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Rookie
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Taras Novosveltsev - An American Dream
Friday September 3rd
Growing up in my hometown, I have had many dreams about playing in the nhl. I watched as many NHL games as I could on television and tried to mimic the dekes and moves of the NHL superstars. It soon became a reality after many meetings with a scout that talked about me moving to America and playing in the AHL. I had previously played in the Russian super leagues, and had some good success there. I was the lead scorer in the league twice. I had some awards for the most goals in one season twice, and I hung them on my shelf. I also got the most talented hockey player in the league according to my teammates. This was probably my most cherished award.
The NHL had chosen me out of many other kids, to come and play hockey in the USA. I signed a contract and took the first available flight over to Pittsburgh where I would be playing in the AHL. I had never seen America before, and I didn’t speak one word of English. In the contract, I was guaranteed a interrupter for my media interviews, and for general talks with the coach.
Stepping off of the plane I was greeted by a man and women. I recognized the man as my agent Henry Blue, but the woman, I didn’t know. “This is Olesya, your interruptor,” said Blue, “she will be translating everything you need for you.” “Pleased to meet you,” said Olesya in Ukrainian, and I returned the nice to meet you saying. “You got a meeting in an hour with your coach, to discuss your new contract,” Blue stated as a white limo pulled up next to us. “We will be taking the limo to the meeting, get in.” I turned to Olesya to translate what he said and she did. We rode the limo to an office building not very far away from the airport.
We stepped out of the limo and walked towards the office. “This is where your new life begins,” Blue said to me through Olesya. I told Olesya that I was very excited to be playing for the penguins, and she told Blue what I had said. When we got into the office building, the head coach Byslma was already there with a penguins cap and jersey. “Hi there Taras, we are happy to have you here.” Olesya translated that for me, and I smiled at him. “Now lets discuss your contract,” Byslma said to me, holding a pen. I had Olesya translate the contract that stated that I would have to have 227 shots, 35 goals, 63 points, and 28 assists this season. I agreed, and signed the contract with black ink. Byslma then gave me the jersey that was sitting on the table, and I put it on along with the cap. We took about 7 or 8 pictures, and then it was time to go.
After the meeting Olesya showed me where I would be staying. It was an old hotel that was near the home stadium for the penguins. I was happy to have somewhere to stay, and that was all that mattered. I had to get ready for the game that was going to be played tomorrow on Saturday the 4th. I didn’t waste any time unpacking my clothes and my stuff. I even ordered room service through the help of Olesya, and the food arrived fast. The game tomorrow was at 1 pm. It was already 9 o clock at night, and I needed some sleep. I had to get up early in the morning to get ready to play. I was eager to go to sleep after my long trip to America. It wasn’t hard at all to close my eyes and fall asleep that night.
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September the 4th
The next morning, I was greeted by a loud alarm clock screaming at me to get my lazy butt out of bed. I turned off the alarm clock, got out of bed, showered and then had something to eat. There was only a few hours left before the game, and I decided to get to the game early. I packed my stuff up, locked my door and headed across the street. When I arrived, I found that I was the only one there. I unpacked my things, and saw that there was a jersey with my name on the back hanging in my locker space. I thought that this was the coolest thing that I had ever seen in my entire life. My own little space. I set my belongings into the space and waited for my teammates.
Before too long, my teammates began coming into the locker room. It was nice to have new teammates and stuff. Coach Byslma also came into the locker room and gave us a pep talk before the game.
Everyone in the locker room got ready quickly. We were called to stand up and walk to the entrance of the ice by a man wearing a microphone. I was the 5th one to touch the ice for pre game warm ups. I took a few minutes to warm my legs up as I whirled around our part of the rink. It was time to go back to the locker room so that the announcer could broadcast the starting lineup.
“Annnnd now, its time for your Penguins to take the ice, for tonight’s game against the Worchester Sharks!!” The starting lineup was called, and when it was my turn to skate on the ice, I received a nice little cheer from the fans. We listened to the American National Anthem, and then it was time to play.
I was positioned on the left side of the face off. We lost the face off and the Sharks took the puck along the boards on the right side. I followed the puck with my eyes and checked the player with the puck, and he lost possession. I took possession and skated up the right side, and passed it to my teammate Adam Henrich, who passed it back to me for my first shot. The goalie barely got a handle on the puck that I flung at him, but he was able to stop it. I checked another Sharks player against the boards and took possession of the puck, before the coach yelled for a line change. I had no choice but to shoot the puck to the other side of the rink so that I could change.
