The Road of Samuel Ross Chapter 4

[Brrbisbrr 207]

                     For the first time in Ross’s career, he had to deal with new management.  After reviewing trades, win loss records and activity level, the BOG decided to replace Shawn Glade.  The news was broken to the locker room first, shocking everyone.  Davos knew their next year would be a rebuilding one after buying high on a run for the cup, but for the BOG to intervene and change general managers seemed like lunacy.  Ross recalls, “They really dropped a huge bomb on us in that locker room.  I was just coming back and I didn’t understand it.  I couldn’t have imagined how the vets felt.  I know it got under a few player’s skin.  I guess though the way I looked at it was that I thought it was a bad decision but the BOG has to do what’s best for the health of the league.  I would have liked for someone to at least ask our opinion.”

                   

                     Gustav Mattias was picked to replace Shawn.  Gustav had never managed a VHL team, but did have some experience in the minors.   Ross  had no idea what to expect saying, “I had no idea who Gustav was and was really thinking about just hanging it up.  Our locker room was in such bad shape that it didn’t matter to me anymore.  After talking to a few of my buddies and hearing how Gustav was I decided to stick it out.  I’m gad I did, Gustav was a breath of fresh air.  He brought in a lot of people to help us develop and did not mess too much with the team.  I think the worst thing he could have done was force us to be something we weren’t.   We were rebuilding, so to go out and get big names was a bad idea.  Word around the league was that no one wanted to play for Davos anyway.”

 

                      Samuel Ross responded well to the change.  He enjoyed the locker room, worked harder in practice and finally reached his potential as the 10th overall pick.  Although his numbers look mediocre, considering his defensive corps were mostly learning on the job, Ross couldn’t be happier.  Ross started 64 games and set career highs all across the board.  “My goal going in to that season was to have a .910 save percentage.  If I did that, I thought I could be the backbone to this team and give them chances for wins.”  He did better than that, posting a .912 percentage.  Ross also set career highs in wins with 19 and shutouts with 3.  “I really couldn’t have imagined a better comeback scenario for me.  It was kind of an unreal feeling.”  Davos’s record wasn’t great, in fact, it was last in the VHL.  They still managed to surprise a few teams.  Ross recalls, “I remember starting out we got off to a good start because no one took us seriously.  We played against everyone’s backups.  It was funny, we went from being the laughing stock of the league to threatening early for a playoff spot.  Teams didn’t start their backups a whole lot after that.”  A few teams did start respecting Davos after that early hot start.  This was especially true of New York, who Davos handled easily during the year.  Despite the start and the comeback story of Ross, Davos still couldn’t hang on to the fast start and finished last in the league.  At least this means the Dynamo would have a high draft pick.  

[Enorama 2,038]

22 minutes ago, Brrbisbrr said:

This was especially true of New York, who Davos handled easily during the year.

 

@Esso2264 f

[Gustav 6,407]

1 hour ago, Enorama said:

 

@Esso2264 f

 

We still haven't let him live that down.

[Esso2264 774]

i will forever be cursed