T
here is a pivotal point in a hockey player's career where he fi ally establishes himself, a time when he realizes it is his moment to shine and that if he doesn't grab the proverbial brass ring, he could lose his chance to make his mark. For Andrej Nestrasil, that moment may have come at the end of the Griffins' triumphant Calder Cup championship run, but it wasn't on the ice. It was in the air. On a plane. With a microphone in his hand. On the fli ht back to Grand Rapids, the 22-year-old Red Wings prospect took a leading role, stepping into the spotlight as he playfully interviewed many of his teammates for a local television station, taking charge of the postgame celebration by injecting a little extra excitement into a time that every player on the plane would remember for the rest of his life. Nestrasil had practiced with the Griffins during the entire postseason run and had dressed for only one game, but it would be enough to get his name on the Cup. In the end, he had experienced the whole process. There was no way that he was going to let down his teammates at that moment. "I know that if I had played a bigger role, I would have enjoyed it 100 times more than I did, but I was so happy for the guys," Nestrasil recalled. "I loved every single one of those guys, and so when Game 6 was done, I could see all of them were so drained and so tired, but I didn't want them to fall asleep. I wanted them to enjoy themselves and have a good party on the plane. They will always remember the game and raising the Cup, but I wanted to make sure they remembered the party afterwards, too." It may be symbolic, but someday he may look back at the celebration as the moment his career took off. Andrej Nestrasil has had a zest for hockey as long as he can remember. Born in Prague, one of the great cities in the world, he learned to love life at a young age. His family may not have had much, but they had each other. The second oldest of five boys, Nestrasil started playing hockey at age three, following in the footsteps of his big brother, Boris. "When we were young, we lived in a really small apartment because we were really poor," Nestrasil said. "My older brother and
Nestrasil split the past two seasons between Toledo and Grand Rapids.
me actually slept in the same room with my parents. We had actual beds, but my mom and father slept on the fl or in the same bedroom on tiny mattresses. "When my father came home from work, he would move the mattresses and set up a net and we would play every day for three hours. We'd play best-of-7s, and whoever won got three hockey cards and whoever lost – and it was always me because I was two years younger – would get only one. But at least I had some." Nestrasil may have been too young to remember, but home videos document that Boris never babied his little brother. "He would cross-check me and pin me against the wall," he said. "My mom was always recording us when we played, and you could see he was just killing me."
Grand Rapids GRIFFINS • 2013 Calder Cup Champions
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