The Career of Derrick Graham(NHL 09 Goalie BAP)

[Silent-Phenom]

Derrick Graham was once considered to be a top goaltender. Probably one of the best in the world recording twenty-four shut outs in his Freshman and Sophomore years with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. He had so many offers at the time to go to the NHL but turned them all down to stay in college and get his degree in computer engineering.

Graham's hockey dreams were shattered in a preseason game against the Wisconsin Badgers in the '06 - '07 season. Wisconsin had a two on one where they quickly beat the lone Minnesota defender and Graham was all alone. They passed back and forth a few times before letting a one timer rip. Graham turned quickly to make the save but it was too quick of a movement and he winced in pain as the puck flew into his out stretched glove while the Wisconsin players skated past him in disbelief.

Problem this time was, Graham didn't get up and by the time the trainers reached him all his pads were off and told them he thought he had pulled his groin. Reports came back a day later and the Gophers were informed that Graham would probably never play hockey again with multiple tears in the groin area.

Graham finished his Junior year, disappointed and bored since he couldn't play hockey anymore. He missed the rush and excitement of playing between the pipes and robbing some of the best college players in the game.

One Year Later

Graham had been walking for about six months now and stunned doctors at every turn by how well he recovered and the things he could do again. Doctors finally cleared him to try and play Hockey again after much pleading from Graham and the team. He continued to train with the team even if it was too late for him to play in the games.

The draft was coming up and some scouts were amazed to see Graham on the ice again even if most of them doubted he would be effective in net anymore.

Draft Day

Graham sat at home watching the NHL Network as the draft went on. He knew he probably wouldn't hear his name called but he liked to watch anyway. It was down to the final round of the draft and before the first pick was made Graham's cell phone rang.

"Hello? Who is this?" Graham said as he answered the phone.

"This is Paul Holmgren, GM of the Philadelphia Flyers. We loved how you played in your early college days before the bad injury and seen you practice with the team in your senior year and you looked good. We are willing to give you a shot to see if you can become what everyone thought you could be two years ago."

Graham stopped for a second to try and regain his composure so he didn't stutter or say something stupid but it happened anyway.

"Re-re-really!? That is great, of course I will play for you. This is really unexpected." Graham said as he sounded like an idiot as he talked to fast in excitement.

"Well you won't be on the Flyers right away but you will be on our affilate team the Philadelphia Phantoms. The plane ticket will be in the mail tomorrow. Good luck kid." Holmgren finished as he hung up the phone.

Graham held the phone up to his ear for about five minutes even after Paul had hung up before dropping it in excitement and turning back to the TV as he heard:

"And with the 196th pick in the 7th round - The Flyers select....Derrick Graham, Goalie out of the University of Minnesota."

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Settings are:
QB's Sliders
8 Minutes
Classic Cam
No Clock
Visual Line Off

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Graham slammed the alarm off before glancing at the time, it read 7:00. He quickly grabbed his ticket next to the clock and it said that his flight was at 8:30. It took at least an hour to get to the airport, so he had to go as fast as he could.

"OH F...," Graham said to himself as he got up and started running around his apartment. He threw on deodorant on and then a pair of baggy jeans and a dirty t-shirt before grabbing and shoving as many things as he could fit in a duffel bag before flying out the door and heading to his old, white Ford Bronco(No, I am not O.J. Simpson.) He flew down the roads going at least twenty miles over the speed limit and lucky for him no cops were on the roads yet.

Graham reached the airport in record time, getting there at 7:57. He ran through the airport till he get to a security check with 10 people in line. Ten minutes passed and he quickly took off his belt, watch and anything else metal and placed it into the container and set his bag on conveyor to go through the scanner. He finished getting scanned and grabbed all his belongings and continued to run towards his gate. He reached the gate at 8:25 and boarded the plane.

Graham entered the first class section and glanced around for his seat before he set his eyes on a gorgeous brunette sitting in the seat next to him. He kind of just stood there for a second staring before the stewardess walked by.

"Sir? Will you please take your seat the plane will be taking off soon." Graham nodded and went over to his seat.

"Excuse me," Derrick said as he slid by her and into his window seat. Graham stared out the wind as the plan began to take off. Two hours went by the pilot informed everyone that we would be landing in an hour. He was always kind of a ladies man in College and never had any problems getting a date.

"Hi, my name is Derrick and yours?" He said as he kind of glanced over her trying to be as discrete as possible.

"Natasha." Nice name he thought to himself, always liked it.

"So, Natasha; what are you going to Philly for?"

"Trying to become a model, have a friend over there who thinks she can get me a job. And you?"

"I was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers, going there to play for there AHL team to see if I can cut it in the NHL." She probably has no idea what the AHL is or who the Flyers were Derrick thought to himself.

"Oh really? The Phantoms, huh. Is your last name Graham by the way? You went to Minnesota, played goalie? I was a junior when you started playing."

