Youngster Marco Rossi is regarded as a future NHL professional. So that the ÖEHV talent can also fully exploit its potential and fulfil its dream, it is now breaking new ground. Rossi started a crowdfunding campaign on the platform “I believe in you” to take the next steps with fan support.
After his first assignments for the GCK Lions in Switzerland’s second highest league, the 16-year-old was last selected by the Ottawa 67s as part of the CHL Import Drag. The Canadians should now prepare him for the jump into the NHL.
“In 2020, it could be time for me to participate in the NHL Entry Draft and hope to be picked up by one of the teams,” Rossi has a clear eye on the NHL, but also knows: “Everything is in the future – but if I want to achieve this long-term goal, the step to Canada this summer is absolutely necessary. That’s where you come in.”
Ottawa takes over his personal costs in Canada, but Rossi also wants to work. “I want to be better than others, I have to do more. Private trainers and special training camps with skating experts to take me to the next level are expensive – but necessary,” Rossi explains on “I believe in you”. Here is his entire statement:
Dear supporters!
My name is Marco Rossi and I have a dream: The NHL. Ice hockey has been playing the world for me since I can remember. My father often tells me that even as a small child I made my first attempts on the skates – no wonder, after all, he himself was an ice hockey player for years and always took me on the ice.
He was also the one who recognized and promoted my talent very early on. At the age of 11, we decided that it would take a courageous step forward: A change to Switzerland. Okay, from Vorarlberg Switzerland is no world trip, but nevertheless some strains were already early connected with it. No problem for my father and me, however, we gladly took on the daily car journeys. Although some progress is already being made in Austria, our neighbours in ice hockey are still a step ahead of us in terms of junior players.
How it all began
In Switzerland, I had to prove my skills against two to four-year-old opponents – a fact that has remained unchanged to this day. I was and am allowed to compete against older competitors in the Austrian junior national team as well. Last season, I was rewarded by the GCK Lions with my first stakes in the NLB, the second highest league in Switzerland. At 16, I was by far the youngest player in the league. A great experience, suddenly standing on the ice with confessed men. But I didn’t want to be pushed around, I also succeeded in the first game the first assist.
Although I felt very comfortable with the Lions, I always had in mind the idea of moving to North America. Playing in Canada, the motherland of ice hockey – that would be something! There was no shortage of offers, followed in June by the “CHL Import Draft”, in which the Canadian junior teams secure the world’s most talented young players. We’ve been through all the teams before, the Ottawa 67s immediately caught our eye. The joy was huge when the 67s actually chose me. In Ottawa the environment fits, the coach builds on me – I think that I can get used to North American ice hockey there ideally.
High goals, extraordinary measures
It will need it in the next two years, the ultimate goal is NHL. The best ice hockey league in the world. By 2020, I could be eligible to participate in the NHL Entry Draft and hope to be picked up by one of the teams. All this is dreams of the future – but if I want to achieve this long-term goal, the step to Canada this summer is absolutely necessary. That’s where you come in.
There will be certain costs in the near future. Not only for me, but also for my environment. The Ottawa 67s will cover my costs, but it needs more. I want to be better than others, I have to do more. Private trainers and special training camps with skating experts to take me to the next level are expensive – but necessary.
I am eternally grateful to my family, they have done everything to bring me here. But the reserves are almost exhausted and I want to take the reins – with your support – into my own hands. I know, for example, that our family car has come to the end of years of daily car journeys to Switzerland. We have collected 375,000 kilometres, which is noticeable.
Now I need your support
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to finance a new family car with “I believe in you”, but I don’t want to become a burden to my environment. I just want my expenses to be covered as best I can. I am a total family man, the closeness of my parents and my two sisters is very important to me. It would be nice if they could invest their savings to visit me in Ottawa – and not to pay me a private coach.
I work really hard every day to reach my big goal. I can’t do it all by myself. I need your support. Not only financially – also the certainty that many people believe in me and my dream would give me enormous tailwind. You can all make a contribution. True to the motto: Alone we are strong, together we are unstoppable!
Thank you for your support and your trust. I will do everything in my power to live up to it,
your Marco
Click here for the campaign