(Double Media Week, 627 words before writing this)

Early Friday morning on December 21st, 2018, the GM’s of the eight established and two new SMJHL teams had the possibility to draft over 180 rookies for the upcoming season. Among those rookies were Basil Magnicotta and Mathias Seger, two talented young Swiss defenders. In the upcoming season that starts at the end of the year, they will join their countryman Sulak O’Hritea in the world’s best junior hockey league. Their drafts have gone quite differently though. Also eligible in the draft was defenseman Timo Vetsch, but he didn’t get drafted.
 
Basil Magnicotta was picked by the St. Louis Scarecrows in the fourth round, as the 33rd selected player over all. Confronted with that fact, he told Swiss hockey news that he was rather surprised getting picked that low. However, he did expect to join the Scarecrows. “My agent is very familiar with the staff and alumni at St. Louis, so I had a feeling they would select me. 33rd overall was a little more surprising, as I'll admit, I looked for myself in a few mock drafts and was pleasantly surprised to see, I made the top 20 in quite a few of them. I'm surprised no one gambled on me earlier, but I'm confident in Joe and TML's scouting skills, they knew where they could snag me at.”, he said in an interview conducted on Saturday evening. He said, he was looking forward to joining the locker room, which will have an amazing ambiance after the recent cup win.
 
Different words, we hear from Mathias Seger. “The GM’s didn’t really have anything on me. I knew, I would get drafted and I was sure, it wouldn’t be in the first couple of rounds, but I could have gone anywhere between the 5th and 10th round. I was an empty piece of paper for most, but I’m confident that in a couple of seasons, I will be mentioned as a 7th round steal.”, the young two way defenseman told us. Seger ended up with the expansion team from the Los Angeles suburbs, the Anaheim Outlaws.
 
Even though getting picked almost 40 spots later than his compatriot, Mathias Seger might play a more important role on his team, than Basil Magnicotta. Being an expansion team, the Outlaws are spread rather thin in talent. According to their general manager Cody Black, Seger is in contention for a spot on the first defensemen pairing. Meanwhile, the current four star cup champion from St. Louis already have a full roster, even though they will lose a couple of players to call ups from the SHL. Basil Magnicotta sees himself mainly playing on the 3rd line with a chance to grab a spot on the second power play unit. As a defender with a good shot, that will be his best chance to score some goals.
 
What both players do have in common is the wish for a Swiss national team. Switzerland is probably the country which is closest to getting a new team in the IIHF. With the increase in popularity, the recent expansion of the SMJHL and the upcoming expansion of the SHL, there are good chances, that the international tournament held in the off season will also see one or two new teams. The two recently drafted defensemen both told us, that they would be very excited to pioneer a Swiss team at an international tournament. There are currently six Swiss players in the SHL and SMJHL and the creation of a national team would certainly boost that number in the future.
 
How the two talented defenders will do in their rookie season, we will see over the next couple of weeks. In any way, Swiss hockey news will closely follow their development and update our readers regularly.

    Mathias Seger #15 | Player page | Update page
 
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Awesome article! It's good to see that Swiss hockey is on the rise, and hopefully that translates into an IIHF national team soon! I'm rooting for you Segi!

 

He's a real can't miss Swiss.

 

Love the article keep it up my favorite defender!

Awesome article! It's good to see that Swiss hockey is on the rise, and hopefully that translates into an IIHF national team soon! I'm rooting for you Segi!

 

Thanks a lot!

    Mathias Seger #15 | Player page | Update page
 
Sigs by Donini, RainDelay, Fever and OrbitingDeath