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***bluesfan55*** · 04-02-2021, 01:09 PM

[Image: players_tribune_268.jpg?mtime=20190321120140]

Hamjam

by Mitchell van der Heijden, Hamilton Steelhawks center

The offseason is an interesting time. Fun for sure, but unless you for sure know that you're in a team's plans, you spend it wondering if you might be traded. And that was me. Now I'm not saying I didn't know for sure that I was in New England's plans; I'd told them that I planned on testing the market after my contract expired, and they did the natural thing GMs would do: try to get as much value for a player who might leave you for nothing at season's end. And it was smart of them to do so cause I most definitely would've left if I'd spent this season on the Wolfpack; I want to win and missing the playoffs would not have been fun. The interesting thing to me was wondering where I would go if traded. I'd heard a couple teams had registered interest in acquiring me, and I was open to going most places. When the deal was finally through, I don't think I could've gone to a better place: Hamilton.

The official trade was me to the Steelhawks for Dick Clapper (later traded to the Buffalo Stampede for a lottery protected first, second, and inactive Knute Knurtsson) and a second round pick. When I found out, it was a kind of bittersweet moment. Sad because New England had welcomed me with open arms and entrusted me with a leadership role from the getgo, something I never expected them to do. I truly enjoyed my three seasons there, and they're building a potential contender; the acquisition of Finn-Rhys from the Blizzard only gets them closer to that goal. But going to Hamilton was a dream come true. Most players probably wish they would ever get the chance to pull on a Steelhawks jersey, and I'm lucky to be able to do so. It's even better that I knew most of the people there. Sammy Michaud and Bork Lazer were teammates of mine in the juniors. They'd traded for Elijah Jones from Atlanta on the same day; we're international teammates and linemates. Ray Bork had played with my agent in San Francisco, and I'd played against a bunch of the younger guys on the roster (Ricky Hammarberg, Zlatan, Guy O'Shea, Jobin, and Rotti) whilst in the juniors with Anchorage. Plus you get to play with established stars like Michael Scarn, Aaron Wilson, and Theo Morgan, so safe to say that I was starstruck on the first day of training camp.

Then I scored 15 points in preseason (I attribute this to being a passenger on the Scarn/Wilson line) and I knew I was going to have a good season. Hamilton's known for coaching that can establish players as downright studs, turning guys like Theo, Guy, and Flacko Lagerfield into brilliant players. I'd come off of a 48 point season, which is pretty good, but I knew I could do better after starting off as hot as I did. I was put on a line with Elijah and rookie Devin Basher (who doesn't get nearly enough credit; 30 points as a rookie is nothing to scoff at and his 97 hits means he lives up to the name), and ended up scoring 60 points. I was going for 50 points since I'd almost broken it last season, and I went out there and beat that goal by 10, playing as the set-up man for Elijah who casually scored 30 goals and 74 points. The regular season was probably the most fun I've had as a player since juniors; I was on a team where if I wasn't having a good game or stretch of games, it wouldn't matter since we've got scorers for days. And we were doing a LOT of winning. 16 losses, 3 of them in overtime, and 103 points. I'd be remiss to not mention guys who don't get enough respect on the team, like Zlatan (just a stud blueliner), Skao (who came up with some clutch goals), and Ricky (honestly, just the nicest dude and the best glue guy a team could ask for who also happens to center Morgan and Wilson). We played as a full, cohesive team, and it showed out there.

The playoffs were fun as well. I hadn't won a series since S54, when I'd been the guy to end Hamilton's chances at the Challenge Cup (oh, the irony). New England had played Edmonton and Buffalo fairly close in my two playoff series there, but I'd just never been able to get going. These playoffs, I wasn't scoring simply because I wanted to play a more defensive role. My goal this postseason was to act as a third defenseman; I've always been defensively responsible but it's much more important to do so in the playoffs, and I think I did that role well. After waiting a round, we started off against the Edmonton Blizzard, and we went up 3-1 pretty quickly. Next thing you know, we drop 2 straight and we're going to a Game 7, where we saved face with a 3-2 win (Devin scoring the series winner because he's clutch like that). In the conference finals, we came up against the Renegades, who I was confident we'd beat since in our 2 games against them in the regular season, we'd beaten them pretty handily (12-4 on aggregate). And again, we went up 3-1. And again, we dropped the next 2. Texas might've been in the weaker division, but they're a damn fine squad as their President's Trophy shows, and they had no quit. So how did Game 7 go? An emphatic 6-2 win in Texas. We were off to the finals again to face the Buffalo Stampede, who'd just beaten the nascent Toronto North Stars in 7.

And those finals went absolutely fantastic. We dropped game 1 4-1 as the Stampede dominated us on home ice. Game 2 went differently; we won 5-2 as the D stepped up big time (Hugh Jazz, Sammy, and Ray scored 3 of our goals). Game 3 we dominated, with another 5-2 win thanks to 4 points from Elijah (I scored too, but Elijah was the true star of that game). Game 4 was a 5-1 win thanks to a hatty from Awils and 3 points from young stud Rotticus Scott, and yet again we were up 3-1 in a series. And we actually closed it out this time, as goalie Jobin stood on his head, making 40 saves as we won 4-2. We'd reached the summit and I couldn't have been happier for the guys on this team. Ray went out with a cup. Zlatan won his first cup (and soulja got his first cup after SEVEN YEARS on the site). Vets like Mike, Theo, and Hugh continued to establish themselves as all-time greats (with Agent Scarn scoring the cup-winning goal against his old team).

And we've got a chance to run it back next season as our squad figured to stay mostly intact, with Ray being replaced by the crodie Evangelos Giannopoulos. I couldn't be more excited to see what the future holds in Hamilton; we've got a fairly young team and Dogwood Maple down in the juniors figures to be a stud. Hamilton, I'm glad we could get you another cup. We're not done at all.

ty to @High Stick King @EvilAllBran and @Ragnar for the sigs

JSS · 04-02-2021, 02:31 PM

SlashACM · 04-03-2021, 02:23 AM

the S54 finals were objectively the greatest 4 games in SHL history. No debate really

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