<center>PROSPECT PROFILE


IEUAN LLEWELLYN</center>

With the SMJHL Entry Draft just over a week away, we now take time to look at one of the more intriguing, unknown entities in this season’s draft class. At thirty years old, Ieuan Llewellyn is one of the oldest players to enter the SMJHL draft but this man is no stranger to adversity. Hailing from a small mining village in Wales named Cwm, home to just over four thousand people, found deep in the county of Blaenau Gwent, Ieuan has spent his entire life fighting and scrapping against the odds to get what he wants.

‘Apparently, when I was born,’ he recalled to us in a sit-down interview, ‘I was a silent baby. I didn’t cry. Barely even looked like I was breathing. So when the nurse slapped my arse to check I was alive, I suddenly came to life and started slapping her right back. Two porters and a doctor struggled to hold me back from knocking her teeth down her throat. You don’t start shit you can’t fucking finish.’

The nurse pressed charges against the days old Ieuan and won. Ieuan was given a six month suspended jail sentence and forced to pay a fine of £50 that was taken in the form of his cot. For the first year of his life, Ieuan slept in a shoebox. That was but the first brush with the law for young Ieuan who, only two years later, once again was the talk of the entire county.

‘So I finally got myself a trike and was getting braver and braver with how far I was going from home. It started with the end of the driveway, then I went to the end of the street, and next thing I was heading north on the main road to Ebbw Vale.’

Two year old Ieuan Llewellyn cycled the three miles north on a busy stretch of road, one frequented by trucks and speeding cars, during the morning rush hour.

‘By the time I reached Ebbw Vale,’ he said with a smile, ‘I had a near mile long queue of traffic behind me because I was straddling both lanes. Nobody could get past me. I had five police cars trying to pull me over but couldn’t get in front of me. They followed me halfway to Merthyr Tydfil before they finally pulled a PIT manoeuvre and sent me flying off the road. I suffered two skinned knees, a scratch on my arm, and at least six booboos that my mum had to kiss better.’

Ieuan’s mother successfully sued Gwent Police for excessive force, destruction of property (the tricycle that suffered a scuffed wheel in the crash), and for generally being a bit of a cunt. She won damages of £257,000.

‘Yeah I never saw a penny of that money. My mum did a runner shortly after that.’

She left his father for the milkman and was never seen again. Except when she came by with him on his morning rounds every day to deliver their milk.

‘She still rides around on that milk float with him. He got it fitted with hydraulic suspension with her money and ended up losing his job because he kept smashing the bottles while showing off for her. He bought it from them though and just drives it round the village now. Flash bastard…’

Ieuan’s father raised the seven children while also manaing to work at the local colliery where he’d been mining coal ever since he had left school some ten years prior. Unfortunately for the Llewellyn’s, however, it shut in 1989 and threw the family into turmoil.

‘Those few months that my dad was out of work were a real struggle. I was only three and suddenly I went from wearing hand me down rags to wearing an old potato sack. I know things were rough but they weren’t that bad – my dad just didn’t feel like taking us clothes shopping for almost an entire year. I didn’t mind the sack too much though, the potatoes were Marfona which are probably my favourite kind. Very versatile kind of potato with a naturally buttery taste that makes them easy to use in a variety of dishes and hassle-free. I have fond memories of eating Marfonas as a young boy. The only problem is my dad insisted we eat them raw for whatever reason. I guess some might consider it an Irish feast but I just couldn’t enjoy the taste when they weren’t cooked. Whenever I tried to bake, boil, or even just put butter on them my dad shouted at me.’

Ieuan’s frustrations with home life spilled over into all facets of his life. On the first day of school, he head-butted a pupil three years older than himself and body checked a teacher out of a ground floor window. She suffered numerous cuts and twisted her ankle ever so slightly and was out of work for two years.

‘In hindsight, that body check was the moment I was set to become a hockey player. I remember it like it was yesterday: the shards of glass floating and sparkling in the sunlight, the scream of the teacher, and “Love Shack” by the B-52s playing in the distance. It sums up what hockey means to me.’

Despite his constant troubles in school, Ieuan started making a name for himself in field hockey at the age of seven. He showed some skill and determination but it was his aggression that made him stand out above his peers.

‘I used to body check people constantly,’ he said and smiled wide, ‘I liked to help the team through defending and playing in my teammates but I just wanted to make the opposition struggle. So I made the game physical by hitting them whenever possible, catching them with my stick, and occasionally getting into fights. I thought that if they’re too busy focusing on me and my attempts to frustrate or unnerve them then it’d help out my teammates by giving them the chances they needed to score.’