On the bench, coach Byslma told me to keep taking the body. I nodded and rested my feet. A stoppage at our end of the rink, caused me to be back on the ice, and that didn’t last very long. I didn’t touch the puck or anything. I skated back to the bench and the next play; I watched my teammate Paul Bissonnettee takes a holding penalty at 2:18. I was allowed to kill the penalty only for a few minutes, and out there I poked the puck loose from a shark’s player that was getting ready to wind up and take a shot. I was called for a line change soon after. But I was called to end the penalty with 32 seconds left on it. We won the face off and I skated as hard as I could to the opposing zone. I was passed the puck and I took a slap shot that bounced all the way back to the blue line. I was called back to the bench by the coach soon after that. At the end of the 1st period, I had taken only 2 shots. We headed back into the locker room, and coach Byslma told us to keep up the good work, and to apply more pressure on the offensive attack.
Second Period.
We were back on the ice fresh legs on the ice. We lost the opening faceoff, and I only took 1 shot during my shift. We took a penalty at 1:54, the culprit was Mark Ardelan who was guilty of roughing. The penalty caused the Sharks to take a 1 nothing lead, when Cory Larose scored at 2:57. The Sharks despite their scoring debut, where taking penalties, and this time it was Brad Staubitz at 3:19. I had to capitalize on this chance, and I forced a shot to the goalie with he was able to stop in his glove hand.
About 10:18 minutes into the game, Mark Ardelan scored a goal through the Shark’s goalie’s 5 hole. We were awarded a penalty shot, but failed to execute a few minutes after our goal. We scored again at 13:13 by Alex Goligoski, who scored a top shelf slap shot. The score was now 2 to 1 for us. I was finally able to score my first goal of the season, by a beautiful pass by Bill Thomas from behind the net. I lined up my shot perfectly, and timed the pass to hit my stick as I lifted the puck on the right shelf of the net. I heard a swoosh as the puck hit the netting. I went nuts celebrating my first goal, along with Thomas. “Good job kid,” he patted me on the helmet.
It was magic. After I scored my first goal of the season, along came my 2nd goal, because of a swift pass by Paul Bissonnettee. I skated along our bench, and high fived my teammates happily. The score was now 4 to 1 for us.
BUZZZ went the fog horn to indicate that it was the end of the 2nd period. We skated to the bench and went back to the locker room. The coach was awaiting us there, clapping our play. “Lets not get too cocky already,” said Byslma. A couple of my teammates came over to me while I was sitting at the bench of my own locker space, and congratulated me on my two goals. “Nice job kid,” said Bill Thomas. It was now time for the 3rd period and we were going into the period with a 4 to 1 lead.
THIRD PERIOD
I was out on the ice for the opening faceoff of the third period. The hometown crowd was going nuts when the puck was dropped. I enjoyed listening to the crowd cheering for us. The sharks weren’t exactly giving up their offensive drives. A few pucks were clanked against the cross bar. After the play was called by the ref, I got to take my first faceoff, and though I lost the draw, it was still fun to take. We took a penalty by Jeff Taffee at 7:43, for holding, and the sharks capitalized on their chance to score. Mike Morris, at 7:51 scored a nice goal, I have to say. “Damn it,” I yelled out loud in Ukrainian. We got lucky again on a stupid play by Ashton Rome, who received a holding penalty at 9:03. It was even by our team a more stupid penalty for the same thing holding by Chris Minard, at 11:09, which caused the sharks to score again. Tom Cavanagh, scored a top shelf goal from a slap shot at 12:32. The score was now 4 to 3 for us. We had lost our 2 goal lead. There was only 6:00 left in the game.
Suddenly, we scored an easy goal, when Tim Wallace forced the puck through the Shark’s goalie’s pads in between his legs at 14:01, to make it 5 to 3 for us. It was ironic because Tom Cavanagh, took a bad penalty at 16:26, late in the 3rd period. We scored once again at 18:59, from Jonathan Filewich, to make it 6 to 3 for us.With only 40 seconds to play, I went to retrieve the puck from behind the net, and took the blade of the opponent’s stick right on the nose, from Riley Armstrong, at 19:23.
BUZZZZ the end of the game was done. I jumped off of the bench and hugged our winning goalie David Brown for his good play.
The locker room after the game was jumping. Everyone was high fiving each other, I got a few congrats on my 2 goals. Then Coach Byslma came into the room and it got quiet. “Good win out there boys, we need to improve in a few areas, but it was a good win.” I smiled as he talked. He then came over to me and told me congrats on my 2 goals in the game.. “Thanks,” I said back to him, and some guys cheered. We were all happy that we won our first game. We were a strong team that would go far this season.
Second Star – Taras Novoseltsev 2 Goals 1 assisst
First star- David Brown
Penguins - David Brown
SA = 36
S = 60
SV % = 95.2
GA = 3
GAA = 3.02
Last edited by TarasNovoseltsev; 05-23-2009 at 03:40 PM.
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05-18-2009, 01:11 PM
