Double Media (1307 word count)



Hey everyone. I'm Bob McEvans senior writer of the athletic and in today's article we have a sit down interview with a player who many people do not know about and rightfully so. I say that with no disrespect to the young defenceman but to be frank he does not have much experience playing high level hockey. This kid does not have much experience at all to be honest but that is not stopping this kid from playing in the SMJHL. Without further ado i would like to welcome Craig Finley.
     Bob - Welcome Craig, thanks again for taking time out of your day talking with me.
     Craig - Thanks for having me.
     Bob - I want to start off by asking you how have these last few days have been going and hows your transition going from being a not well known player, no disrespect meant, to playing in a prestigious league such as the SMJHL.
     Craig – No disrespect taken bob. It's not a secret that i play in the league after having proving practically nothing against players my own level. It's a tremendous honor to have this opportunity in front of me to play in the SMJHL with the Halifax Raiders. These last few days have been rough to a point but i feel im mentally tough enough to take the challenges in front of me with a high head and a willingness to work harder than i have ever before. I know players in this league have a giant head start when compared to me but i will not let that stop me from making an impact on this team as well as this league.
     Bob – Well i'm happy to hear that you have a good attitude heading into this year with Halifax. Before we get to how you joined Halifax i want to ask you to go into detail how you got to this point in your career and how you got into the sport of hockey.
     Craig – Well iv always enjoyed watching hockey and wanted to play as a kid but my parents were super protective and didn't want me to get hurt. I knew where they were coming from but i couldn't help myself from buying a second hand wooden stick and grabbing a golf ball or 3 from my dads bag and spending hours upon hours just shooting them at the side of the shed. I finally convinced them at the age of 15 to let me go to a drop in at the local rink. I needed everything. I had no pads, just a stick. I bugged all my friends about seeing if they had anything i could use. Skates, shoulder pads, shinnies, everything. I was able to muster up everything except a helmet so i ended up using my bike helmet. People didn't like that but once they saw the shot i had they quickly changed their minds. From there I had a guy offer me a spot on their beer league team. Minimum age was 18 and i needed to have full equipment so i had to ditch the bike helmet. I spent a few days going up and down the roads picking up cans i found on the side of the road until i was able to grab a used helmet from the rink. And as the saying goes, the rest is history.
     Bob – How did you learn of the SMJHL.
     Craig – A buddy that was on my team said i was to good for the league and i had to move on to greener pastures. I recommended the SMJHL to me and we went to sign up. There wasn't many requirements i just needed to sign up. Easy as that. I think my buddy had something to do with that but i'm not sure.
     Bob – Your a member of the halifax raiders. That's all that counts
     Craig – To be a Raider is a tremendous honor and i couldn't imagine spending my first year learning the ropes without my teammates and coaches
     Bob – So you were able to join the league a little late and just missed the deadline for the junior draft. If you were able to make that deadline where do you think you would go
     Craig – If im being honest with you Bob i don't think like that. I can only control what i can control and my focus is on making the Raiders a force that opposing teams and players don't want to play.
     Bob - I can respect that. Your a defenceman but not your typical defenceman. You view yourself as a winger with exceptional skills on the back end with your defence. Why didn't you decide to play winger with your gift of a shot that you currently posses?
     Craig – Iv tried playing winger and i didnt like it to be honest with you. I had people tell me to try playing back and so i did. I noticed a huge difference in my play and to put it lightly, my goalie not only did not allow a shot go past him, i only allowed 2 shots to get to the net that game. I played back ever since and i feel like i make more of an impact playing defence than forward.
     Bob – You sound very confidant in your play.
     Craig – Yeah. Iv always viewed myself as a confient player.
     Bob – That's not a bad thing. Let me be the first to tell you that. You Singed with Halifax and were invited to training camp. How did that go? What areas did you try to improve?
     Craig – I have never worked as hard as i did that week, but it was an amazing experience. I wanted to shot shot and shot again but i knew if i wanted to make it in this league i would have to work on my positioning and overall defence and the coaches did an amazing job showing me how to improve my skills on the back end.
     Bob – Your about to complete your first preseason. Exiting time i'm sure. I was able to catch a few of your games and your playing 3rd line minutes but still produced. Do you feel your deserving of more minutes?
     Craig – Iv never been a player to complain about minutes. I'm just not that type of player. I have talked with the coaches about their expectations of me and this team and everything they explained to me i agreed with. I haven't proven myself in this league yet and until i can show and produce on a nightly basis and once they gain confidence in my play they will move me up but as of now i simply haven't shown enough to move up yet.
     Bob – Well were almost out of time here so one final question. Where do you see the performance of you and this team going forward?
     Craig – Im not one for predictions. But i feel with the team we have right now were gonna turn a lot of heads. As far as my performance goes, i don't want you just looking at my stat line but watch how i play. Every shift i set out to show that no matter where you started hard work and the ability to keep moving forward can get you to the places you want to go. You'll see hustle and hard work every shift of every night.
     Bob – Thank you for taking time out of your day to speak with me. I really enjoyed it and i know that the readers will as well. Im Bob McEvans with Craig Finley defenceman of the Halifax Raiders. Keep an eye on this youngster as he's sure to turn some heads.

DRAFTED 30TH OA S43
S42 WJC GOLD MEDAL
JESTER AWARD FINALIST S45
S45 ALL ROOKIE TEAM
S50 IIHF GOLD MEDAL
S52 CHALLENGE CUP CHAMPION

Looks good man!