It worked. Ieuan’s school won the Gwent county field hockey championship four years running. But something just wasn’t right for the young star.

‘I was getting more and more frustrated with my home life and it spilled over into my game. I was already in trouble with referees but it reached a stage that I never finished a full game and it was costing my team. I just became more and more frustrated – both with the sport and myself. I needed to find something that would allow me to use my aggression.’

The suspensions racked up for Ieuan but his promise in a number of sporting disciples, most notably field hockey and rugby, ensured he was able to stay at the same primary school in the hope that, eventually, they would teach him restraint.

While in school, Ieuan played rugby and saw some success as both his primary and secondary schools featured strongly in the county’s championships but fell short of winning each time, reaching the final four twice and as runner’s up once. As the years went by, however, Ieuan started to struggle as it became more and more obvious that he couldn’t compete with the physically stronger and taller players.

‘I just wasn’t as stocky as most guys playing rugby and wasn’t fast enough to play as a winger. When I started to realise I couldn’t play rugby at a higher level it broke my heart – it’s often times a Welsh lad’s dream to play for Wales. But, in hindsight, I feel it was for the best – rugby was no better than field hockey if you’re particularly aggressive. I was sent off numerous times for the smallest of incidents: stomping a downed opposing player, gouging a lad’s eye, tackling a six foot six brute to the floor by kicking him in the balls and making him cry. Minor things, really. I heard he had testicular torsion in both balls after that and has prosthetics now, and still managed to have four kids with his wife. Miracle what they can do these days.’

These sports, however, never calmed the young man down and, just two years later he was expelled from his local high school and had to start travelling to Ebbw Vale from then on. It was during his time in this school that a fateful competition took place.

‘So we had to design a poster for “Glyndwr on Ice” and mine won. It featured Glyndwr holding standing on a mountain of English soldiers’ heads with his flag planted into them. I’m not entirely sure how it won but I’m guessing the judge was a big nationalist.’

The prize was a free ice skating lesson at the Welsh National Ice Rink in Cardiff.

‘So I went for my lesson and didn’t mind it – it was pretty fun. But it was right after my lesson when I saw the ice hockey players come on the ice for training that captured my imagination. I sat in the stands and watched them for a couple of players, doing things that I’d only dreamed of being able to do in field hockey, and decided that this was my calling. From that moment on I got to Cardiff at every opportunity in order to learn how to ice skate.’

After a number of months, the fifteen year old Ieuan tried out for the ice hockey team.

‘Initially I was uncoordinated and clumsy. I could barely skate in a straight line with all the gear on and the multitasking of skating and using the stick was too much. My first three trials were met with a resounding no from the coach but I kept on coming back and, once I started to get comfortable on the ice, my field hockey experience started to shine through and I was showing them my skills. I was still raw but they liked what they saw.’

Ieuan played for the amateur side Cardiff Ospreys for fourteen years and, after a slow start, eventually established himself and became one of the most prominent players in British amateur ice hockey, with an impressive record of assists and hits, as well as a penchant for fighting.

‘I had a few fights throughout the years, often times against guys almost twice my size but I still knocked them on their arse. I really don’t care who it is I’m fighting because if they have an issue with me or my team then I’ll deal with them.’

Throughout those fourteen years, Ieuan had a few offers to make a full-time career out of the sport.

‘The offers trickled in but none really spoke to me or offered me anything more than I was earning in my day job as a male model for supermarket clothing. And I wasn’t earning much from that to begin with.’

Then, one day, Ieuan finally decided to make a change in his life.

‘I turned 29 and it dawned on me that I was going to be 30 soon, and that my chances of getting anywhere were going to slip through my fingers and I’d be missing out on an amazing opportunity. I know I have the desire to reach the highest level but I’ve always been too afraid to make that jump so I decided this was the perfect time. That and the fact the council were going to kick me out of my home for not paying the rent for the past six months.’

Ieuan submitted his application to the SMJHL and was accepted as a prospect for the following season’s draft. In preparation, he called time on his career with the Ospreys, gathered together what money he had, and made the move to Canada and started training full-time in order to be fully prepared when the time comes.

‘The way I see it, I want to get myself used to another country before I have to adapt to a whole new team. If I’m doing both then I know it could affect my chances of succeeding quickly and that could be my opportunity gone. I’m going into this as ready as I can possibly be to do well. Even if I am currently have to sleep on park benches.’

So, at thirty years old, Ieuan Llewellyn is preparing to finally make the leap into professional sports. While he’s succeeded at an amateur level in the past, questions are sure to be raised as to whether he can match the younger talents that have played at a higher level or whether he’ll be overwhelmed. To get a better idea, we’ll now take a look closely at his strengths and weaknesses in order to paint a picture of his style of play.

