A Different Path (BAP)
 

Drunk already. It was only 4 o'clock but since Patrick had his last final today he figured it would be okay. "God statistics is hard," he thought as he pounded another beer.

15 minutes and 2 beers later his phone started ringing. "Hmmm, a New York City area code? Must be my suitemate Alex," Patrick thought.

“Hiroow?” he howled into the phone. On the other end, a man not named Alex was just then questioning his decision to make that phone call but proceeded nonetheless.

“Hi is this Patrick Cosgrove?” the scratchy voice asked to now completely hammered student.

“Of course it is, but may I ask who is calling my good fellow. I’ll have you know I’m no one to be trifled with, so if you’re trying to sell me something then you’re outta luhhhh.”

All of a sudden he trailed off as something caught his attention across the room. “Look Patrick, this is Glen Sather the New York Ranger’s GM. You and I both know you’re not getting drafted this year, but we think you have some skills to really help this team, so we’d like to sign you to a small deal maybe start you in the AHL and work your way up. What do you say?”

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP. “S***. Must be the connection up in Ithaca. I don’t know why anyone build a school in that s***hole, let alone put a hockey team up there. We sent him a contract already anyway and if he’s interested he signs and we got ourselves a new player.”

The next morning came too soon for Patrick. “God how much did I drink last night. I actually thought I was talking to Glen Sather. Man that guy sucks. He’s managed to outspend everyone on the worst players despite the cap.” As he headed off to the gym he remembered checkout from the dorm was that night and that he needed to check his mail one last time before he left Cornell for the summer.

Putting that key into the keyhole turned Patrick’s summer from one of preparation for another ECAC season with Cornell University Big Red to one of preparation for the AHL. Inside was a envelope request and when he got the thick envelope with the New York Ranger’s logo on it, he knew his conversation with Glen Sather hadn’t been made up.

Re: A Different Path (BAP)
 

Nice start. I'm following. :cool:

Re: A Different Path (BAP)
 

thanks man. thought i'd go in a different direction and do a grinder bap. haven't seen one so i thought it would give it some seperation from everyone else's

Re: A Different Path (BAP)
 

LOL i laughed when he woke up and was like "OMG what a crazy dream!!" haha

Great beginning man, hoping the rest is just as funny as this last post.

Re: A Different Path (BAP)
 

Great job man. You should have had Sather sign you to a contract worth $30,000,000,000,000,000,000 to make it ultra realistic. How does he keep his job in a place like NY?

Re: A Different Path (BAP)
 

DT - it isn't surprising. Look at Darcy Regier in Buffalo. He's screwing the team over and he just signed an extension for next season. :y5::rolleyes:

Re: A Different Path (BAP)
 

i loled at that its so true.

probably one or two more updates before games start

Re: A Different Path (BAP)
 

“It wouldn’t be the same,” Patrick decided. No more packed arenas, giving his regards to Davey after every goal, and certainly no more saluting the fans after every game. “That,” he decided, “would stay.” Something he could do to honor his time as a Cornell hockey player.

The decision had been made after talking to his parents. His dream had been to play for Cornell and never thought that he would be good enough to even dream of the AHL let alone the NHL.

Now though on the flight from Ithaca to New York he was about to find out just what the Rangers really thought of him. Getting off the plane at LaGuardia Pat knew that he would have to get himself a cab. He was no prize prospect and he knew it.

Walking around Madison Square Garden Pat was confused. Where was he supposed to go? Players only? That sounded good enough.

“Hey kid what you think you are doing?” a huge Russian Cosgrove recognized as Nik Antropov asked.

“Sorry I’m lost. I’m supposed to be having a meeting with Mr. Sather,” he explained unsure of what he was supposed to do next.

“Yah. The office is that way,” Antropov said pointing in a different direction.

After about ten minutes Patrick finally found the GM’s office. “Hey kid you’re late! Look we’re taking a flier on you so don’t do anything to mess that up.” Sather stated matter-of-factly. “Look you’re technically an Unrestricted Free Agent as you weren’t drafted. Right now we’re not sure about your potential, but you’re a physical player and you’ve shown you might be able to put some pucks in the back of the net.”

“Hey kid, name’s Jim and is this Ken Gerander. I’m the General Manager of the Hartford Wolfpack and Ken’s Head Coach. Look, you knew you weren’t starting at the big club and here’s the thing, until you prove otherwise we’re not sure you deserve an NHL contract, so what we’re going to do is sign you to the league minimum which is $36,000 and if you do well enough, then the Rangers are going buy out the contract and make it 2-way so you won’t have to go through waivers at any point. Sound good?”

“Yes sir,” Pat stated. He was just looking forward to getting on the ice.

“Well we look forward to seeing you in Hartford kid. The train is the cheapest and fastest way to get there. Don’t want to cause too much expense for us eh? Hehe.”