Login

Huck24 · 05-19-2020, 03:32 PM

We are here at the IIHF tournament, about to have our post SHL draft chat with New Orleans alternate captain, defenseman Lyle Odelein III. Lyle is here at the tournament playing for his home country of Canada. We got a chance to sit down with Lyle and talk about the SHL draft that took place this past Saturday. We will also talk about New Orleans exit from the post season and his outlook on S54 for the Specters.

Without further ado, here is our interview with Lyle Odelein III:

Q: Good afternoon Lyle, really appreciate you sitting down with us.

A: Not a problem. I'm really getting used to these post draft interviews. Let's me know that the new season is right around the corner!

Q: Well, since we are at the IIHF tournament, we might as well start off with that. How is the tournament going so far?

A: It's going very well. We've assembled a strong group of players for team Canada. We are playing well together and I hope we can keep that going. It would be nice to get to the medal games this time around, I think we've got the talent, focus and drive to do it. It's going to be a fun tourney.

Q: The Canadians have been playing very well, looking like one of the contenders so far, looking forward to see how this plays out.

A: You and me both! Should be some great hockey coming up!

Q: Let's get into the draft. I know you weren't able to be there, well, no one was there since this draft was done over video conference like we saw with the NBA draft. Were you able to tune in?

A: I sure was. The draft has always, and will always be a big day for me. I enjoy everything thing about it, it's a great time, for everyone involved.

Q: So what did you think about the selections that your team, the New Orleans Specters made?

A: I think they were great! JoeK has a knack for picking some gems, the 3 prospects we've added to our pool are going to be great for our future.

Q: Do you know much about the players that were picked?

A: A little, I know with our first rounder we snagged Bork Lazer @Frick_Nasty. A real tough defender from the Anchorage Armada. We've heard nothing but good things about him from our newest rookie Mitchell van der Heijden. They played together last season in the SMJHL and Mitchell has been singing Bork's praises for a while now. I just heard today that he has been picked for the All-Rookie team for the SMJHL, pretty impressive if you ask me.

Q: A quick look at Lazer's numbers from last season shows him with 6 goals and 20 assists, and he almost hit triple digits in hits with 94. Some solid numbers for a draftee.

A: Agreed, and in the playoffs he showed that he can perform when the pressure is on. In seven games he scored twice and had 4 helpers, putting him at just under a point per game. He is going to be a fun one to watch progress. Looking forward to playing with him in a few seasons!

Q: Next up NOLA selected a right winger from the Carolina Kracken, Kwame Dakari @Zaitsev with the 37th pick.

A: Yup, Kwame is another great add to our prospect pool. He had a solid rookie campaign playing in Carolina, I think he was able to score something like 7 goals and 3 assists playing at a limited capacity. Which is pretty darn good if you ask me! Like Bork, he seems like a really good guy, he should fit great in our locker room.

Q: And you guys had one more pick, in the fourth round if I remember correctly.

A: That's right, in the fourth we had the 58th pick. We snagged another member of the Carolina Kracken, Stein Nilsen @bordon23. He is another winger, on the left side though. He played some good hockey last season like Dakari did, he had slightly better numbers then his Kracken team mate, scoring 8 goals and helping on 8 more. These two will both be nice additions to our forward core once they are ready to make the move up to the SHL. They are playing for a great junior team and should get all the help they need to become great SHL forwards and be able to contribute as soon as they get the call up.

Q: That's a pretty good rundown on the new prospects. What else has been happening in New Orleans this off season?

A: Well. I'm sure you saw that we made a trade with the Tampa Bay Barracudas before the draft. We were able to add a great player in Olivier Cloutier into our top six. It's pretty exciting to get a player of Cloutier's caliber, we just added some solid firepower to our forward group. And as I said earlier, our newest rookie will be joining us, Mitchell van der Heijden, who has been lighting up the SMJHL for a couple of seasons now will be skating with us in the big leagues this season, he has just been named to the SMJHL 1st team all-stars as well. This kid has it all, it's been fun watching him grow and I'm pumped to play with him this season. The league better watch out, this rookie is going to be a force to be reckon with.

Q: It sounds like you are getting pretty excited for this season.

A: Heck yes I am! We have such a great group. Everyone wants to win and we all really enjoy playing together. We had a slow start last season but we pulled it together and finished strong. It was a rough playoff run for us. We fucked up on some clerical work before the a couple of the games in our playoff match up against Los Angeles, and we ended up losing to them in another game seven. All and all it was a playoff series I hope to forget and move past sooner than later. And what better way to do that then make the playoffs this season and tear it up!

Q: I think that about covers it Lyle, again I want to thank you again for this, always good to catch up with you.

A: Agreed, I'm always down for some hockey talk, especially when it involves one of my teams! Before we close out, just want to tell all the recent draftees, congratulations on getting selected, and I look forward to lining up against you all in a few seasons time.

2x draft media - word count -1145

Zaitsev · 05-19-2020, 03:36 PM

That's my team mate.

Frick_Nasty · 05-19-2020, 06:57 PM

Hell yeah!

Navigation

Extra Menu

About us