A Rock Solid Junior Review

[Phil 5,119]

A Rock Solid Junior Review

 

There’s not much to say on Phil “The Rock” Johnson’s career to this point. He lets his body do the talking more often than not.

However, we at VhlMedia.com want to still take a quick look at Johnson’s route to the VHL to reinforce what we already know about this massive specimen of a man.

Being from the United Kingdom, you would expect a kid of Johnson’s size to play Rugby… and he did. From the young age of 6 he was playing rugby and used his speed and size to fly down the wings, just demolishing any attempts to block his path. 

“It was not a challenge”, Phil Knight, his player agent told us. “He’s the type of person that needs to continuously be challenged, and rugby never did that for him.”

“I first watched hockey on the television", Johnson recounts. I cannot remember what playoff series, but it was definitely a VHL match. I think it had Riga in it… and I thought to myself man… body checking on skates looks awesome, but hard to do. So the next day, I got my parents to register me for Ice Hockey."

 

Skating at first was his big challenge. Usually that is not surprising. What is surprising is the style of skating he has developed. Slamming into people as his primary focus means that he really does not need to worry about stopping too much. “Slam on the brakes” would only apply to him if there was an opponent called “Onthebrakes”.

 

 

He managed to get into a youth squad called the Liverpool Lasers. He found himself quickly on the top line, as an enforcer. Johnson could shoot pretty well, but he ultimately liked to pass sooner rather than later to ensure that IF there was a turnover, he could lay out the opponent and get the puck back as quickly as possible. His first season in the highest tier of youth hockey in the country looked like this:

Games Played: 50
Goals: 10
Assists: 68
Points: 78
Hits: 249
Takeaways: 210

In his next season, he worked on his reaction time. The main focus was that if he was too far away to hit, he would be able to still poke the puck away from the opponent. Johnson grew 4 inches over the summer and was over 6 feet before he was 17. He also started working out, turning that puppy fat into rock hard muscle. His stats improved and the team dominated to a championship.

Games Played: 50
Goals: 15
Assists: 84
Points: 99
Hits: 321
Takeaways: 354

The ridiculous stats could not be ignored any longer, and Johnson received a call from Phil Knight, who offered him a deal to sign with him and bring his talents abroad. It was at that point Johnson decided to hit the gym twice as hard, and crash the boards of the VHL hockey world. He was picked in the 5th round by San Diego Marlins, and is just starting his first stint in the highest level of hockey on the planet. His one goal was and always as been:
To be the best auxiliary player in the history of sport. 

 

[Quik 4,113]

4 hours ago, Phil said:

“Slam on the brakes” would only apply to him if there was an opponent called “Onthebrakes”