The road that Aaron Voros travelled to reach the National Hockey League can’t be found in a how-to guide for aspiring professional athletes. But eight years after he was drafted out of the British Columbia Hockey League, Voros is finally where he’s always wanted to be.
This season began for Voros much like the three before it – in the American Hockey League. After a trio of seasons in the Devils organization that were equal parts promising and frustrating, Voros got a fresh start with the Houston Aeros, the Minnesota Wild’s top farm club.
And on November 11th, when Voros answered his phone and was told to head to the airport and catch a flight to Denver, everything changed.
“I was pretty excited and kind of relieved when I got the call,” says Voros, who dressed for the Wild that night in Colorado and has suited up for every game since.
“I was pretty nervous those first few games but I tried to keep my game simple and hit everything that moved, and I gained confidence pretty quickly.”
That confidence and endless hard work has Voros reaping rewards for a decade of challenges and setbacks. Few eighth-round picks beat the odds and make it to the NHL, and fewer would if dealt the hand Voros turned over five years ago.
But the circuitous route Voros took to get to the pros helped make him the player he is today.
After a few unsuccessful trips to WHL prospects camps and a season playing Junior B hockey, Voros caught on with the Victoria Salsa, where scouts started to notice him. In his second season in Victoria, Voros scored 34 goals and tallied 68 points in 57 games. He also racked up 198 penalty minutes.
“The experience in Victoria was very good for me,” he says. “I really enjoyed myself and I got to be part of a really good group.”
“He’s always had the drive and the work ethic,” says Peter Voros, Aaron’s father. “Aaron’s motto back in junior was that he was going to make the scoresheet somehow. If he wasn’t going to make it on goals, he’d make it on fights.”
His ability to do both caught the eye of the Devils, who told Aaron they would draft him if he secured an NCAA scholarship. He did – signing on to play at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks – and New Jersey made good on their promise, selecting Voros in the eighth round of the 2001 NHL Draft.
In his first season in Fairbanks, Voros built on the promise he showed in the BCHL. He led the Nanooks with 18 goals and was named to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s All-Rookie Team.
“Aaron was one of the most relentless checkers I’d seen,” says Guy Gadowsky, Voros’s coach at Alaska-Fairbanks. “And I don’t think he got enough credit for his skill. He made pretty plays that you wouldn’t expect from a 6’4” guy.”
But in an early season practice during Voros’s sophomore year, his hockey career was thrown into doubt.
“I fell on my leg and it was really painful,” Voros says. “I got a bone scan and it turned up a tumour.”
At first, doctors couldn’t tell Voros whether or not it was cancerous. The tumour was in a sensitive spot, and performing a biopsy risked spreading the disease. He saw a number of doctors and received a number of conflicting opinions.
“He didn’t know if he was going to keep his leg or lose it,” Peter says. “And he didn’t know – if it was cancer – if it would spread. In the end, Aaron had to go through three operations to find out it wasn’t cancer,”
“We went down to Seattle to see a specialist and he immediately told us that it was cancer. But we waited while he checked to be sure, and he came back and apologized and said that it probably wasn’t.”
As it turned out, that final diagnosis was correct. But Voros wasn’t yet in the clear. The tumour was removed, but upon returning to university, the Nanooks team physician examined Voros’s scar and found it was still weeping. Further tests showed that he’d come down with a serious Staph infection.
To ward off the infection, the doctors had to keep Voros’s wound open and treat it with pressurized water. It doesn’t sound fun, but it felt far worse.
“The treatments were just torture for Aaron,” Peter says. “He would call after each treatment and I was devastated just listening to his voice. That year was basically a write-off.”
But Voros still managed to play a handful of games that season, even if he was hardly ever at full strength. And by his junior year at Fairbanks, his offensive production and feistiness had returned.
“I had lost a lot of weight and strength,” he says. “I went from 205 lbs. down to 160, but it made me hungrier and I got back into better shape than I’d been in in the first place. I got up to 215 lbs. and looked more like a linebacker in football.”
The Devils liked what they saw enough the offer Voros his first professional contract. He signed, and quickly joined the Albany River Rats, the team’s AHL affiliate, in time to close out the 2002-03 season.
But Voros’s stay in Albany ended up lasting far longer than he’d hoped or expected. In his first full season with the River Rats he finished seventh on the team in scoring and spent most of his time on a line with NHL veteran Dean McAmmond and Devils’ phenom and first-rounder Zach Parise.
But AHL success never translated into NHL opportunity for Voros – with the Devils, at least. He spent two more years in Albany, recording double digits in goals and fights each season. In his third full minor league campaign, Voros was often a healthy scratch and once again he seemed to be battling circumstances beyond his control.
“It just seemed like I was starting to fall out of favour,” he says.
That’s when the Wild came calling. Minnesota loved Voros’s all-out, high-energy style and traded a draft pick to New Jersey to acquire him. Less than a year later, he’s an everyday player who often sees time on the power-play and the occasional shift with superstars Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra.
“It’s pretty great compared to where I was a year ago,” Voros says. “I’ve gone from playing in the minors to getting to play with two of the best players in the world.”
Since Voros joined the Wild, he’s played in all 27 of the team’s games. During that streak, he’s scored seven times and added six assists and dropped the gloves with some of the league’s tougher customers.
“I had confidence that I could be an impact player if I was given the chance,” he says. “You fight your way into the National Hockey League and then you fight to stay. That’s what the battle is now. You always want to play hungry and not get comfortable.”