She knows me? Really, he thought to himself. "So your into Hockey then?"

"Yeah, my dad was a Northstar nut growing up and I had three older brothers who all played hockey as well. So I generally always followed the sport."

"Cool. The Flyers are giving me a shot. Really didn't expect it with the injury and all."

"Yeah, that looked pretty bad when they took you off the ice."

The conversation went on for another twenty minutes or so before the plane landed. She slid a piece of paper into his shirt pocket as they exited the plane.

"Call me when you get a chance. Remember to ask for Natasha since it's my friend's place." She said as she went off in the other direction. Nice, Graham thought to himself as he picked up his baggage and exited the airport.

A driver held up a sign that said "Graham." Derrick walked over to the guy and followed him, leading to a limo. He had a reservation for a hotel but had no idea where it was but the driver knew the way and stopped at fancy hotel called The Loew's Philadelphia Hotel.

He got his key after checking in and went to his room. "Sweet," he said as he entered the room. 42" Flat screen and a very nice king size bed. "Man they really go all out," Derrick said as dropped his bag and flopped on the bed.

His first team meeting wasn't until six so he decided to catch up on some sleep.

[Silent-Phenom]

He woke up at 4:30 and took a shower and got on some nicer clothes before heading off to the team meeting. He threw on the Flyers hat that he got in the mail as well. He stepped outside where he called down a cab which took him to the Wachovia Spectrum.

Graham was greeted by Head Coach, John Paddock and his assistants; Kjell Samuelsson and Neil Little as well as Captain Boyd Kane and the rest of the team. The coaches ran down what our expectations were and what it would take to make it to the NHL before throwing us into practice.

Derrick suited up in the locker room and next to me was my competition, 31 year old - Jean-Sebastian Aubin. The French-Canadian was giving me a few pointers as I finished getting my pads on. I skated around the defensive zone a bit before Paddock told me to get between the pipes. The team skated down one at a time and tried to score on me I stopped most of them aside from a few shots. I need to get back into my Freshman-Sophomore groove because I am a little rust for being out for so long.

Shutting Down Matsumoto

They threw me into some five on three's as well. I handled it extremely well, maybe getting a little flashy showing off. Another hour of drills went by before calling it a day. It was an overall good work out and I was back to my normal self again.

Game One - October 10th: Bridgeport Sound Tigers @ Philadelphia Phantoms.

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Philadelphia Phantoms Lines

FORWARDS

Line One:
Patrick Maroon - Jonathan Matsumoto - Rob Bellamy

Line Two:
Josh Gratton - Nate Raduns - David Laliberte

Line Three:
Boyd Kane(C) - Frederik Cabana - Matt Clackson

Line Four:
Jonathon Kalinski - Jared Ross - Jeff Szwez

DEFENSE

Line One:
Lasse Kukkonen - Sean Curry

Line Two:
Oskars Bartulis - Nate Guerin

Line Three:
Danny Syvret - Luca Sbisa

GOALIES

Starter:
Derrick Graham

Backup:
Jean-Sebastian Aubin

[Silent-Phenom]

The rosters obviously aren't 100% accurate but close enough. And for you English teachers out there, I know I switch between third person and first a lot but I don't care, lol.

[Silent-Phenom]

Graham Skeptics Silenced

There was a lot of concern from Flyer fans when Derrick Graham was selected with the final pick of their draft. Today though he silenced all critics with a dominate performance. The Phantoms start off the season with a three to nothing opener, thanks to rookie Derrick Graham who recorded his first shutout in ONE AHL game. The game winning goal came from Oskars Bartulis in the second period.

Graham looked best in the final six minutes of the game when on the penalty kill he stopped six consecutive shots from Bridgeport in about a minute and the two empty net goals at the end was just the icing on the cake.

Game Stats

BRI @ PHA
Goals: 0 - 3
Shots: 30 - 27
Faceoffs: 16 - 15
T.O.A.: 7:15 - 9:19
PIM: 10:00 - 8:00
PP: 0/4 - 0/5

Three Stars

First
Derrick Graham - PHA G
30/30 - 100SV% - 0 GA - 1 SO

Second
Patrick Maroon - PHA LW
1 Goal - 1 Shot - 5 Hits - +2

Third
Oskars Bartulis - PHA D
1 Goal - 3 Shots - 1 Hit - +1

Goals:

Second Period
Oskars Bartulis[1] (Jared Ross[1])

Third Period
EN - Jeff Szwez[1] (Luca Sbisa[1], Jonathon Kalinski[1])

EN - Patrick Maroon[1] (Lasse Kukkonen[1], Sean Curry[1])

Goalies
PHA - Derrick Graham - 30/30 - 100SV% - 0 GA - 1 SO

BRI - Yann Danis - 24/25 - 96SV% - 1 GA

[TarasNovoseltsev]

somebody did their research...