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*Katth* · 03-21-2019, 03:51 AM

Barry Batsbak, a center for the Kelowna Knights and drafted 22nd overall by the Calgary Dragons has had a career year in the SMJHL. After 42 games played he’s currently sitting at 10 goals and 20 assists, more than double the points he had all last season. Though not everything is as good as it seems with Barry Batsbak. Rumors are there are personal problems Barry is dealing with and it’s affecting his gameplay and his locker room presence. We went out to Kelowna and got an exclusive interview.

Q: Hey Barry, you’re having a breakout season so far. That must feel good?
A: Oh yes, last year was a struggle. Having to play third line and not get any minutes on special teams was hard, but now playing on the second line with Liam Hutchinson and Dick Clapper we’re doing amazingly well. Dick Clapper is still in the race for most points and when you compare our productivity versus our top line than we’re not that far behind. I even had my first scrap this season, haha.

Q: Did you win?
A: Well I like to believe I did, buy smjhlfights.com votes called it a tie.

Q: Looking at your PIM’s you’ve quite a bit more penalties this season. Any specific reason?
A: Well being on the second line the game is just a bit faster. Though I must admit that most of penalties have been purely out of frustrations.

Q: How come?
A: I’m having troubles dealing with the pressure. From my parents, the team, the fans, Calgary Dragons. The bar is set high and midway through the season I’ve been starting to doubt myself if I’m able to do it. A good friend of mine, who never got his chance to play in the SMJHL faced similar problems and he’s now working as a fisherman somewhere. Never got to fulfil his dreams. I’ve been trying to talk a lot with the coaching staff and my parents and it has gotten a little bit better.

Q: Is this also the reason why your productivity is a bit down to what it was earlier in the season?
A: It has to be. I’m just not as confident on the ice anymore, make more mistakes. It’s that my teammates are so great that I’m still out there, they cheer me up, they do. I hope I can leave all of this behind me before we start our cup run in the playoffs. If anything, we don’t want a first round sweep like last year. Our fans deserve better.

Q: Aren’t you afraid that the hockey world will look different to you now that you’ve outed to have these “problems”?
A: No, I’m not. Of course opponents will chirp, but they’ll always do that. Even if there’s a taboo on personal problems like these in hockey I simply don’t care. I need to get this off my chest to be able to put it behind me and I’m not afraid that the whole world knows it. Being a hockey player isn’t all glamour. It’s hard work with a lot of pressure day in, day out. I’m really fortunate to have many people around me to help me get through this and at some point I will.

Q: Do you have any idea where you’ll be playing next year?
A: Honestly? No, I don’t. Earlier in the season Dragons management told me they’d really want to call me up for next season, but right now I’m not so sure. Because of all this they might think I’ve fallen behind in my development and might need another year with Kelowna. Kelowna has been really good to me, but if the opportunity rises I’d like to prove myself in the SHL.

Q: You’ve been spotted in Calgary quite a few times lately. Care to comment?
A: Calgary is really fighting for that last playoff spot in the Western Conference. Whenever I’m able to give them my support I’m there. Even though I’m not part of the roster yet, the organisation has been really good to me and it’s the least I can do to show my support.

Q: Kelowna Knights are bound to qualify for the playoffs in a prime position with home ice advantage, what are the odds you’ll make a deep run?
A: Well I think we have pretty good odds. Last year we were a bunch of rookies performing better than we should have in the regular season and we got swept in the first round. This year team and line chemistry has been so much better for us that I think we can go all the way this year. Last year we were also pretty dependent on our top line guys, but this seasons we’ve got a lot of depth in scoring.

Q: Who would you want to see in the finals?
A: Uhm, well I guess a matchup with St. Louis would be nice. So we get a chance to redeem ourselves. Though in the regular season they’ve beaten us almost every game, so it will be a tough matchup for sure.

Q: Do you already have any plans for off season?
A: Oh please don’t start, we don’t think about that before it’s over and right now it’s far from over. We still have a couple of games to play in the regular season and then we’re gonna prepare ourselves for playoffs.

Thank you Barry for this short interview, I wish you luck and good fortune.

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S50 Challenge Cup Finals Game 7
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goldenglutes · 03-21-2019, 04:08 AM

Great interview! There's a lot of pressure on us this season to win the cup since we're the favourites, but at the end of the day even if we don't win our locker room's still pretty great.

If you decide to go up next season, let's see who's a better candidate for rookie of the season eh?

Signatures by Vulfzilla, Jepox, Jess, rum_ham, Ragnar, and myself
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