Twitterive 

Prologue

 This twitterive was born out of my love for hockey and the fact that many of my tweets are about hockey and take place at a hockey rink. I tweeted a lot about the feelings and sounds within the rink during a hockey game. My experience with the hockey rink is through the eyes of a fan and I thought it might be interesting to try and look at it through the eyes of a player on a journey to the NHL. This twitterive tells the story of a players journey from the minors to the majors and his feeling connected to the rinks he has played at in his life.  The story is complete fiction. It is about a hockey player who gets drafted in the first round but doesn't make the team out of training camp. He is disappointed but learns that hard work and dedication will get him where he wants to be.

Haiku
Crowd settling into seats
Lights reflecting off the smooth ice
Living out the dream

Letter From The Team

Mr. Bowman,
     We would like to formally welcome you to our team and to our wonderful city. We are very excited to have you as a part of our organization. We look forward to building a strong and lasting relationship and having you as a part of our organization for many years to come. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask.
     Sincerely,
             The Philadelphia Flyers

Training Camp

Tomorrow is the first day of training camp. They said I would never make it, eh? They said I was too short. But I made it! Well I sorta made it. I made it to training camp, that’s pretty far. I mean even if I don’t make it any farther that’s pretty… NO! I will make it farther. I have to.  If I fail now then that means they were right along. If I I’m not going to make the team now I shoulda quit when they told me to, shoulda quit while I was ahead, eh? But if I do make the team it will be so great. I’ll go back to my hometown and shove it in everyone’s faces… Okay, maybe I won’t do that. But I won’t have to, they’ll know. They will all be sitting in their tiny little homes freezing their butts off while I am living their dreams and they will be saying, “I can’t believe little Logan actually made it to the NHL!”. They will realize they were wrong along and then they will call me and beg for my forgiveness because after all I am going to be a big star. Okay, so maybe they won’t be begging and they might not call but they’ll be thinking it! You better believe they’ll be thinking it. It’s everyone’s dream back home to make it to the NHL and our little town hasn’t had an NHLer in 15 years. So even if they doubted me I know they are excited! I know I am. Well, I think I’ll grab my runners and go for a jog, gotta keep in shape if I wanna make the team! Better grab my toque too, it’s pretty chilly here in Philly right now but not as cold as back home, eh? I love it here though; I always wanted to see the States.

Dear Mom & Dad,
        I know I probably don't say it enough but thank you for everything. Thank you for getting up at 5 am to drive me to practice. Thank you for leaving work early to be at my games. Thank you for making sure I was always energized for the game and for always having my gear clean, well as clean at it could be. Most of all thank you for always supporting me when nobody else did. 
Love you,
           Logan

The First Game

As the booming voice over the PA system enthusiastically called his name he skated to the logo at center ice joining the rest of his newly acquired teammates. The space between the opening of the tunnel and the center circle was a short skate but to him it felt like an eternity. The cheers, whistling and screaming of twenty thousand fans that were as loud as a roaring jet plane preparing to take flight echoed off the walls and bounced down to the ice surrounding him. The overhead lights in the building were dimmed and bright orange lights swirled around the perimeter making him a little dizzy. He had waited a lifetime for this and nobody believed he would ever make it. His mind was flooded with more emotions then he thought was possible for a human to feel at one time. His body shook ever so slightly as he rocked back in forth trying to keep loose during the national anthem. The crowd grew quiet as the two hundred year old ode to the country began, a country he had previously only seen in pictures. The words escaped the anthemist’s lips and rained down on everyone in the building, hitting him and sending tingles down his spine. As the anthem started to wind down his body began to shake even more. As the last word was carefully sung the crowd noise returned, now sounding like two jet planes. The starting players that were lined up at center ice broke the formation they were in and began to gracefully zoom around the rink, loosening up for the opening face-off, looking like they’ve done it hundreds of times. He followed suit, although he hadn’t done it hundred of times, praying that he wouldn’t trip or throw-up. Tonight was the beginning of the rest of his life and looking like a fool in front of twenty thousand people wasn’t on his beginning-of-life-checklist. 

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Wachovia Center- Home of the Philadelphia Flyers

Glens Falls Civic Center- Home of the Adirondack Phantoms

DISCLAIMER: This story is complete fiction. It is not about a real player and the writing is fiction. The Philadelphia Flyers and The Adirondack Phantoms are in no way associated with this story and I do not claim to be a part of them.

Many of these photos were found on various websites through the use of google images. I did not take many of them and the links to the websites in which they were found can be seen here.