The Fork in the Road

[ahockeyguy 110]

              

                                                                                What kind of player should Wolf Stansson be? What kind of person should he be? With the drama of the playoffs approaching, these questions are more than simply academic. Stansson has always been a nice, thoughtful guy. In the locker room, he’s as likely to quote Socrates as he is the latest sitcom. Yet there’s not always a welcome for him.

 

               What? In expansion franchise Miami Marauders’ locker room? No, he says. Not there. “They’re some of the best guys I could ever hope to play with, and management is great.” He gets a lot of flack, sometimes from other players, for being European. Not in terms of nationality, but in terms of style of play.

 

               Stansson plays an up-front, in-your-face style as a blue-liner. But it’s an offensive, rather than purely defensive, style. Wolf bristles at the idea he’s an offensive defenseman. “Look at the stats!” he says, aggressively pointing to the air next to him, as if to indicate the league index. “I hit! I block shots!” And he’s right. He does play a two-way game. But all that can be overshadowed by reputation. A reputation that many in hockey think is outdated.

 

               Stansson is trying to decide if he should go out of his way to show his toughness. Pick a fight here, a late hit there. Develop into the bad guy. Collect more teeth than goals. Maybe even punch out his own coach one day. But this is where Stansson the potentially-dirty player runs into Stansson the nice guy. He just isn’t the kind of guy to go around picking fights, slashing opposing forwards, and mouthing off. “I try to let my game do the talking, and play it the right way,” he groans, “But not everybody appreciates that.”

 

               Wolf’s teammates have let him know they appreciate him, and each Marauder stands by the other no matter what. Miami’s sometimes-adversarial relationship with the media (cf. @Andre LeBastard and @osens) doesn’t seem to be coming into play here. He’s genuinely frustrated with the way opponents have treated him. When asked if he really wants to become a goon, a disgrace, even, he responds with words from his father. “Don’t change who you are to get what you want,” Wolf breathes, eyes looking past, out into the distance. “Without this advice, I probably would’ve changed already.”

 

               I ask if Wolf talks to Jan Stansson often. He nods. The elder Stansson has been a fixture in the life of Wolf. He has asked his father if one can change his game and not change who he is. This is where philosophical hockey comes into play. “You can’t change your game without changing who you are,” Wolf recalls Jan saying, “because how you play comes in part from who you are. Only if the two are consistent with each other can you change your play. Otherwise, you will either fail at changing the play or staying true to your basic personality. Perhaps you’ll even fail at both.”

 

               It is his father’s words that keep Wolf going, for now. And, for now, it is his father’s words preventing him from becoming an enforcer, and keep him on the path of playing two-way hockey.

[bigAL 2,176]

Yesss Wolf  you keep doing you! It’s 2020, and managers and fans are more progressive towards you people than ever before. It shouldn’t be offensive to say you’re an offensive defenceman. 

 

We know the best defence is good offence. If we have the puck, they don’t have the puck. When you play your up-tempo, puck-moving, and activated defence, it’s more effective than the “rough n tumble, stay at home D”.  Hits is a stat you don’t want to rack up, because if you’re always hitting players on the other team who have the puck, it means you don’t have the puck for all that time before the hit. 

 

We’re happy to have you and your boatload of points on the Miami blueline this season!

[ahockeyguy 110]

Posting out-of-character, I like developing the idea that Wolf is always on the precipice of deciding whether he becomes Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson or not. This is kind of an alternate-universe Stansson, where he may or may not become the kind of guy who was the villain in D2.

Edited June 24, 2020 by ahockeyguy

[Plate 358]

I prefer offensive defense men and teams are always looking for one or two of them to fill out in their roster. Because a lot of forwards focus on scoring goals, making a solid quarterback for a team is generally a good idea. It shouldn't be taboo to want to play an OD. You will have MUCH more fun in the league playing something you WANT, rather than something OTHER people want you to play. 

 

Review

Really unique article. I thought that it was a pretty novelist alteration between what Wolf wants to be and what is expected of him. You did a great job with the imagery in this article. Only point of criticism that I have is to loosen up on the commas. Simple sentences can go a long way. There are times when writers try to introduce many different story elements into a scene and forget about the framework of the words they're using. If that's the only complaint you're getting for an article then it means you're doing a really good job. I'll keep a look out on your posts in the future ;).

 

Grammar: 7.5/10 

Flow: 9/10

Content: 9.5/10