The Journey Begins

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"Sup, bud?" Stephen asked me as I sat down on the bench in the locker room to take off my skates.
   "Nothin' I guess. Just nervous for tomorrow," I exclaimed.
Stephen Desrocher had been recently traded from the Oshawa Generals to the Kingston Frontenacs which is where I had been playing for, for a good year. He was a kind guy; his hair was straight and brown. He had tanned skin unlike any other guy  that I knew. He stood at 6'4. He was really tall.
      "Bye! Good luck tomorrow," He yelled across the room
  Tomorrow was draft day and I was one of the top prospects. My GM, Doug Gilmour, had given me some great advice in case I got drafted by some team I didn't like. He told me: "Just keep smiling no matter what. If you don't like the team you're being drafted by just say that you agree to be drafted by them and then wish that they'll hopefully trade you. To be quite honest that answer made me laugh a little.
   I was 18 and was hoping that the Calgary Flames would draft me. In fact, I had gone there a week earlier to see the Stampede. When I got home in Holland Landing, Ontario I told my parents that I wanted to become a Flame. At first they didn't really believe me because I liked the Leafs and so did they.
    I was flying to Philadelphia in a few hours so I had to go to my girlfriend's house and say bye to her. I broke up with her after a year anyway, so I won't go into much detail. My last stop before going to Philadelphia was my best friend's house. Roland was the captain of the Frontenacs and we actually went to school together. We became best friends while we were in school. He gave some great advice as well.
   My mom Diane, my dad Dave and my sister Kaitlyn were coming with me. I was super nervous but excited as well. I was young and obviously it had always been my dream to be part of the NHL.
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A couple of days after I arrived in Philadelphia I had to go to the fitness test so that the league could know if I was eligible for the draft.
The fitness tests weren't the easiest ones since I had just recovered from a shoulder surgery due to an injury that happened when I was playing in Kingston. All the tests went along smoothly. The last test was to do a pull up.
"Oh no, hopefully I don't embarrass myself" I thought. The people doing the tests kindly asked me to do one but I failed to do so. I tried again and again but I kept failing until the man who was testing me told me to not worry about the pull-up.
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     It was now morning. Mornings in Philly weren't always the coldest. They were unbearably hot and there was a lot of humidity. To make things somewhat bad when it was time to take a shower I would accidentally hit the top of the shower. Being 6'0 I had always had that problem. The air was moist so it made me feel sticky and gross.
  Time went by as fast as a lightning bolt and it was now 4:00pm. The draft started at 7:00pm. I was wearing a suit so I felt incredibly uncomfortable.
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3 hours after I got there, the teams began to announce all the players they had picked. The Florida Panthers has the 1st pick and they selected Aaron Ekblad. Up next were the Buffalo Sabres and chose Sam Reinhart. Then there were the Oilers; who picked Leon Draisaitl.
      And now the moment I had been waiting for. It was the Flames' turn. To my surprise it took them a while to get onto the stage and once they finally did I started to shake like a maniac and sweat like no other. 
     The Flames' GM started "This year the Calgary Flames are proud to select Sam Bennett from the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs."
I jumped out of my seat and hugged my family. I quickly proceeded to walk to the stage where the coaches and GMs would give me my jersey. I was so excited, it felt as if the world had been lifted off my shoulders. I felt a feeling I had never felt before.
I went into the office to sign pucks, jerseys hats and other apparel. A nice lady named Kristine Hallet told me that my jersey had been made in Calgary and had been sent all the way here. I didn't know wether that was true or not but I decided to just go along with it.

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