Claimed:Rafter's Induction

[Phil 5,119]

Rafter's Induction

 

 

Rafter never thought he would be interviewed again by a member of the VHL community. Turns out, he was wrong.

 

The British sniper hung up his skates for the final time over 3 seasons ago and retired back to England to pursue hobbies such as restoring sports-cars' engines and raising his family. Word had reached him via a call from his former agent, Phil Knight,  about his induction into the Hall of Fame.

"I was shocked. I had just come in from the shop, working on my new Aston Martin, when my wife hands be the telephone," Rafter recounts to us. "It was great to hear from Knight. We catch up from time to time and generally spend hours on the phone but this conversation was very short."

 

Mr. Knight had dropped the Induction bomb and told him to hop on a plane to the International Office of the Victory Hockey League in Vasteras, Sweden.  No more than 6 hours later, Rafter was in the clouds, brimming with happiness. You could almost say he was literally on Cloud 9.

 

When he landed he made his way to the Iron Eagle hotel, a landmark for VHL players of the past and present. It is this hotel where all the visiting teams stay during their visits to Sweden.

As he walked the halls of the hotel, recollections of his days as a VHL player flooded back to him. He remember when he got drafted into the VHL by Davos in the Season 27 Entry Draft at 6th overall. The excitement he felt throughout the 6 seasons he spent with Davos never wavered. He loved every moment of it, the pinnacle of his pride being when they won the Continental Cup in Season 31. He loved the group of players: Smalling, Byer, Peters, Qin, Gaz, Satan, Dringus, Shcarps...

 

Although he was captain of the team, he never saw himself as 'the one leader'. The camaraderie amongst the team meant that anyone at any given time could step up and take the role of a leader among them. They gelled together better than a jello solution in a fridge. Yes indeed, Davos was certainly his family. He still feels a strong affinity towards the organization and will watch them live every now and again.

 

But in Season 32 the rebuild had to happen and David Knight, at that time the GM, shipped Rafter off to Helsinki to put his career in the hands of the reliable and competent Mitch Higgins.

 

Not surprisingly, he had a blast there, even if it was only for a season. They had a decent playoff stint but fell short which was a little bit of a heartbreak for the team.

 

He entered the off-season a free agent and although a lot of teams were pitching him with enticing offers to join them, he was drawn like a pendulum back to Davos.  There he spent another season with his favourite hockey town.

 

He was traded once again to play his last season as a member of the New York Americans with a blockbuster trade sending Smalling and Rafter across the pond and receiving Chershenko, Larsson, a 2nd and a 3rd.  

 

As Rafter ran every red light on memory lane, a single manly tear rolled down his cheek. He smiled through watery eyes and looked up. He was outside Vasteras' arena.

 

He went inside and water around the concession stands noticing things like the smell of the stale popcorn and the air of the ventilation system. He walked up to the upper deck and sat done in the stands, looking down on the sleek ice. He pulled out a notepad and pen and said to himself, with all of these hockey memories dancing like bears in the Russian ballet around his head: "I better get started on this induction speech."

 

We do not know how long he sat there for. Hours upon hours would be a conservative guess. Rafter is one of those people who attributes all of his successes in his life to other people. He believes that it is the people around him that made him who he is. He is the sum of all the interactions he has ever made with anyone. When he finally gives his speech, he will have a arduously long list of people he'll be thanking; not because it is the norm or for PR purposes, but because he honestly believes that each on every one of them are worth thanking.

 

 

 

Thank you: Bushito

 

Thank you: unknown

 

Thank you: Bushito

 

Thank you: muffins/Damien/whateveryoucallyourselfnow

 

Thank you: kovy17

 

Thank you: BOOM

 

Thank you: Hickey

 

Thank you: STZ

 

Thank you for the good times

Edited May 29, 2014 by ssdd911

[Victor 10,940]

Beast. Best rival of all time.

[Guest Svoboda_3]

Content: 3/3

749 words. Congratulations on the induction. The writing here was very detailed and as a reader I could feel the emotion because you displayed it through detailed writing. I'm not sure why you thought the International Head Office was in Vasteras silly. Unfortunately you sat in the Rocklundahallen for no apparent reason. Jokes on you.

Grammar: 2/2

minor instances

 

Knight,  about = spacing

hands be = hands me

Induction = induction

remember = remembers

a = an

Appearance: 1/1

I liked all the sigs.

Overall: 6/6

[Smarch 3,153]

Claimed