The Boy, The Girl, and The Game (Artemi Panarin)

Journal Entry 2

Thursday November 26th, 2016

Afternoon time, 2:47 pm

"As I learn more about Artemi, the more I realize that sports are so much more than 'just a game'. You hear that a lot, even from the people closest to the game. Buts it's never 'just a game' to the guy who just lost his 23 game point streak or the team who just won the first championship 108 years. Everyone knows what a good team can do to a city, how people can get behind a them and support them. It means the world to the players to be backed by millions of people. They can feel how much we, as fans, want success for them and for the city. We don't feel like just fans, we feel like a part of the team and it makes us feel... important. Like we helped them win somehow, and it's the greatest feeling in the world. And those people we're rooting for all had their paths to get them there, to that exact moment where we find ourselves rooting harder than usual. In sports it's easy to say someone is bad because of a play or to question management decisions. But how much do we really know these players? We can point fingers all we want but we're not the ones out there making plays so who are we to spit fire? They are humans after all, and they worked so hard to get where they are in their life. Some people had it pretty easy. I mean, there's no such thing as easy in sports, but they're gifted. Their path to stardom was clear cut and perfectly paved before they could even say 'shot on goal'. Talent you're born with, skill is earned. When you're a kid and theres a new pair of skates and the best stick around sitting under your Christmas tree, it's a no brainer that the next day you'll be in the homemade rink out back.

But not everyone was gifted with obvious talents or got the newest products. By no means am I saying the guy who didn't struggle to get in the NHL is less of a player, everyone in the NHL deserves to be there and worked their ass off. But hockey isn't a sport you can just pick up whenever you feel like. No one says 'I feel like I'm going to try hockey' after lying around all day. It's a pure passion sport that if you don't give 100% you won't give anything at all. It's not like baseball where you just play it with a couple of friends in the backyard. It's hard, physical, mentally draining, and unexpected. Only the strongest guys get to play in the NHL and only the best actually do good there. That's where Artemi comes in. You always know when he's on the ice because he moves different than others, he's great on his edges and can lose a defender in a second. He speaks the language of hockey and can creates plays out of seemingly nothing. What we see now, you would have never guessed it was the same scrawny kid who fought for everything good in his life. Artemi was a very small kid, I'm saying so freaking small. If you look at the pictures of the Breadman you would sooner think malnourished before you thought of hockey, and you would be right. Size never was on his side, but the brain and heart inside his body all but made up for it. He started his hockey career with his grandparents, and more specifically his grandad. At the age of five he gave little Artemi a pair of figure skates and told him that he was going to become a great player one day. And he hated it, he was just a little kid after all. He had to wear those skates around the house through the harsh Russian winters, it was all for the greater good. But he just wanted to go outside and play with his friends. Maybe get a computer or a nice bike. With no time and no money, Artemi didn't see what his grandpa saw in him. But he kept pushing the little boy, sacrificing so much to keep him from going down the wrong path. It wasn't easy, people continuously doubted his skill level and focus. He had the speed and creativity, but this is a mans game and he was still just a boy. His grandparents tried to bulk him up but he would only get so big. After he was sent down to a lesser team he found his love for hockey. Coaches started seeing something in him, but not enough to overlook his petite stature. After a fresh start he finally found his confidence and his team. Once his boarding school was shut down he moved in with the teams coach and there he prospered. It was still a struggle, but the path was finally evening out. He took care of his new siblings and helped around the house. His coach became a third father to him and because of that his talents on the ice blossomed too. Through hard work and perseverance he made it so they couldn't ignore him any longer. Maybe you remember the World Juniors Hockey Tournament in 2011, that famous gold medal game between Canada and Russia. So many NHL stars go through that same tournament, but no ones path was quite like Artemis. No one said he would start a comeback against the most dominate hockey team in the tournament, no one said he would have the game winning goal either. All those years of doubt and disbelief, they were gone. He had finally broken out and the rest is history.

