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***yosh*** · 09-15-2020, 07:52 PM

Word Count: 3420. Big thank yous to @teztify @JNH @Festinator @dkhan_36 for their help with this media piece!

Well, draft weekend has finally come to a close. With both the Season 56 Simulation Hockey League and Simulation Major Junior Hockey League Draft falling on the same weekend, the Newfoundland Berserkers were geared up to not only see their two rookies from their Four Star Cup winning season get drafted into prospects for a pair of lucky teams in the Simulation Hockey League, but also bolster a new class of exciting rookies. In this Newfoundland Berserkers draft recap article, we shall cover the draft results for the Season 55 Newfoundland Berserkers rookies, as well as take a look at how the Berserkers fared with picking their share out of the nice crop of rookies that came out of the Season 56 Simulation Major Junior Hockey League draft.

NEWFOUNDLAND BERSERKERS ROOKIES DRAFTED INTO THE SIMULATION HOCKEY LEAGUE

We will begin with Newfoundland’s pair of rookies that went on to get drafted to Simulation Hockey League teams over the weekend. Defenseman Jonas Kahnwald and Right Winger Vaseline Podcalzone were both taken in the first two rounds of the draft. Kahnwald, who put up 6 goals and 9 assists for a mighty total of 15 points on the Newfoundland blue line during the Season 55 regular season, was taken 8th overall by the Los Angeles Panthers.

Kahnwald has continued to improve with every passing day, and shows true potential to be a top pairing defenseman a few years down the stretch in the Simulation Hockey League. Expect Kahnwald to continue to improve his offensive production for the Berserkers on the blue line for the Season 56 regular season.

When Kahnwald was asked about his thoughts on going to the Los Angeles Panthers, the blue liner responded enthusiastically.

“Do I know much about them? Nah, but when I looked through the SHL teams, they stood out to me because of the branding that they have,” Kahnwald explained in an interview. Kahnwald then detailed his interview with the Panthers’ interim manager. The two had “some really good conversations” in a previous interaction before the Season 55 Simulation Major Junior Hockey League. “He seemed like a really awesome dude so I am excited to be potentially playing for him.”

Kahnwald was not surprised at all by this pick, so it seems. The rookie had several conversations with the Panthers before this draft, so he knew that Los Angeles was interested in drafting him, as were many of the teams that were drafting in the top ten. Kahnwald wasn’t sure where exactly he would land in the draft, but knew that “if [he] were still available at 8th overall, [he] would definitely be going to the Los Angeles Panthers”, which turned out to be the case. Kahnwald is excited for the opportunity to play in Los Angeles, as although the prospect pool for the team at the moment is looking a bit light, Kahnwald is certain that with some strong drafting in the next couple of seasons, this team has a bright future.

“I think we will have an extremely promising up and coming team when I finally hit the SHL! We’ve already got some great young players, so it is a good start.”

Meanwhile, Right Winger Vaseline Podcalzone was drafted 23rd overall by the expansion team Seattle Argonauts. With most analysts expecting Podcalzone to go later in the second round, the pick to Seattle was higher than most mocks had expected. However, Podcalzone did state in pre-draft interviews that “he would not mind going to an expansion team, and was, in fact, excited at the opportunity to possibly become one of the first players to play for the team.” Podcalzone will hopefully bring a fair amount of energy into the Seattle Argonauts’ lineup a few seasons down the line. As a power forward, Podcalzone could hopefully fit in as a decent top 9 forward for the Argonauts, with top 6 potential based on how his player development progresses in the next few seasons. Now with that being said, Vaseline Podcalzone has much to improve on before he can be a star in the Simulation Hockey League. He only put up 2 goals and 6 assists for 8 points in the regular season for the Berserkers, albeit playing in limited minutes on the fourth line of a very stacked Newfoundland Berserkers’ squad. In the meantime, however, Podcalzone will continue to further his development while returning to St. John’s, Newfoundland, for his second season of play for the defending Four Star Cup champions. With a few of the Berserkers’ forwards likely to graduate from the team and get called up to the SHL, scouts will be watching to see how Podcalzone performs with increased playing time and also playing in a larger role for the Berserkers.

