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nerji · 03-12-2023, 06:45 PM

My experience in the SHL and SMJHL has been pretty good so far. I missed the minors draft and as a result was picked up on waivers by the Vancouver Whalers. We had a pretty rough season (24-39-3 for 51 points) but overall I was happy with my performance (27-27 for 54 points) leading the team in goals and points and leading all SMJHL rookies in goals and finishing fourth in points.

As someone new to the SHL, I got a late start to joining and as a result missed out on some of the TPE available by just a couple of days leaving me always behind my draft class in TPE earned. I figured I'd work hard to earn and eventually my player would end up where I wanted him to be.

The draft started to approach and I was left off the IIHF roster as I fully expected but then got left off the WJC Canada roster so was a little down on my guy. Not long after being left off of Canada (there are A LOT of Canadians in the league so this makes sense) I got picked up by North America! Very excited about playing in the WJC and giving me more time to see how my player does. We're just underway in the WJC but I'll be cheering our team on as I await the next SMJHL season.

Several people reached out to scout me and I had some really good conversations with a handful of them. It got me pretty excited for the draft, I'd finally have another team to cheer for strive to make eventually. As mentioned before, I didn't get drafted before so this was my first draft in the SHL and it was really fun to watch. The guys doing the stream were solid and made it entertaining.

I figured I'd probably slip to the second round due to me lagging slightly behind in TPE and several scouts reaching out and wishing me luck suggesting I'd be gone before they pick. I was pleasantly surprised when I was selected 17th by the Manhattan Rage! I very much look forward to continuing to build my player and one day make it up to the Rage roster! For now, we have work to do on the Vancouver Whalers still!