It is excactly month after SMJHL draft and I Girts Ankipans got sent to USA top juniors hockey league and have a chat with probably brightest talent in Latvian hockey. Joe Kerr. Live, dreams, stats and meeting childhood heros about all that in this interview. I do hope you will have fun reading it as much as I had fun traveling to Alaska. Just so you know, march isn’t very warm in Alaska, so you might want to get something warmer as well if You go there.


Hello, Joe great to have you.
Thanks for having me. This is my first interview since moving USA.


Really? Well excited to talk with one of the hottest and most promising new prospects of Armada team. Let’s start of with how do you feel now here in Anchorage after the draft, knowing that you had to travel over half of a world and leaving friends and family in Latvia?


Well, first couple of days were really hard, you know the time zone, now beeing on the other side of world with far from good language and no one familiar , just my agent, who was a huge help in this process. But now it is getting better, starting to know my teammates better and everyone is very helpfull and had no problems since draft whatsoever.


Do you feel the pressure after draft? You were drafted with 8th overall pick. That’s pretty high in not so deep draft class


Well. I love to performe under pressure. Since I was a kid it was do or die mentality. At least I positioned it like that to myself. School, hockey practises it wasn’t easy. Had to wake up at 5:30 sometimes to get to practises, since closest arena was about 2 houres drive away. Have to say huge thanks to my parents who sacrificed a lot for me. To be honest with you I don’t know what would have I done if I didn’t make the draft.


You allready knew Anchorage team since you played here previous season and was a part of play offs run. Is this transition any easier?


Yes and no. Yes since I know the coach and what he wants from me on and of the ice, but it is so much more difficult since now I have only my agent with me. Previous time it was also my parents. We went back home after play offs ended for Armada and I returned back for draft combine and after the draft I was just happy to be where I allready knew someone.


Maybe, you can tell us how did you signed with Armada for play offs?


Haha, knew this question will follow. Yea, well I turned 18 and my season in Latvia was over, so agent told me that there is this chance. We figured that we might give it a go. So he contacted with couple of teams in minor league here and together we figured that Armada might be the best fit. Great expierence even if I didn’t get that much of ice time.


Right now you are in a sixth place between rookies in scoring with 6 points in 15 games. Are you happy about your statistics so far?


So far, yea it is pretty ok. Always would love to do better, but I have huge room for improvement. Started season in second line, now down to third. As long as team is winning I am fine with eveything that coach decides.




Lets talk a bit about future now. Whats the plan for season?


It is draft at the end of season, so I am working with keeping my ayes on that. Team wise, it’s the title ofcourse. No second thought about that. I do believe that it’s the target for every team and every player in the league, knowing that in juniors hockey you never know, everyone has their shot in play offs.


And your personal achievments?
I’d be happy to hit 20 point mark in my rookie season. That be pretty great. But I also do believe that it is not down to numbers I put on the ice, that’s more to the development during this season. And I have a lot of things to improve this season. We allready sat down with coach and disscused the things he wants me to improve. I am working on them all the time. Could say it is a grind 24/7 now.


Let’s say the draft is tomorrow. If you could choose where to land, who would you pick?


OMG, I guess I asked for it, lol
Ok, my idol since I remember is Esa Anrikkanen. Work ethics, Always giving his best and just to be a leader on and of the ice is just something I want to be equal to. And since he retired and now he is the coach of Calgary Dragons I would love to play under him. That would be like a dream come true. Plus Clagary seems to be the most succesful franchise latelly so why not to combine a dream with team success? Also I will be happy where ever I land after the draft


Ok, so Calgary is dream destination for you, but how about national team?


Good question, right now I am not thinking about that, since I am sure that I have noi chance of cracking national team roster, but in future only thing that can stop me from playing in national team is injury. I mean, I was very excited to be selected for juniors previous season, there is something with putting on that red and white sweater and to hear fans in standings, gives you goosebumps you know. And if you manage to win a game and get to hear an anthem at the end of the game, it’s what get’s you going.


Previously you said, that Esa Anrikkanen is your favorite player and someone you look up to. I remember when he and Chris Johnson created a hockey camp in Latvia for kids, did you participiated?


Yes, by the matter of fact I did. You know you hear story about how young Wayne Gretzky got to meet Gordie Howe and looked up to him as a hero? Well that was pretty much me when I met him. Sometimes they say it is bad for you to meet your heros, but since I met Esa, it was a game changer. Funny story about that time, Esa had his shirt dirty with some kind of souce from sandwitch he had previously.


Great story, Joe. I guess that’s where we could end. Thank you a lot and good luck.
Thanks, take care.

"Nobody cared who I was until I put on this jersey..."

           

                  Mikelis Ozoliņš - D - Colorado Raptors 

LATVIJA

Thanks to @enigmatic , @Ragnar and @sulovilen for the sexy Signature