NEWFOUNDLAND BERSERKERS’ NEW CAPTAIN WEIGHS IN ON PODCALZONE AND KAHNWALD’S DRAFT RESULTS

We reached out to the newly appointed captain of the Season 56 Newfoundland Berserkers, Lassi Suhonen, for any comments that he has regarding the results of the Season 56 Simulation Hockey League Draft.

“We’re all happy for Jonas and Vas, obviously. They’ve been amazing teammates and watching them develop over the year was great to see, and it’s no surprise they had a lot of interest from SHL teams. You know, selfishly speaking, I’m kinda disappointed neither of them could join me in Chicago, but they’ve landed in some really promising spots,” the captain said over a cup of tea. “I’m not in the SHL yet so it’s hard for me to comment too much, but look, I watch the league and keep up with it obviously and players talk, so there’s always a sense of what’s going up there, and I think they’re both sort of walking into similar situations.”

Suhonen explained that it was no surprise for the blue liner Kahnwald to be heading to the city of Los Angeles to play for the Panthers. “It was no surprise he went so early in the draft. We thought he might have even gone a bit earlier but you can’t read too much into the speculation as a player. I know he didn’t, so I think he’s really happy to be a Panther. That’s a team going through a big transition right now in their roster and in their management so I think Jonas has a chance to walk right in there and become the future of that franchise immediately.”

Those are mighty heavy predictions coming from the Berserkers’ captain, but he stands true to his belief. “Jonas has shown all of us here in Newfoundland that he can be that guy for any team.”

Suhonen also made note of the Newfoundland connection that could be found in Los Angeles, as Berserkers’ player Elias Kierkgaard is also a member of the organization.

“It’d be awesome to see a Newfoundland connection on the Los Angeles defense in a few years.” Suhonen explained.

Suhonen then commented on Vaseline Podcalzone’s selection in the second round of the draft with the 23rd overall pick, stating that the fact that it was really cool that Podcalzone was going to the expansion franchise Seattle Argonauts.

“I think there’s a lot of excitement that is surrounding that team. He gets to be one of their first picks ever and similarly to Jonas, I think he can step in there and be a leader for a team that is probably going to need it, being so young and new.”

Suhonen then made a comparison to his team, the Chicago Syndicate. “If you look at my team, Chicago, that first draft class or two are still huge parts of the roster ten seasons on, and Pod can be that guy for Seattle and I think we’re all super happy for him to get that opportunity to be a part of building something from the ground up, which is an opportunity not everybody gets. Our team and our fans know he’s a real sandpaper type of player that really endears himself to everyone, so Seattle is going to be really happy with the selection that they made.”

Well, the captain sure had nothing but kind words to say on his two Berserkers. We will see if his insight rings true when Podcalzone and Kahnwald make it onto a Simulation Hockey League roster. Until then, they will seek to continue on their progression as players, with the goal of winning another Four Star Cup for Newfoundland in Season 56.

BERSERKERS DRAFT CLASS OF SEASON 56 TO FEATURE EIGHT FANTASTIC BRIGHT ROOKIES

While the Newfoundland Berserkers only drafted a pair of rookies in Season 55, with a large handful of picks in their possession for the Season 56 Simulation Major Junior Hockey League entry draft, the Berserkers decided to build for the future after coming off of the success of a prosperous Four Star Cup winning season.

Over the weekend, the Newfoundland Berserkers selected seven rookies in the Season 56 Simulation Major Junior Hockey League, as well as trading for another draftee, putting the total of Season 56 rookies for the Berserkers at eight.

The Berserkers first pick was five foot eleven, 177 pound left defender Matty Sandeen, coming out of Stockholm, Sweden.

Sandeen impressed scouts with his skills and also his personality, having done draft profiles and written articles ahead of time. He was considered one of the top prospects entering the draft, and Newfoundland pounced on the opportunity to draft the Swedish blue liner after trading with the St. Louis Scarecrows for the 4th overall pick of the Season 56 Simulation Major Junior Hockey League, sending away the 12th overall pick of the draft, as well as a second round pick in the following season’s draft.

