Bruce Grimaldi - Fish on Ice [2/2]

[Psyduck77 30]

Background

Bruce was born in Elberta, Alabama. The little town is about a 30-minute drive to the beach, and Bruce spent most of his childhood on the white sand beaches of Gulf Shores. Bruce’s parents were 10^th generation Alabamians and enjoyed simple living. From a young age, Bruce was put into sports. Any sport that was currently active, his parents put him in. Baseball in the fall, Basketball in the winter, Soccer in the spring, and inline skating all summer. Growing up, Bruce’s dad would always have some sport on the television. He learned from an early age what competition was, and how to be the best. His dad would drill with him after practices on techniques that he had learned that day. Bruce’s mom was also very athletic and had gotten a full ride to the university of Alabama on a basketball scholarship. Bruce’s family was always competing. This was the DNA of the family. It wasn’t something anyone thought about. It just was. This was evident in the everything, from the family morning runs that occurred at 6am every morning to the game of “Who can get the trash into the dumpster from the deck in just one throw”. The latter game frequently led to a family game of “Pick-Up-Spilled-Trash-for-an-Hour”.

 

How Bruce Found Hockey

Bruce slowly spent less and less time in organized sport and drifted towards beach life. He took up surfing and skim boarding. This led to Bruce spending the entirety of his free time at the beach. His first job at the age of 13 was an assistant lifeguard at the local beach. This may sound nice, but the near entirety of his job consisted of setting up chairs and umbrellas for tourists who were all too eager shell over the $30 a day for the convenience. Bruce didn’t let this bother him too much, because his parents had always preached to him the benefits of pushing through undesirable circumstances to reach a place you want to be. This was the perfect chance to practice that. Bruce saved every dollar he made from that first summer on the beach. He wasn’t sure what he was saving for yet, but he knew it would all be worth it. Towards the end of his first summer on the beach, Bruce saw some other kids skating around with sticks and slapping a ball around.  He was entranced. Before now, he had never seen a sport played on skates. He would inline skate around town but had never thought there could be more to it. But now, here it was before him. The thing he instantly knew he had been missing. Roller Hockey. He asked the kids how he could join them, and they told him the details of the next game. That night he went home and told his parents about the new sport he had discovered. His parents laughed at this “sport” and said that he shouldn’t waste his time on it when he could be practicing a “real sport”. Bruce disagreed. He went to the local used sporting goods store and asked what gear they had. Turned out they had just had a full goalie set turned in, but nothing else. Bruce wasn’t going to show up unprepared, so he bought the gear with his savings and took off for the game. When he showed up all the kids were happy to have someone who actually wanted to be in net. Bruce pretended like it was his choice all along. That day Bruce must have let in 30 goals, but it was the most fun he had ever had. As the summer winded down and fall slowly turned the boardwalk into a ghost town, Bruce began to starve for the Roller games. He begged his parents and they begrudgingly allowed him to join a real league. The closest league was in Mobile, AL – an hour drive one way. His mom shuffled him back and forth between practices and games for 3 years until he turned 16.

 

Bruce Gets Serious About Hockey

The fall after his 16^th birthday Bruce asked his parents if he could go to boarding school. He had slowly been searching for a school in the north that would allow him to get exposure for a possible professional career. He settled on Middlesex School in Concord, MA. His parents initially ruled it out, but over time Bruce wore them down and he was allowed to attend. Up to this point Bruce had been ice skating 4 times in his life. Upon arriving, he spent every afternoon on the school’s ice. He slowly but surely gained the skills needed to compete with kids who had grown up on the ice. His teammates upon first meeting him declared him the “Fish on Ice”. By the time he was a junior he was the starting Goalie for the team, and whenever he made a stop you could hear the stands chanting “Fish! Fish! Fish! Fish!”. Throughout his time at Middlesex, Bruce never forgot his parent’s advice. He worked harder than every other guy on the ice, and it showed. Recruiters from all over the northeast were attending his games. His senior year he led the team to a Championship in a playoff run where he only allowed 2 goals in 8 games.

 

Bruce Goes to College

After graduating, Bruce attended Boston University on an ice hockey scholarship. It was here where he made his greatest strides yet. Bruce was in his sophomore year at BU, when his mother passed away suddenly. Bruce came back home to take care of his dad. He spent a year back in Elberta, helping his dad work through the loss of his mother. In that time, he took a part time job coaching a team of Roller Hockey kids in the same league he used to play in. After a year, his dad urged him to get back to hockey. His father said he was ready to “see what my boy can really do”. Bruce agreed and began shopping himself around to professional teams. He ended up finding the San Diego Marlins to be in need of a starting goalie. His dad suggested he take the job, and when he did – his dad moved to San Diego with him. Bruce is currently in his rookie season with the team, and anytime Bruce makes a good stop you can hear his dad in the stands yelling “Fish! Fish! Fish! Fish!”.

Edited July 15, 2019 by Psyduck77

[Kekzkrieg 160]

Review: Well written biography Fish! Great story and emphasis on parent's opinions on the sport. The loss of the mother adds a great realization point for both the father and the player and provided great inspiration to make Dad and mom, if she were alive, proud after all they've done to get Bruce to that point. Glad to see the Fish made it back to water and looking forward to reading more!

[Big Mac 310]

Review: This was a well written biography. Not rounded out very well. You probably could’ve had 6 paragraphs but hey I won’t judge on that one. Probably should’ve centered in between every section's title. Another big thing you missed was pictures. You had a good/great grammar in this one. Anyways the story/biography should’ve definetely had more pictures, and that made you lose some points. Good work on this one 6.8/10. 

[Datools 7]

Review: I like how this biography was broken into subsections, made it easier to follow along however I would have segmented it even more! A few pictures would've been fun for me too. I though I was being so creative when I made my origin story about roller hockey but I've seen a couple now hahaha so welcome to the league from another roller boy. I would have liked to see an additional paragraph looking forward to the future or placing Bruce in the draft or league. Thanks for the fun!