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<center>ANALYSIS</center>

Here’s where we explore game footage of the prospect and try to find out more about their abilities and just what we can expect from them once they arrive in the SMJHL. Obviously it can be hard to accurately pinpoint just how effective they’ll be on the ice but all we have to go by is their track record and so we’ll apply it as best we can. Ieuan presents to us a unique situation in which he’s played at such a low level against a mixture of fans of the sport, fitness enthusiasts, and a few ageing pros that it’ll be even more difficult to predict just how he’ll do but we can explore just what he’s done and what we believe he could do once he finally hits the ice.

Attributes
CK = Checking: 60
FG = Fighting: 62
DI = Discipline: 25
SK = Skating: 65
ST = Strength: 60
EN = Endurance: 60
PH = Puck Handling: 60
FO = Face Offs: 40
PA = Passing: 60
SC = Scoring: 48
DF = Defense: 60
PS = Penalty Shot: 40

Ieuan Llewellyn is a self-proclaimed ‘bit of a twat’ on the ice. To elaborate, he focuses his game on pressuring and frustrating the opposition, looking to ‘get in their faces’ and make the game as difficult as he possibly can for them. How does he do this? Well we’ll take a closer look.

Strengths
While Ieuan doesn’t overly succeed in one particular area, he does have a number of skills that are promising.

Skating
Ieuan has become very comfortable on the ice and moves around fairly well. While it’s not entirely there yet – likely due to a lack of high level coaching – he has shown some recent improvements after making the switch to full-time. It’s anticipated he’ll only improve once he’s drafted.

Endurance
Ieuan will work hard for the team and do so for as long as he possibly can. Again, making the switch from amateur means he won’t be as fit as those that have been playing to a high level of competition since they were children but he’s no slouch. This will almost certainly improve as he plays more often.

Strengths
For a man that’s never seen the inside of a gym, Ieuan is surprisingly strong and, with coaching, will improve dramatically. He can already hold off most players while on the puck and isn’t afraid of using his strength while off it.

Checking
Probably the most anticipated aspect of his game, Ieuan will bring pressure and hits on the opposition and this, tied in with his reasonable strength, should allow him to deliver the hits he wants to unnerve and dispossess the opposition.

Passing
Ieuan is, first and foremost, a team player and wants to put his teammates in whenever possible. He’s reasonable at delivering passes but really needs to improve his accuracy and pass speed in order to make it at a higher level.

Puck Handling
His puck handling is solid if nothing more but he has shown some occasional glimpses of something more spectacular. Maybe it’s a confidence issue, or maybe he needs to be a bit more selfish, but there’s certainly more talent here than meets the eye.

Defence
Tying in with his teamwork, Ieuan will always give his best when defending and isn’t afraid of blocking a shot if needs be. He’s rough around the edges but his desire to work on defence is a huge plus in itself.


Weaknesses
Ieuan’s rounded game means there’s few real weak points in but that in itself could be considered a weakness. The lack of specialty in his locker means he may not have much to offer right now beyond solid play.

Shooting
A glaring weakness in his game is not only his poor record in front of goal but also his unwillingness to actually take a shot. Scoring might not be the biggest part of his game but it must improve if he has any desire to become a top 6 forward.

Penalty Shot
Obviously his shooting is a weakness and this seems to have carried over into penalty shots. If you have any aspirations of winning a shootout then don’t ask this guy to take a penalty. Ever.

Discipline
He has none. He’s the kind of guy that could turn up at a children’s hospital and start a fight with a patient. Some might argue that this will actually benefit him and enable him to fulfil his role as an enforcer of a team. This one varies on how you feel about fighting in ice hockey.

Age
He’s a 30 year old man finally making the jump to a professional sport and, to make matters worse, it’s one of the highest calibre leagues out there. It’s like Brandon Weeden being drafted at age 28 but… well, we hope considerably better. It couldn’t possibly be any worse, right?


Obviously, Ieuan’s style will make him a hero to teams he plays for and a villain to anybody he plays against. He no doubt has the potential to be one of the most frustrating players in the league for opponents and this, alongside his excellent capacity for teamwork, will not go unnoticed by GMs. The questions hovering over him however are whether he can actually make the jump at such a late age or if he’ll flounder against the younger players that have more experience playing at such a high level? Naturally, time will tell but there will be no doubt, whether he succeeds to fails, about his drive and passion to have even reached this point. For the good of the sport, you have to hope that a story like Ieuan’s, this plucky man from a small village in Wales that’s struggled since an early age to find his place in the world, has a happy ending and he’s rewarded with a fine career in the SHL.