The Berserkers management is hoping that Sandeen will hopefully continue the trend of Newfoundland drafting and producing elite blue liners following the success of Jonas Kahnwald. Offensive minded blue liners at the elite calibre are hard to come by, so the Berserkers may have themselves a gem here with Matty Sandeen.

The Berserkers were not done drafting in the first round yet, however. After trading the 16th and 24th overall picks of the draft, in addition to Newfoundland’s 4th round pick in the Season 57 Simulation Major Junior Hockey League draft, the Berserkers acquired the 9th overall pick, which they used to draft Irish left winger Bas O’Bigbers.

O’Bigbers is not the first player to come out of his hometown of Swords, Ireland. Many many seasons ago, a Centre by the name of Guts O’Bigbers played in the Simulation Hockey League. Given that the town of Swords had already produced a hockey player, the Berserkers are hoping that Bas can turn out to be the better O’Bigbers to play hockey out of the town of Swords.

In the second round, the Berserkers would select left winger Dwayne Gretzky out of Trenton, New Jersey, with the 17th overall pick of the draft.

In the third round, the Berserkers selected another product out of Swords, Ireland, when they selected left defender Chad Alfa with the 25th overall pick of the Simulation Major Junior Hockey League Entry Draft.

The Berserkers would then trade away the 36th overall pick of the draft, as well as their fourth round pick in the Season 55 Simulation Major Junior Hockey League draft in order to acquire right winger Jannik Hansen from the Maine Timber. Hansen was selected 31st overall, but the Berserkers were keen on having Hansen, a product of Denmark.

Hansen later stated that he was equally as keen on playing for the cup champions. Hansen stated, “Well I kinda already knew that they were the dream team. They had won the cup and getting to play with someone I know in Podcalzone is a great bonus. I wasn’t entirely sure where I was gonna go in the draft but it was more or less expected that I wouldn’t be going in the top 10.”

When asked how he felt about initially being drafted by the Timber before almost immediately being dealt over to Newfoundland, Hansen explains, “For a short moment I was disheartened because I was really looking forward to being drafted and playing for Newfoundland, but then I remembered speaking to the Timbers GM the other day and I felt that I’d be welcome there. And you know, life doesn’t always go as planned so sometimes it’s okay to try a new path. But then after the trade went down, I was really excited, although at first I did feel a tiny bit bad since I was originally on with the Timber. However, that was quickly washed away by joy because I got selected by the Berserkers, the team I wanted.”

In the fourth round, the Berserkers would wrap up their draft and go on to select three prospects: Centre Dusty Williams out of Winnipeg, Centre Hank Spankie out of Detroit, and Left Winger Brett Mathews out of St. Paul. With these selections, the Berserkers decided to call it a draft and passed on the remainder of their picks.

BERSERKERS CAPTAIN EAGER TO MENTOR NEW ROOKIES

Lassi Suhonen was very enthusiastic when providing his insights on this new batch of rookies, not even knowing where to start on his praise for these rookies.

“I mean, we haven’t seen too much from these guys yet, but they’re all super impressive. It’s a bit of a new experience for me to have so many young players coming in at once, you know, especially since last season we only had Jonas and Podcalzone, but to have a class this big coming in, it’s not only just unique, but it’s also a ton of fun.”

Suhonen made note that it was different this time around because he is also the captain for this new group of rookies. He noted that “there’s a bit more expected in terms of showing guys around and making them feel welcome but the whole team is off to a really good start with that.”

Suhonen said that the management team of the Berserkers really liked the two players that they picked up in the first round, making note that they did trade up to pick up both of them. “It was exciting to see, knowing the management team still has our backs and will take risks to improve the team,” Suhonen shared with us. “We got Matty Sandeen to strengthen the back end where we’re going to lose a few key guys there like Jack Klompus, so he has some big shoes to fill but he’s been so good already that I think he’s going to settle into the league in no time. He has a great head on his shoulders and I think he’ll have the same type of big year that Jonas did last season.”

