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TheOPSquid · 12-01-2023, 01:35 PM

Radio Announcer intercut with music to generate hype: *You're listening to Latvijas Radio 2, the #1 source for Latvian news and music with no breaks*

Gustavs Jansons: "Hello listeners, this is Gustavs "Goose" Jansons of Latvijas Radio 2, we are here live with Squidwardo Tentacles, Yukon Malamutes player and Seattle Argonauts prospect. We are doing a live interview going over his past season and experiences as a rookie in the league, world juniors, and the draft of course."

Squidwardo Tentacles: "Thanks Goose I'm happy to be here, lots of my family have been listening to the show for years and I'd like to dedicate the interview to them of course."

Gustavs: "Great! We are happy to have you here and especially live in the studio here in Riga. How has your offseason been so far? I'm sure being back home in Latvia is a lot different than the Yukon!"

Squidwardo: "Yeah it's been great being back, a lot of hanging out with family and some old friends. We've all been keeping in touch throughout the season and my parents flew out for the draft and my debut so having them there supporting me the entire time was great. I had the boys over for a couple games in December and they were surprised that the weather in the Yukon is a lot more dry but colder than here in Riga. The first winter was pretty harsh, but I was gifted a custom blanket by the team that has been extremely effective in keeping me warm. I also like to do a lot of outdoor camping just outside Whitehorse throughout the season so I've tried to get used to the cold as much as possible.

Gustavs: "That's great that you have a large support circle that's been out to what sounds like quite a few games! Speaking of your debut, how do you feel about how your first regular season went? Anything big happen throughout the season?

Squidwardo: "I think it went well. There is room for improvement for sure, finishing 10th isn't ideal but considering we finished 1st in our division we will take it. With a young squad like ours it is just important to get that playoff experience, build off of it and gather momentum over this ending and hopefully go further next season. We had a great group of players in the organization, as well as coaches and management.

Gustavs: "You heard it here first, having a solid group of teammates is always important, whether you're playing beer league or the pros. How did you get along with your new teammates?"

Squidwardo: "Having them all made my rookie season really fun, I was given an honourary Hawaiian shirt from now alternate captain Langston Hardison-Laurent; that was pretty special he even made it himself I believe. He wears one every game under his pads, I didn't go that far but I did wear it to the rink pre–game a couple times. Newton Campbell took us all out fishing when we went on our roadtrip to Anchorage. He caught a huge sockeye salmon on a big shrimp he was using as bait, but said he was the only one allowed to use shrimp and he made the rest of us use corn so I think that played a part in us not catching anything big. Captain Svatos took us all to an Edmonton Blizzard game when we were driving through to go to our match against Regina. They lost 10-7 against Winnipeg and he blamed us all for being bad luck and wouldn't let us watch any more games with him. A lot of good trips and stops over the season, looking forward to the next one.

Gustavs: "Getting drafted to the Yukon must have been pretty special, what were your expectations for the team heading into this season?"

Squidwardo: "We knew we were a young squad and that we were guaranteed to make the playoffs through the way the divisions were set up, so we were just focused on getting chemistry throughout the season and making sure we had our systems and lines in place come playoffs. We weren't expecting much but were hoping to finish first in our division to guarantee a spot in the second round which we were able to in the end."

Gustavs: "A good run for your squad but ultimately you were eliminated in the semis by the Newfoundland Berserkers after a 7 game series. Yukon has now been eliminated in the semi-finals for 4 seasons in a row. How does it feel and what do you need to change?"

Squidwardo: "I definitely felt a bit of added pressure around those games in the semis, but as I already said we weren't even expected to make it into the semis so making it and taking them to 6 games was a good start for us as a younger group. Unfortunately we didn't get it done, I can shoulder most of that myself, I didn't produce as much as I needed to in that round and ultimately we didn't get it done. I don't think we need to make any major changes, I think the fans know and understand that in a rebuilding phase patience is needed before the successes start coming in."

Gustavs: "With the graduating of long-time Malamutes, Jordan Tanner, Furious Chicken and Captain Theodore Svatos, how does Yukon replace those players?"

