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juniped · 07-18-2020, 07:51 AM

[2x draft media, 2,346 words, ready for grading]

Hi there, I’m J. Jonah Juniped here with Juni Panda, one of the newest members of the Toronto North Stars! He was selected 34th overall in the 3rd round of the season 55 SHL entry draft! Hailing from Skanör med Falsterbo, Sweden, he’s a 6ft 1in 210 lbs who has spent his Junior career with the Colorado Raptors. Now he’s a prospect not a lot of people know about so we decided to do something different here, Juni, if you don’t mind we have a couple questions for you, then we also polled twitter and got a large amount of questions Toronto and Colorado fans have about to throughout all different topics, is that ok?

Panda: Yeah of course, please ask away! I’m not used to having fans so I would love to answer whatever crazy questions they have. I would love for them to get to know me.

Juniped: Sure! Well first of all do you mind telling us how you got into Hockey?

Panda: Yeah well it wasn’t what I always dreamed about actually. I originally wanted to be an engineer. I studied a lot of maths and sciences in University even. The thing is that I have a uh… Tendency to get aggressive, and in high school I had a hard time focusing on my school. So my parents wanted to find me something I could do outside of school where I could channel my energy and frustrations. We were living in America at this time, my Dad was an american ambassador to Sweden so we had moved back to the states at the time. But anyway they gave me an option, american football or hockey, and well I played a bit of hockey when we lived in Sweden so I chose that. Anyway it turned out to be a good way to channel any frustrations I had with school so I stuck with it into college. