'Pride'
The Players Tribune
By Eric Vanderberg Jr.

Yesterday I got drafted into the SHL.

My father, who since his retirement from the league was sitting on the draft floor at the Buffalo Stampede table; just about 300 feet away from my seats. I could see the pride on his face from there.

Let me go back a little bit, not far back but like just far enough back so you can understand what led to this night.

There are two things in Buffalo that the people of my hometown get excited for. The Bills and the Stampede. Buffalo is the epitome of a blue collar town. We got wings and everyone who is anyone knows someone who got completely shit faced at the Anchor Bar (The TRUE Inventors of the wing!). Anyone who has ever put on a uniform for a team in Buffalo knows that the city has their back and that winners never go hungry or thirsty in this town. You are beloved forever. My dad was never shy about his role for the Stampede.

Sometimes on the ice he told me in his first year some of the more established players would say 'Turn around kid, who are you!'. He would tell me he wouldn't let that get him down, he was too proud to let them get to him and cause a misstep which would fuck up the entire night. By the end of his career he told me everyone knew his name and respected him because of the role he played. He would tell me all the time 'everyone wants to be a star, no one wants to be the guy the star counts on'. I'll be honest, I never noticed those guys when they were on the ice until that moment. I also thought my dad was full of shit.

But i'll never forget the first time I went on the ice with him in Edmonton for his last season. I was shooting practice pucks around the ice without a care in the world while my dad was talking to another player. He called me over to meet them and he introduced me to 'Julie T'. I knew this guy for all of five seconds before he started telling me that without my dad, the D would run like garbage. It was only a few years later that I learned 'Julie T' was a future Hall of Famer named Julio Tokolosh.

My dad runs a hockey camp, I think every former player does like its a retirement requirement. He has one rule, 'Everyone is Equal'. My dad didn't care if you were the son of Cass Darrow or daughter of Haley Wickenheiser. You were there to learn and he would give you all he had. I've seen a lot of people come and go over the years but one person always sticks out. This kid from England who flew to the US and played AAA in Canada with the hope of making it to the league.

He was our billet brother, Brian Davenport. My dad was so proud of him when he got drafted to the Argos from Quebec. I don't think I heard him cheer louder, not even when he won the four star cup. He was so proud watching him pull on that Argonauts sweater on draft day. Dav's jersey was the first one I ever owned that didn't have my own name on the back and I wore the hell out of it. From Seattle to Edmonton to Toronto, I would always wear his name on it.

I guess it's only fitting that when I got drafted last night that I too put on the sweater of the Argonauts.

This morning when I got to Seattle to meet the team and tour the facility I stopped by their trophy case. There's the replica cup in there and great moments in history. In the hall leading up toward the team offices there's pictures of each draft pick the team ever took. From the expansion draft to now, some big, some small but their there. I caught some guys as they were adding our pictures to the wall.

That's class.

I think what this boils down to is that it's important to find a team that cares about its players as much as they care about the team. I don't know what role I will fill for Seattle but I hope it's as important as my dad was with Buffalo and my brother did with Edmonton. Their names and jerseys might not hang in the Hall of Fame; but their presence, their hard work, their dedication to the team means that they live forever and are never forgotten.

I might not be a star myself but I can live with that.

-EVJ3


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