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Wasty · 01-02-2012, 09:15 PM

Aseplin heads to the Big Apple

Saturday night was a big moment for many NWJHL draft picks. We saw a flurry of deals swung before the event even started and many experts "mock drafts" were in confusion with all the picks being swapped. We saw Minnesota move up from the ninth overall pick to third to the select Mainz, Germany native David Winter out of the Prince George Firebirds, We saw West Kendall move out of the first round but still end up an elite talent in Tobias Mortensen. One GM that was amidst the dealing was Manhattan Rage GM Quilha Agante. â€œWe saw openings to move around in the draft and pick up some picks where the prospects we were targeting would still be available,â€ Agante said.

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Taken 9th Overall in the Season 7 Entry Draft gives the Rage what they needed a scoring winger.

Manhattan at the seventh overall pick snagged what could become a huge steal of the draft in Rachel Belmont. The strong and steady winger is just what the Rage needed to fill in a hole on the top line next to Gooseneck and Ciddio. Along with the seventh overall pick, they also held the ninth overall pick and they took the Icelandic scoring winger, Simon Aseplin. Aseplin, 18 who was considered a sleeper in most of the mock drafts didnâ€™t exactly have the junior season that most thought he would and thatâ€™s where it really hurt his draft stock. The low offensive output and increase in penalty minutes didnâ€™t help him boost his stock throughout the season but when it came down to it, that didnâ€™t matter by still going in the first round. â€œTo be taken in both first rounds of the NWJHL and now the SHL draft, Iâ€™m ecstatic. Iâ€™m so thankful for the Rage to see my potential and I canâ€™t wait to start skating with Malenfant and my Impact line mate Kurtis Hunter,â€ Aseplin said.

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Aseplin on the Draft Stage putting on the famous Red & Black of the Rage

Aseplinâ€™s hockey career has been well traveled and now heâ€™s going to be living in â€œthe City that Never Sleeps.â€ Simon in the past three seasons has moved from his hometown of Reykjavik, Iceland to Lulea, Sweden to play a year in the Elitserien. Last season he was taken sixth overall by the Montreal Impact of the NWJHL where Aseplin was chosen as the alternate captain and is still in the middle of a hard fought series with the Seattle Stingrays in the NWJHL finals. Now heâ€™ll get a taste of the only American city he ever visited as a child. â€œTo be able to play hockey daily for a city that Iâ€™ve already had so close to my heart in my youth is just a dream to me. My parents were watching the draft telecast and as soon I was picked they were blowing up my phone so I have to believe theyâ€™re pretty excited to see me play in the Big Apple,â€ Aseplin said.

Along with Belmont, Aseplin will join new draftees Brent Wood, Yuri Kulikov & Kurtis Hunter (also Impact teammates) at the Rageâ€™s training camp as soon as the NWJHL playoff finals conclude. The good news didnâ€™t stop there for Aseplin however. He just recently signed a 10.5 Million dollar contract over three years and an option for five hundred thousand more if he finishes in the top five of rookie scoring. â€œThat will for sure get me a nice place to live in New York City,â€ Aseplin said with a big smile. A couple days earlier Aseplin was also added to the Team Finland lineup for the upcoming IHF tournament. Slotted right now on a line with fellow season seven SHL draftees Jamie Rose and first overall pick Elias Armia, This will be the second time within the year that Aseplin played in international play. After playing for Team World in the Junior IHF games, Aseplin notched three points while playing third line duties.

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Known as a pure goal scorer, Aseplin has found his passing game is a threat while playing in Montreal.

Now in the middle of a strong and tense NWJHL final series versus Seattle, Aseplin has finally found a groove within his team and finding the back of the net with some clutch points. During the first round of the playoffs versus the Boston Battalion down one game to zero, Aseplin had probably his biggest turnaround of the season when he scored two goals and one assist to aide in the winning of the game and that seemed to be the early turning point for the Impact, who eventually won four games to three in an exciting first round series. â€œThis playoff drive has been extremely exciting for the team and the fans. Our fans are always backing us up and giving us the best atmosphere to play in. Seattle is a tough team but I hope we can rebound from the last two losses and can grab the championship for Montreal,â€ Aseplin said. From there Aseplin and his teammates Kulikov and Hunter will be heading to Manhattan to get ready for the upcoming season seven. â€œIâ€™m excited to just get on to the ice, pull that Rage sweater over and start my career in Manhattan,â€ Aseplin said.

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