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Bacon · 12-31-2011, 02:54 PM

Yesterday, the S7 SHL entry draft was held. For most of the draftees and future SHL players, it was the most important day of their young career. They were busy giving interviews, talking with SHL teams and trying to figure out where they were going to land.

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However, it was a busy for a couple of SHL players and GMs too. Hamilton Steelhawk defenseman Kevin Lebacon was one of them. We had the chance to get a few words with him after the draft was over.

"Wow what an amazing evening. So much stress, so much action and right now I'm exhausted. What an amazing draft for our organization. I'm very very happy."

There was a lot of changes for the Steelhawks last season especially in the scouting offices. Ronan O'keefe was the head scout for the team when he was traded to Vancouver. Then, Dougie Brind'Amour stepped up for the job was he too was traded to West Kendall. The job was open and Lebacon stepped up.

"I told my GM, Raymond Lindsay, I'm ready for a new challenge. Let me be your scout for the upcoming draft. He accepted. After that, I had a very busy end of season. Since we did not make the playoffs, I had the opportunity to watch a lot of juniors games. After games, I talked with players trying to gather some information. It was really fun and stimulating."

Then the big day finally came. Officially, the draft started at 8 PM but Lebacon's draft was already under way.

"I had a meeting with Raymond and some teammates like Roberto Martucci and Michael Astorino to talk about our drafting strategies a couple of hours before the draft. At that point, we were thinking about drafting Tobias Funke with our 4th pick. Then everything changed so fast.

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There was a lot of trades with teams swapping their draft picks and when the Minnesota Chiefs acquired the 3rd overall pick, we realized that maybe a guy like Anton Wagner would be available at our selection. It was a known fact that Minnesota was going to pick David Winter."

The draft began. Like it was expected, Armia was chosen first by the Comets than Rashad Thomas and David Winter were selected.
Without hesitation, the Steelhawks made Anton Wagner their first selection of the draft.

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"Probably the only easy choice we had of the entire draft. We went with the most skilled guy available at that point. Wagner got a lethal shot and he is one of the best puck handler in the entire league. His offensive skills are already at the level of the best SHL players and he can beat you with his great skating skills. He is also reliable defensively. He's not going to be a defensive specialist but he will not hurt our team. We are very happy that we could pick him."

Then as the draft went on, choices were a little tougher for every teams. Hamilton had another pick in the first round and they went with Detroit Falcons captain Jamie Rose.

"The rage were picking just before us. We knew that we were getting either Rose or Mortensen with our 10th however I was wishing that Manhattan would choose one of them to make our decision easier ! They picked Simon Aseplin so we had to make a choice. Both players were centers, Mortensen is more a playmaker and Rose a defensive forward.

We went with Rose because of her amazing work ethic and leadership. I got to be honest, Rose was one of my favourite junior player. I had the chance to scout a lot of Falcons games because of my former association with them and I was impressed with how hard she worked on the ice. I think I never saw a bad game from her or even a bad shift.

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She is one of the best in her own zone and she is probably going to win the award for the best defensive forward in junior. You need that kind of player to play with your offensive forwards and she'll have a good mentor in Audun Wissink to teach her how to step up her game in the SHL."

The Steelhawks were picking 13th in 2nd round right after the Comets. Hamilton wanted to go for a defenseman with that pick. They had a particular player in sight...

"Julien Dupont was our choice. We were sure to have him. Edmonton had really chosen 2 defensemen in the first round, no way they were going to get a third one..."

Then at the podium we heard : The Comets are proud to select from the Prince George Firebirds..Julien Dupont

"There is no word in english hard enough to express how frustrated I was at that point. But in French, I had a lot more choices of words ! French bad words are the best to let out all the frustration...

So Dupont was not available and next on our list we had Kyler Lange and Tim Viola. It was a really tough choice because they were for me on the same level.

We went with Lange at 13th spot. He is a great puck moving defenseman with great playmaking skills. His stats did not reflect his abilities however but we are confident that he will be able to step up his game. He is a good skater too and doesn't get beat often.

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But what amazed me the most is his defensive game. He was amongst the best at blocking shots and takeaways. We know that we will be able to use him against SHL players and he'll be able to hold them. He is also a great guy to have in your locker room."

At 15th spot, the Steelhawks had another to get Viola and that's what they did.

"It was so hard choosing betweem Lange and Viola so when Tim was available at our turn, we decided to go for him. He put up good numbers for a defensive defenseman in the juniors and I know that he is a hard worker. This guy knows how to read the play ! It's like he already knows what the other team will do before it happens. His positioning on the ice is great and he is very good at clearing the front of the crease.

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He can block shots and hurts people with his huge frame. He reminds me a lot of me when I was in juniors but with a little more offense. He is the kind of the guy that you know he will get the job done. He will have to work on his skating and add some muscles if he wants to keep up with SHL players but he will have a very good career."

Other players that were drafted in Hamilton are GP Amodio, Nate Mercer and Richter Belmont.

"Amodio is good all-around player. He can do everything well on the ice and he is a hard worker in and off the ice. I played with him in the IIHF world juniors with team Canada and he is a good player. He will have to work on his defensive game a bit.

Mercer had a lot of chemistry with Rose in Detroit. He is a pure sniper and I think he scored in almost every playoff games I saw. He had the best stats of all Falcons players and we're happy that he fell to us.

Belmont is more a long-term project. He is a very good defensive defenseman with very good skating and good puck moving skills. We will have to see if he's interested to continue his hockey career."

sorryifarted · 12-31-2011, 02:58 PM

Strong draft Hawks

think you guys might surprise next season

still im going to light you up Bacon Tongue

~~JVatty~~ · 12-31-2011, 02:58 PM

WOW, you guys had a GREAT draft.

***HabsFanFromOntario*** · 12-31-2011, 02:59 PM

CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GUYS TOOK AMODIO! I WAS SOO MAD!

Turd Ferguson · 12-31-2011, 02:59 PM

Bacon · 12-31-2011, 03:01 PM

Quote:Originally posted by habsfanfromontario@Dec 31 2011, 01:59 PM
CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GUYS TOOK AMODIO! I WAS SOO MAD!

I'm very happy to hear that, thanks a lot ! :lol:

I'm also happy that we pissed a couple of teams by picking wagner and probably when we picked Viola too because there was not a lot of d-men left.

Pretty good draft B)

astorino · 12-31-2011, 03:02 PM

Quote:Originally posted by Turd Ferguson@Dec 31 2011, 01:59 PM

Jaymay · 12-31-2011, 03:03 PM

10th overall bust.

astorino · 12-31-2011, 03:04 PM

Quote:Originally posted by Rose@Dec 31 2011, 02:03 PM
10th overall bust.

***HabsFanFromOntario*** · 12-31-2011, 03:14 PM

Quote:Originally posted by kebrik@Dec 31 2011, 03:01 PM

I'm very happy to hear that, thanks a lot !  :lol:

I'm also happy that we pissed a couple of teams by picking wagner and probably when we picked Viola too because there was not a lot of d-men left.

Pretty good draft  B)

He's a great guy in the LR, I'm sure you'll love him

Jorec · 12-31-2011, 05:35 PM

Really awesome article. Its gonna be a great season. :D

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