You hear stories of players who always had a straight path, they were born into hockey. They were sent away as a teenagers to the best and brightest teams around to get skills and up their game. They always stuck out, scored 100 goals in 60 games and always led the team in all aspects. They were sent away not because they had to, but because they wanted to. But what about the little boy who started off hating hockey. He got sent down multiple times because the coaches didn't believe in him. The little boy who had to overcome so much but turned into such an amazing person because of it. It's easy for fans to become attached to players, they love where they've been and where they're going. Nothing is more encouraging than waking up every day, excited to see what your favorite team or player was going to do today. But sometimes it's more than that. There are hundreds of little boys like Artemi who won't get a chance because when they've been told no so many times and they listened. They won't have grandparents who would give a arm and leg to see their grandchild succeed. And not every kid is Artemi, who finds this purpose and talent in him after being turned down so many times.

It is said that the richest place in the world is the graveyard, because that's where untapped talents and unspoken ideas lay to rest. So many times Artemi could have been one of those people, he could have listened to the nay-sayers or coaches but he listened to his heart instead. I might be his co-worker and girlfriend but I'm also a fan of his. I respect the hell out of what he did to get here and path he took to get here. Every time he steps on the ice I expect great things because he made himself that way. To this day he makes people eat their words, but he never rubs it in their face. He thanks them because he knows all those no's lead to the ultimate yes: playing alongside the best players in the world, on one of the top teams in the world, for the best fans in the world. And I'm proud to say I'm one of them"

-Annabelle's POV-

I close my laptop and lay my head down on the cool counter. I've been writing a lot because I've been thinking a lot. I've also been planning a surprise Thanksgiving dinner for the guys, even had nearly everyone's families flying out to see them. Plus I realllly need some girls to hang out with, bitchy Patrick isn't cutting it anymore. My door opens and Artemi comes in with a bag and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. He always does these little things for me that people might over look but it honestly means the world to me. The smallest good deed is bigger than the greatest grand intention. "Surprise" he says and I hop out the chair and into his arms. "Hey, are you okay" he asks as I cling onto him. "I missed you" I say letting go as he hands me the flowers. "These are beautiful, Artemi. Thank you" I say smelling them before setting them down and pecking his lips. "What have you been doing all morning" he asks getting food out of the bag. Mhmmm... hamburgers. "Writing" I say rubbing his muscular shoulders and he leans into my touch. "Can I read it" he asks and I nod. I open my laptop and turn to my entry from today so he can read it. I watch him closely because I wanted him to like it, it was about him after all. But I decided I wanted people to see why Artemi was different from others, how he deserved to be here on this team despite what people might say. "Is this really what you think" he asks when he was done reading and I nod biting my bottom lip. "That means more to me than you will ever know. A lot of people see me in the NHL and just think I got here like everyone else. Last year, when I was the rookie of the year and people said I didn't deserve it because I was in the KHL, that hurt. They didn't know how I got there, what I had to do to get from there to the NHL. They just saw me as a 24 year old playing with the best player on one of the best teams. But you saw through that, you saw what my grandfather saw in me" he says quietly. "My job is to see things that everyone else over looks. Before I got offered a job here and I was working on my other book I had writers block. I was watching the Hawks play the Penguins. Sidney Crosby is one of the best players to ever play the game but he wasn't the one I was watching on the ice. No, it was you. I didn't know a lot about you personally, but I did know that you were special. In both of those games you scored the first and game winning goals and I finally found a purpose to write again. Because no one said it was going to be easy, they just said it was possible" I explain. "Thank you, for not only believing in me but understanding me" he say grabbing my hand. My cold hand mixes with his warm one and everything felt so right. "Hey, we're pretty good together aren't we" I say and he pulls out his chain. "I like to think so" he responds. For the first time since I could remember I wasn't anxious, I was contempt with life and how it was going. I look into his beautiful eyes and I saw the best things in me. He was what I've been missing and I finally have him.