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***cake307*** · 01-29-2024, 05:13 PM

Hi Mom.

It’s a bit weird of a feeling, writing you a letter like this. But pretty soon, I won’t be able to come by and talk to you every other week.

I’m sorry I missed this week’s, too. Kinda funny, isn’t it, that the two year anniversary might be the last time I get to talk to you in person, huh? But I had an event, you see.

You remember the hockey, of course. How could you not? ‘Mija,’ you’d say, ‘don’t forget your studies, you can’t skate all night.’ ‘Papi, you can’t take her to the hockey this weekend, that’s in Los Angeles and we need to clean!’ But you loved it, Dad and I both know that. You had the brightest smile when watching me skate, or when watching dad coach me,

You’d have beamed wider than ever last night, mom. I’m afraid you would have hurt your jaw from smiling so much. You see, it was the SMJHL draft.

Anna Skovgaard was the consensus number one overall pick, even I knew that going in. But mom, you would have researched every single player on offer and had a solid mock draft… I didn’t do that, I just kind of blocked most of it out. Maybe that’s why I was so surprised, because I think you wouldn’t have been.

Sorry, I got a bit off track, mom. You know how I try to fit in everything I have to say to you… but there was a huge trade. Absolutely massive. St. Louis traded up, getting 2nd overall from Carolina… and then they picked ME with it.

Mama, I was so shocked, I don’t even have the words for it. I barely even remember it, standing up, walking up on stage… I was given a jersey, mom, and when I tell you I almost broke down and cried on live TV. It had the number 16 right there, emblazoned on it, our number. It was just too much at the time, but somehow I managed to keep it together until we got home.

But, mama, St. Louis has… a bad reputation. I’ve read about it, articles saying it’s a ‘boys club’, that the locker room is all kinds of full of toxic masculinity, that it’s exclusionary to new rookies, even men, much less a woman. I spoke with Jimmy Smo, the General Manager, mama, just this morning, and I told him I wasn’t sure about this. I thought I might not sign with St. Louis. And you know what he said? He said he understood. That the team had been the league joke for long enough, that he had been brought in to rebuild the entire organization. He told me he couldn’t promise winning, not my first year, not my second, probably not even my third and fourth. But he could promise me the chance to make a difference.

Mama, I decided to stay, right then. Know why? I thought about one of the things you always told me, over and over, ‘Don’t run away when you have a chance to make a difference’. I realized, this is exactly what you were talking about. I can make that difference, right away, in a place that desperately needs it. I can make a difference for women in sports, I can show that the boy’s club is a thing of the past, I can be the face of a Scarecrow team that’s becoming bolder, newer, and maybe I can help grow a whole new team out of the old here.

It isn’t just the team, either. I think the city needs it too. They won a cup and they’re still the laughingstock of the league. But I’m going to change that. Jimmy seems really determined, mama, to turn everything there around, and I believe in his vision, so I’m signing on. We’re going to turn St. Louis into the team to be on, the team to go watch. We’re going to be something St. Louis the city can be proud of, and a guiding light for how to do it right in the SMJHL. My dream, mama, new and maybe a little bit heavy, is to turn St. Louis into a true hockey city. Wish me luck.

Love you forever,

Alexa Johansen

[Image: jYVWBPa.png]

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vbottas17 · 01-29-2024, 05:40 PM

Mama would be proud.

Congrats on being drafted so high & best of luck with your career!

***cake307*** · 01-29-2024, 05:54 PM

01-29-2024, 05:40 PMvbottas17 Wrote: Mama would be proud.

Congrats on being drafted so high & best of luck with your career!

I think she would too! And thank you!

***boom*** · 01-29-2024, 06:06 PM

Congratulations on being drafted and best of luck with everything!

*NaomiMannequeen* · 01-29-2024, 06:44 PM

I'm not crying you're crying ;w;

Tsunny · 01-30-2024, 12:16 AM

This was such a beautiful letter, i'm sure she is proud of you. Congrats on being drafted 2nd overall and can't wait to see you on the ice again, Kvinna~ Wink

ibuprofenaddict · 01-30-2024, 12:51 PM

I hate the scarecrows but I'm a big Alexa fan now, go make a difference!

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