Login

***Citizen of Adraa*** · 12-22-2018, 05:54 AM

Eligible for first article bonus

Welcome dear readers, today we have prepared an interview with one of the newly drafted players to the Halifax Raiders, their new blue liner Andrej Doskočil. We wanted to ask him several questions about how he feels about his draft position, his new team and teammates, but also, how he reflects upon the rookie tournament and his new international experiences.

So, of course the first question is, how do you feel about the draft? Is 32nd overall a position you are happy with?

Well, the position doesn’t matter as much as the team you are drafted to, so I am really happier about being in Halifax than being drafted in 4th round. I mean, of course it would be nice to get into the first round, but really anything after didn’t matter much to me, I just hoped to get into a good team and Halifax seems to be what I wanted.

Mentioning Halifax, you had a chance already to meet your new coaches, teammates, and front office. What’s your first impression?

I really like it in Halifax so far. Everyone is really friendly, and even before the draft the GMs made a good impression in interviews, so hearing my name and the Raiders, I was really happy that has happened.

That means there are teams that you wouldn’t like to get drafted to?

No, not at all. I think every team would be great, but Halifax made that step forward early on, and they have been great all the way.

Any suprises about your new teammates? Someone you disagree with being drafted?

I am not a GM, so that question doesn’t really make sense to ask me. I don’t know what the plans are and what the GM knows and sees, and I won’t make decision for him.

Of course, that is an admirable level of trust towards your GM. But let’s move on to the rookie tournament before the draft even started. You were a member of the Breakers, that failed to qualify to the elimination rounds. What are your experiences on that team?

So I think that the tournament was a nice thing for us players to maybe show off a little bit but mainly to see other guys in action, and meet them aswell. Unfortunately I think that Breakers had a bit too conflicting personalities on the team, so we never really felt like a team. That clearly showed on the ice and well, the rest is history.

In that tournament you managed to rack up 13 points for 2 goals and 11 assists. Both your goals were very important ones, one game tying, one game winning. How do you feel about your personal performance on the ice?

I think I was slow to get out of the box, and it showed. Also, it was a bit of a unlucky period where I couldn’t get the bounces to go my way and into the goal, so overall not I wasn’t enjoying myself throughout the first half of the tournament too much. The second half was much better, however as we dig ourselves into the hole, it was hard to keep the motivation up in a tournament that isn’t really all that important. So not happy and I hope that in the season, my luck and on ice performance will get better.

So, I wanted to touch onto the international play, where you represent the Czechs. World Junior Championship is under way as we speak, with 10 games played, and there was a small 7 game exhibition before hand. How do you find the international side of the game throughout these 17 games?

The big difference for me is that the team I play for is much better of a collective, so it’s more enjoyable environment to be in. I don’t get to skate that much because I am a rookie, but I am still doing my best out there and I think I have been doing better in these games than in the rookie tournament for sure. I have finally scored my first point (note: in their game against Latvia) and I hope that unlocks me a bit and helps me get more on the board.

So, I think that wraps this one up, thanks again Andrej for coming, and good luck on the ice in the future.

Glad to be here.