Milestones, 2 TPE

12. To properly examine one of the draftees, I was given the very valuable opportunity to travel to the tiny village of Schubbekutteveen in Zeeland, the Netherlands. As it turns out, this unmapped village is the hometown of draft prospect Sunrise van de Schubbekutteveen, a center who played the past couple of months as a member of the Saint Louis Scarecrows. His background is actually of noble blood, as his father happens to be a long-serving count of the kingdom and this was key to his life in many ways: it led to his time in university and it was also how he was able to afford a life playing hockey in junior teams.

According to both parents, siblings (he's one of ten), family friends and even some personal friends; Sunrise took to several things in his life and ice hockey was probably one of the few that lasted that long in his mind. He has mostly played as a center though some school friends mentioned that he played left winger for them at times, usually very competently. Former teammates of his in Zeeland noted that he was also very studious and quick to improve, something that remained a highly significant characteristic of his when it came to his student life.

When it comes to his play, most of my research on his career has pointed to a player who is very much unselfish in his handling of the puck, something very much shown with his forty-one assists with the Scarecrows in this past season although, on terms of numbers, it's still not his peak thanks to a crazy fifty assist toll when playing for the reserves of German club Kölner Haie. Still, one can suspect that this has to do with a visible and rather obviously so change of pace when it comes to his opposition.

On that topic, his smaller build is accompanied by an un-ignorable quickness that should at least count as eye-catching for some of the bulkier teams out there. Not to say that he's exactly the sort of player that screams boundless potential but the Dutch export could, as he has already shown, serve well as a coadjuvant or a line piece that will do his best while not expecting much above. Rising to the scene is where his profile cracks: it's hard to tell if he's in it for the level of play or merely just adding more to his adventurous life. The few times the prospect was inquired about his desire to play, the answers were commonly simplistic and perhaps a little bit non-committing.

With that in mind, I'd recommend not selecting him early as it's very likely any high-picking team can find something better in the pool. Not to say any team would be badly served in having him as a middle-round pick, it's just that you can probably find some visible diamonds available and Sunrise might not be that sort of player.

(506 words - 10 TPE)

14. Surprisingly, Sunrise opted to enquire to the nearby St. Louis University whether he could visit their facilities and perhaps engage in a talk with members of the Biochemistry Department. Van de Schubbekutteveen, a Cologne graduate himself, had his interest peaked about some of their projects and figured that his presence there would perhaps serve as fuel to possibly progress some theoretical work. To the Dutchman, the idea of going into something different for a change of pace while still remaining near his team before the draft went ahead was something he was very keen on. "I can work out and have a rich talk with people, that should be good whatever way you put it," stated Sunrise.

He did note some other plans for his vacations like visiting the zoo, watching the local soccer club and possibly enjoying some of the musical options in town. Sunrise did mention the idea of buying a place to stay but noted he would rather wait until being promoted to a major league team as the whole process of moving his things around would probably be a bit of a mouthful and get in the way of the important things. All in all, he'll definitively be in for a handful of things before the draft actually starts.

(214 words - 4 TPE)