Nareg Balian '20 Recruiting Profile

I am the perfect player to have on your team because I am the most confident player because of my unrivaled work ethic. I started skating in April in 6th grade and quickly knew I wanted to play hockey.  About a month after I started skating, I tried out for a travel team and quickly became the best player on that team after a summer of training. At this point in time, I thought I was really working hard, but I quickly found out I was doing next to nothing compared to some other guys. The following year, I was playing in an AA tournament where I scored 2 goals, got 2 assists, and a lower back injury which did not allow me to make the team because we were not sure when I would be back. During my recovery, a coach of an A team saw me on the ice and offered me a spot on the team where I became the assistant captain. Playing through injuries and a constant change of coaches made that a slow season. It was that year I decided I wanted to go D1 and then NHL. In the spring league that year, I immediately went to high school hockey where I made my school's Varsity team and got 4 points in 10 games. A preseason injury kept me out for a month during my freshman year which was followed up by major allergic reactions at the rink. Still, my freshman year looked a lot better than my spring league because I was actually doing a lot to get better. I got 5 points in 8 games played which was not bad for a guy that never played tier hockey. During the final game in the Thanksgiving tournament, I suffered a concussion which kept me off the ice until mid-January and out of games until February. In my first game back, I acquired another injury to my lower back, but after taking some painkillers, I was fine. The next game I played, I got another concussion which kept me off the ice until May and out of games until November of my Sophmore season. Last season, I used the time away from games to make monumental gains in all areas of my game which involved getting more muscular and faster. These workouts put me on a different level physically compared to my teammates, even the seniors, which gave me my confidence. Due to allergies to mold, I  practiced only an hour a week on the ice, but starting on the week of January 15th, I started practicing  3 hours per week on the ice which helped me get much better and increase my scoring output.  At the end of the regular season,  I had 16 points in 16 games which were good for me and showed my work had been paying off. During spring season last year is when I really took off when I got 24 points in 10 games. This got me multiple offers to play junior hockey during my junior year of high school at 16. At the time, I was proud of my accomplishments, but I knew once I signed a contract, my life would change and I would really have to start acting like an athlete and not like just another guy. My parents were not sure whether I was ready or not, but as time went on and I kept getting offers, they start to ask me "which team would you like to go to?" I chose to play for the NOTL Nationals which was an expansion team in the GMHL which is a tier 2 Jr. A league in the GMHL. Being one of the few 16-year-olds in the league, I have had a lot of pressure because I need to show people I deserve to play at a young age. I have done well with the pressure adapting to it and overcoming it. Recently, I played my 10th game which was sadly an overtime loss to Toronto. So far, I have 5 assists in my first 10 games which in my eyes is a successful start, but will not be the way I finish. I will average at least 0.8 points per game by the time the 42 game season ends in February before the playoffs start up.