PLAYER PROFILE: Steve Towell

Born in the rurals of Munster as Stíofán O'Towell, this Irishman didn't always have a hockey stick in his hand like most of his fellow teammates. In fact, Steve is quite skilled with several sticks, a whacking stick, a pool cue, a field hockey stick and even a sniper rifle (which isn't really a stick, but whatever!). In this edition of the Shockers' Player Profile, we'll look at the life and times of the wizard, Steve Towell.

While growing up as a young O'Towell, Steve's parents Téodóir (a.k.a Theodore) and Léá (a.k.a Leia) taught him how to live off the land. Farming was Steve's favorite past time. He grew carrots, cabbage, Ireland's famous potatoes and special herbs that his parents kept for themselves. Another favorite activity of his was watching over the sheep and goats that grazed the endless fields of his family's estate. He protected them from predators such as miniture field wolves and carnivorous mice. One day while Steve was watching over the livestock, a pack of field wolves made an attempt to ambush the herd. Steve raced and grabbed his precious whacking stick carved from ebony and brimstone and clubbed the entire pack like seals. Some say he killed 50+ wolves who were three times his size single handedly, others say that the whacking stick was actually a twiggy branch from a fig tree and that he actually ended up strangling the wolves with his bare hands instead.

Regardless, from that day on Steve discovered the power he had with a stick. He brought his trusty stick everywhere; the market, church, Wal-mart, asian bondage strip clubs and even school. Since his village did not have police, Steve had inadvertently became the law and kept everyone in line with a quick whack of his stick.

Unfortunately, like most police Steve became corrupted and started to hang out in shady places and took bribes from anyone who was looking for a good time. These shady places were mostly basement drunken farmer bars and seemed to always have pool tables. This is where Steve picked up another skill with a stick. He had become a feared competitor with a pool cue and actually found a new way to make a living playing high stake pool games. Some say he could sink every ball on the table just by looking at them, others say that sometimes when he breaks, he crack the cue ball in half.

However, when you start making big money in Ireland, you start attracting a new breed of people. While Steve was playing in a high stakes game of 9 ball, he was approached by the head of an underground sect of the IRA. Steve, looking for anyway to support his family embarked on the offer to join and immediately began his army training.

Army training for this sect is not comparable to what most armies would go through, in fact it was quite the opposite. While with the IRA, Steve discovered what beer was and found a new love, shooting guns. Steve became quite the marksman with a sniper rifle and played a key part in the civil war of Northern Ireland vs. Southern Ireland. Some storytellers say that he could kill 5 men with one bullet, others say he could kill a yak a mile away while chugging a Guinness. While with the IRA, Steve started to discover that all the beer drinking was taking a toll on his body and he needed to start moving around to stay in shape. While stationed in another small village during the war (no one remembered the name of the town because everyone wass usually drunk), Steve saw some kids playing a game with curled wooden sticks and a ball. They called it field hockey. Steve, immediately intrigued, asked the young ones how to play and joined in everyday he was not fighting the war.

The war had ended and Steve left the IRA. He lost interest in the organization. He lost interest in playing pool. Instead, he returned back home to work on his family's farm and thought constantly about field hockey. While on a trip into the nearest village, he stopped off at the library and looked up hockey. He found a book that said that hockey was invented in Canada. Steve became infatuated with the visions of Canada being like Disney Land of hockey and saved up all his money to move to there.

Steve landed in Montreal as that is as far as his money would get him. The Quebec government said his last name O'Towell wasn't acceptable because they were only able to say it as Ho'Tall which was too close to the word "hotel." So, he shortened his name and called himself Steve Towell.

While in Montreal, he made a friend who took him to Verdun to learn the ways of the masters. This friend was none other than Donald Toohey. Toohey showed him all the hockey hang-outs and showed him the ropes at the local rinks, arenas and gyms. Steve became a wizard with the ball and started to be a force to be reckoned with in any league he stepped into.

Steve joined the Shockers for the Winter 2009 season and was an immediate success. He shared the lead for most points for the Shockers and the Rockstar Divsion in the NABHL with Steve Diabo and he will be a bright light in the playoffs.

Come watch Steve tear up the floor tonight @ 6:30pm as him and the Shockers will take on the Purple Cobras in game one of the opening round of the playoffs.