S76 and my adventure from the Beer League back to the VHLM (Part 1)

[Greg Ernest 39]

{["I Ernie King wanted to thank you @diamond_ace  and @MexicanCow123 for believing in me  @DoktorFunk & @DarkSpyro for you providing me with such a great opportunity last season to join the Lynx and expressing interest so quickly and passionately the nations capital is nowhere else id rather play. Furthermore i wanted to apologize to you and Sypro if there were ANY misconceptions about my most recent VHL.com Article. Ernie King stated in an interview early Monday morning  -"In no way did i have any issues or ANY problems during my time last season with my time in Ottawa and with the Lynx organization@DoktorFunk and @DarkSpyro  (i honestly don't know who runs the STHS , i assume its Dok but idk every team may have different protocol with there AGMs and how much power they have) Dok and Spyro gave me helped me immensely other than a great experience and opportunity provided with slotting me into the lineup RIGHT AWAY , and getting me into the Index and onto the 1st line as fast as they possibly could. Which i also  didn't make easy for them after making them wait so long for me too officially accept the contract on the portal, I know i am not very active as i don't have much of a life online which i didn't make easy for them, however they put the time and effort that i definitely didn't.}])

 

-Quote From VHL.com                                                                               

 

 

-      Dok and Spyro put me a guy coming from what looked to be a retirement when i chose not to sign in the VHLM my contract ended with the Reapers and was not offered a contract to resign, I did what any other EX-Pro hockey player does... move home and DOMINATE the local beer league getting tuned with the boys in the dressing room before and after. it was good times, a former teammate of mine from Bantam started a new team in the local beer league and obviously i wanted to come and show off in front off all the local puck bunnies at the Sunday and Friday 11 or 12 PM 60 minutes straight time hockey . The team turned out to be an actual local news story.. Yup a Beer League team was getting local news coverage online from saultsports and this is coming from a town that lives, eats , sleeps , breathes, and probably shits hockey too with the craziest fanbase and INCREDIBLE minor hockey AAA system and a Junior A team that hasn't been out of the CJHL Top 10 rankings in my lifetime, not to mention the Soo Pee Wee program run by legendary former Sault Greyhound (the "Real" team everyone "KNOWS" everything about and are always right lol) and Former OHL,NHL Star as a player turned coach and also winning a WJHC Gold Medalist as Coach of Team Canada U20 Hockey in the Soo is kind of a big deal.

 

Back to the Beer League , well the teams name was agreed upon by the roster to be the Wheeling Whalers, we had a group of what i thought to be Rag Tag mostly AA even BB or Highschool guys with maybe 1 or 2 games of AAA experience in there life... BOY WAS I WRONG. Back tracking a little, from day one when I expressed my interest to the team manager he asked about what position i am ? I found this question honestly very confusing as i have played Forward my whole life and never once even played a game as a defenseman when we had short roster ive literally never played the position. So i decide to respond with im playing Defence!!! (leading to me being a D now , clearly it was a success and a decision i wish i made as a teenager as i am clearly a born defender and shine much brighter on the back end, NOT saying im not the PF i proved to be in Philly because I can still do all of it. When i saw the team roster i actually only recognized two names... 1st our Goalie and Co Manager/CFO J.Mancuso. Mancuso and i where teammates WAY back when at the age of 9 before AAA was even an option. Mancuso and his family would later go on to move down south shortly after where J spent his years playing hockey down south but never anywhere close to AAA level. Funny enough Mancuso and his family would move back to Sault Ste Marie ten years into the future, a decade later. I only found this out by asking my teammate during a HS game WHO THE FUCK is that silky forward with no # on his jersey !?!? Yup Mancuso wasnt only a top quality Goalie but a Top notch and Top 6 forward caliber player as well and the HS league SOMEHOW allowed him to play both positions .

 

Secondly was the name that honestly made me call my dad instantly when I saw because i was so excited. "Kaelan O'Flynn" a.k.a. "Kaelan Brown-O'Flynn", O-Flynn is one of the best players i played with in my youth hockey days and remain friends to this day along with my other VERY close friend who was also a member of this age group so i know the age group very well, Kaelen , Cody and I have always remained in contact regarding our mutual burning passion for watching local minor hockey.  O-Flynn was a HIGHLY HIGHLY touted young player, the only reason we were teammates was because he was scoring 7 goals a game against the kids his age, and they moved him from Minor to Major (about 15 kids usually do this) But Kaelen was still WAY ahead of his age group in development at the time and was after two months placed into the Major league with my Age group Two years Older (THAT NEVER HAPPENS). Kaelen would go on to fizzle out as he was clearly and just like everywhere has them and every age group have those players that hit their peak MUCH earlier than others and never end up being "the guy" everyone touted him to be. O-Flynn played AAA his entire youth hockey career and to say he fizzled out is almost unfair. His age groups AAA Roster was STACKED, The Sault wont ever see an age group so deep EVER again, I don't think there's ever been an age group like the 1996 Sault Boys. With the number and caliber of the Soo's youth program players that would go onto playing in the OHL, U-Sports Canadian University Hockey League, NCAA DIV 1 as well as now AHL and NHL regulars and its a 100% certainty that  more than 4 of these young men have committed there lives to this and will be making a career out of professional hockey and potentially more than 4 will end up in the Pro's and spend their career there..

 

Prior to O-Flynns OHL Draft year, there had been ongoing issues behind the scenes involving coaching issues and conflicts of interest where the AAA Coach's all three had kids on the team and ice time and favoring started to become evident and obviously totally unnecessary with 13 THIRTEEN of the players in this age group O-Flynns life long teammates would go on to be selected and  drafted to the OHL. 3 of these players would go on to be NHL Draft picks all in the top 3 round lowest being 90th Ovr (Amadio). the roster included two players who are currently on NHL rosters and NHL regulars both with over 4 seasons of NHL experience Perlini and M.Amadio have both cemented themselves as NHL regulars playing top 9 minutes and special teams minutes as Amadio being a PK specialist as well as getting PP minutes , not to mention Amadio's incredible OHL career https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/151385/michael-amadio For real check him out !  ., one drafted 11th Overall (Brendan Perlini), 3 players that went on to be NHL Draft pick all in the top 3 rounds lowest being 90th Overall pick by the LA Kings (Amadio). Two other Notable players playing pro right now and working towards cracking the NHL roster is the one player that actually isnt O-Flynns age, and thats New Jersey Devils Draft pick in  B.Speers 2 years after being selected 11th Overall to the OHL by his Hometown Sault Greyhounds Blake Speers__________TBC  . First lets touch on O-Flynns former D partner R.Killins currently signed with the Tucson Roadrunner of the AHL(Arizona Coyotes of the NHLs farm team) Killins split his youth AAA days between moving from Wawa (butfuck nowhere) who only had a BB team to moving in with family in Sault Ste Marie where he spent the majority of his youth hockey. At the time the Sault did not have a Minor Midget AAA program , as ANYONE who knows ANYTHING about the OHL draft you understand the importance of your minor midget year with it being your draft year as well as the HUGE Minor Midget showcases providing players with the opportunity to be viewed playing against players there own age by 100s of Junior A, OHL, QMJHL, NCAA and even NHL scouts coming to these showcases , everyone has a clipboard.... Killins made the bold decision to move down south to live with his mother after making the prestigious Huron Perth Lakers Minor Midget Team of the "U16 Alliance League based  out of the London, Ontario Area the Alliance is the 2nd most prestigious Minor Midget League in Ontario behind the GTHL there's at least a dozen scouts at EVERY game     

[Greg Ernest 39]

word count 1604: Claiming for 2nd week