Suhonen then went on to praise the Newfoundland Berserkers’ management and their move to trade up to select Bas O’Bigbers. He explains, “It’s exciting for me because we’ve lost a few wingers to the Simulation Hockey League, so to trade up for a really high-end one in the draft is awesome. I like paying with the young guys so hopefully we get to line up together at least a few times this season. I think his play style being so offensive would add a good dynamic to my line and maybe we could put up some points together. He’s already become a real vocal locker room guy which is great that he feels really comfortable early on with us in Newfoundland.”
Suhonen goes on to mention further picks in Dwayne Gretzky, stating that he was in a similar scenario to the aforementioned Bas O’Bigbers. “For me personally, getting some depth on the wings is really encouraging. I do not know who I am going to be playing with, but for the management team to go out there and get us some options, like Gretz, is huge and will definitely help to strengthen our lineup. I know he went in the second round which is kinda high, but if you’re looking for a steal, he might be the guy.”

Suhonen spoke on the other blueline rookie in Chad Alfa. “Alfa has been super impressive since coming in as well. I think that we are all excited to see what he can do as one of our two rookies on the blueline. He might have to play a pretty important role with some of our guys graduating. Still, he’s such a big presence on the ice, it’s a bit intimidating in practice, so I’m sure the rest of the league isn’t going to be very happy about being out there playing against him.”

The last player that Suhonen touched up on was right winger Jannik Hansen, who was, as mentioned earlier, traded to the Berserkers for a few picks after being drafted by the Maine Timber. “Jannik Hansen has been awesome as well, really, there’s so much reason to be happy with this whole group. Nobody has looked out of place here so far and I think the fans here in Newfoundland have a lot of reason to stay excited for this team while we try and defend this Four Star championship. Hansen is another winger that I’d be happy to get the chance to play with and see if we can get some chemistry going. He’s a really well-balanced player and I know our coaches love that kind of guy that can do whatever is asked so he’s gonna carve himself out a role here and have a lot of success.”

BERSERKERS GENERAL MANAGER EXTREMELY PLEASED WITH HIS DRAFT CLASS

We reached out to JNH, the general manager of the Newfoundland Berserkers, for his thoughts on the new batch of rookies that he drafted.

“We had some needs to fill at almost every position after a couple more call ups than we initially expected. In the first round, we made a pair of trades to bring in Matty Sandeen and Bas O’Bigbers. Both kids are looking like absolute studs and well worth the price we paid to move up. They’re going to be key pieces in our forward group and on our back end for the foreseeable future as we enter a sort of youth movement phase here in St. John’s,”

“After that, we got to our pick at 17 and to our surprise Dwayne Gretzky was still on the board. He was someone that we pegged as a first round level prospect, so the fact that he was still there halfway into the second round was pretty damn great. We ended up grabbing Chad Alfa at 23 soon after. Alfa was a childhood friend of Bas O’Bigbers and someone who we thought had some underrated potential from our draft interviews. Him, Kahnwald and Sandeen should be anchoring our back end as we make numerous cup runs in the coming years,”
“Our last selection of the draft, well, I guess it wasn’t really a selection per se, but it was a trade. We were waiting for our next pick at 36 to grab Jannik Hansen who was on the quieter side but seemed like he was primed to break out. Sadly, Maine snagged him at 31 and we were dejected. We sent Maine a quick phone call and were luckily able to arrange to get him back for our 36th overall pick and a 4th round selection in two seasons. Hansen is someone that we think could be the steal of the draft if he’s able to find his footing in the league this season. There is a lot of untapped potential.”

When asked who he thought was the steal of the draft for the Berserkers, JNH stated that he thought that all of the prospects selected by Newfoundland could turn out to be steals. “O’Bigbers realistically should have been a top 5, if not a top 3 pick in this draft. A couple of other guys fell a lot further than we thought they would have, and we’re honoured to be able to add them when we did.”

Overall, it was a successful and prosperous weekend for the Newfoundland Berserkers. With Kahnwald and Podcalzone soon to get inked to SHL contracts before returning to St. John’s for training camp in preparation for the 56th season of the Simulation Major Junior Hockey League, in addition to a new squadron of rookies coming onboard to fill up the lineup, the Berserkers are ready to defend their title, while at the same time looking forward to having what could shape up to be a dynasty team for many seasons to come.