Rookie Season Down

[Spaz 297]

 

 

It's been a full season since I left the Reapers, a bittersweet ending to my VHLM career. My final VHLM season came to a sudden halt in the first round of the playoffs against a Houston team that simply wasn't messing around.

 

After cleaning out my locker I said my farewells to my teammates and coaches, as I knew for the next season that I would not be returning. My agent ended up getting ahold of me during the middle of the season to let me know Helsinki would be calling me up. I wouldn't be alone as teammate defenseman Kyle Anderson would end up joining me. It wasn't a secret that we would be a key part of the Titans rebuild as everyone knew they would lose a lot of key veterans to retirement.

 

A couple of months passed, and I would end up spending the summer with my father in Pittsburgh, and a couple of weeks with my mother in my hometown in Italy. I always try to visit every off season since I really can't until maybe Christmas during the regular season. After those couple months passed I would head to Helinski to attend training camp, and see what rule I would be set at for season 71. It wasn't an easy task as I was fighting for a position against players who were still trying to prove themselves, and veterans who have been doing this a few seasons.

 

Eventually, training camp would end and I found out I secured a spot on the roster. I was told this season for now I would have a safe spot definitely on the fourth line as long as I showed I'm still willing to put in the work every day, then we will go from there. We weren't a great looking team and most articles put us out of the playoffs, making it sound like we had no hope and we were going to lay down and take every single beating that came our way. Our mission was to prove them wrong. 

 

The beginning of the season would start and we would be off to a strong start winning our first two games, but after that couldn't seem to pull away. We eventually would end up having a rocky season after that as we were not able to gain momentum for a win streak that would keep us at least in the middle of the standings. We would end up finding ourselves fighting for a playoff spot nearing the end of the season with Malmo who we knew were the better team but they just found a way to get points even though 19 of our losses were by one goal but only six of them went to overtime, which would have made a key difference to help boost us in the playoffs. We ended up finishing off the end of the season strong but would miss the final spot by three points.

 

As my first season I set my goals low as I knew being in the VHL it wasn't going to be as easy to score. I was hopeful for 15 points. I would end up getting 16 but wouldn't start producing till around the end of the season, and looking back at it now I should've put more work in and maybe a few of those 19 one goal games could've been different. That being said, I can't look back at it now, I have to start looking at what I can do to help with the future, which means I have to put in more work and effort so I can help bring this team back to the playoffs for season 72.

 

[bigAL 2,176]

Great article @Spaz! 9/10!

 

I like how you made a story of being called up and reflecting on your first season in the VHL. That's a big transition for anyone, and especially since you seem so self-aware of the role and responsibilities required in being called up to a rebuilding team.

I wish you expanded on that last paragraph a bit more. You hit your goal, but still aren't happy about it? What happened that caused you to only score 16 points? Was there a specific area or skill you wanted to put more energy into developing to help with last season or prepare for next?

 

I love how emotional your writing is. I really get a feel for Jared Spaz's life. I know what he was feeling last season in the minors, how excited he was to get called up at the end of S70, how disappointed he was in leaving his VHLM team and friends with a mission unfulfilled. I love the insight and detail into Spaz's offseason routine, because that helps humanize these players.

 

Great job Spaz, keep it up!

[Spaz 297]

Thank you so much, and I'll keep that in mind.