Aike van Giersbergen Junior Review

[enigmatic 504]

 

THE LEGEND COMES TO LIFE (I was paid to write this title)

 

Aike van Giersbergen hails from the town of Tytsjerksteradiel in the Netherlands.

 

While he spent his childhood in Friesland, he moved with his family to Germany when his dad got a promotion with some fake simulation hockey PT story company. Back home, he was always the best at hockey because like 3 other people played it, but practicing the sport in his new home in Bremen proved to be much more challenging. He wore the Weserstars colours with pride and was astonished to see that hockey was actually played by more than 4 people at the same time.

 

Losing all his friends due to the move was a great motivator for young Aike who spent all his free time at the arena. The promise he showed back home was surprisingly not a flop and he adjusted well to his new reality.

 

During his first season with the Weserstars, he joined about halfway through the year and his team was already pretty far down the toilet. It was a time of a lot of learning and a lot of shots. A discouraged team of pre-teens isn't known to put up a great effort. So Aike saw a lot of action in front of the net every game. While it was difficult at first, with each game, he gained more confidence and his stance and movements became more natural.

 

The following season, a lot of his teammates had quit because of the mediocre year they had. That meant having to cover for other noobies and getting shot on a lot every game. Aike didn't care. He liked the challenge. As the season went on though, it became clearer after every loss that they still wouldn't make it to the playoffs. Still, the team was getting better and the next season, people didn't quit. They finally had a chance.

 

I'd like to tell you that this story has a happy ending but it does not. The Weserstars never won anything. They did make the playoffs most seasons but always lost in a "heartbreaking" way.

 

Tired of playing with losers, Aike van Giersbergen set his sights on America, where the VHML turned mediocre hockey players into slightly less mediocre hockey players. Just a few hours after declaring his intentions to become the okayest goaltender this league had ever seen, a desperate Philadelphia Reapers GM contacted him and offered him more money than he had ever seen. It would be in Philadelphia that Aike would write the next chapter of his legend. Because not winning anything in a junior german league is pretty legendary.