey story ends.  Hopefully the next chapter will see him blossom into one of the greats.  Only time, dedication and hard work will tell. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by Brrbisbrr

[Matmenzinger 167]

Review: You did a really good job setting up a believable story with the inclusion of Rick Ames setting up a league. It's a nice break from the typical playing hockey in high school story. Overall really solid man.

[Brrbisbrr 207]

Thanks! It was the only storyline I could think of.  Here there is no real high school hockey. It's basically just an all star travel team, although I believe they are pretty good. Thanks for reading 

[PenKnight 23]

Review #2

 

1033 Word Count so that qualifies.

 

I thought the yankee/commie thing was funny but not everyone has my sense of humor. I always wanted to play goalie but decide against it every time. I would of liked to of seen some pictures in this biography. I am glad they got rid of the basketball scoreboard and replaced it with an official hockey scoreboard. Good work here and I hope you stick with it and one day share some ice together! Remember this game is a marathon that takes a year or two to complete so keep that in mind.