Squidwardo: "We have some internal guys that are looking to step up into those roles and I think they'll be able to hold their own pretty well. It's always hard to replace guys of their caliber and character, hopefully our new draft picks are going to be able to come in and take our spots as we try to measure up against the 3 graduates. Chicken is obviously a great defender that doesn't get enough hype by the media due to their bias towards the other conference and hopefully Kaarlo or Kristian can step up into his spot. Theo Svatos was a big leader on and off the ice and we are hoping Langston can hop into his spot and try to fill in the Bald King's spot as best as he can. Jordan Tanner was solid throughout the season, there were some concerns if he would even be able to play at the start of the season due to some issues but were fortunate enough to get him out on bail before the season officially started. So he didn't end up missing preseason and we were able to build off of that good news and him returning for his last junior season."

Gustavs: "The younger players stepping up into bigger roles, it must be done eventually and hopefully they fill the shoes. You were taken 7th overall in the SHL Entry Draft after Seattle traded up for the pick, do you feel any pressure on your performance after they traded up for you?"

Squidwardo: "I definitely feel a bit of pressure on myself. But I like the pressure, I know myself and my game and I like that Seattle put their faith into me already. It is definitely an honour to be drafted so high and I hope to be able to help out a ton for the Argos when I eventually make it to the SHL. I hope that I can play the best I possibly can in order to make sure that I have a long and successful career. Playing up to expectations should be a lot easier with the strong draft class that Seattle had, being able to play with Will Tomlander and/or Shadow Fenix up front would be nice, they can hopefully carry me to a good season."

Gustavs: "You were selected for your first World Junior Championships tournament this offseason. As one of the younger members of the United Countries of Russia, Czechia and Latvia, how does it feel to be selected to represent your home country of Latvia in the World Junior Championships?"

Squidwardo: "I definitely wasn't expecting it, it was an honour for sure, getting selected to play with that group was great, I learned a lot from the players and coaching staff and hope to translate it to this upcoming season. We had a lot of hard training sessions and our group of rookies were fortunate enough to get some extra on and off-ice training from the veterans and coaching staff to help grow our games. The most recent second overall pick Olivija Agate has been putting in a ton of work with our group, asking tons of questions and giving us all pr tips as she has been hounded with media coverage since she has been a highly touted prospect. Marek Carda was able to get the team cases of his family's famous pilsner to try once the tournament ended for us and while I'm not a big pilsner guy it was definitely the best one I've ever had."

Gustavs: "A tough tournament for UCORCAL, after a disappointing tournament that saw you get eliminated in the group stage and not making it to the medal round, what are your thoughts on the tournament?"

Squidwardo: "There is room for improvement for sure, we hope to bounce back next tournament and hopefully establish a dominance on the ice. Once we get into the medal rounds anything can happen, so thats always the goal. One bounce and the game is completely different, we are hoping to come back next season and surprise people with our game and pull off a couple upsets."

Gustavs: "What are your thoughts on Latvian hockey overall? Do you think it is in a good spot at the moment?"

Squidwardo: "I think Latvian hockey has been growing greatly over the past couple seasons, it is pretty noticeable with all the young Latvians declaring for the draft and producing well. The IIHF Latvian team has a lot of solid players on it too, helping grow the game a lot as Latvia has been able to compete throughout the tournaments. Edzus Ozolins, Nikolaj Boyle, Billy Hill are all solid players from Latvia that have developed into great players through the Latvian hockey program. And you can't forget some of the players that have represented Latvia that became Latvian citizens, like Benjamin Surkhi-Ze'ev, Sophie Bordeleau and Mats Marner, all of them contributing greatly to growing the game of hockey in Latvia.

Now we have another wave of young Latvians coming in from the past two seasons, Juan Tymer has come in from one of the beer leagues and been phenomenal, earning an 8th overall selection in the SHL entry draft. Leo Roze is his defensive partner and he has been great for Quebec and Chicago. Dan Craig just went to the Finals with Newfoundland and will make an impact soon, as well Olivija Agate just went second overall after a great performance as a rookie at the World Juniors. There are a ton of players that can draw in to represent Latvia and I think the team is in a good spot."

Gustavs: "Yes! The young Latvians seem like they're going to make Team Latvia a force to be reckoned with in the future! We here at Latvijas Radio 2 would like to thank you for coming out to our studio here in the city of Riga. We are going to let you get back to your last week of offseason before your preseason kicks off, any plans in the final week?

Squidwardo: "The only thing left to do is fly back over to the Yukon and start training up early, I don't want to head into preseason feeling like I'm not at my top level."

Gustavs: "That's going to wrap up our segment for today, I'd like to thank you for coming out to the station for the interview and wish you luck for the next season with the Malamutes."

Squidwardo: "Thanks very much for having me, I appreciate your time"

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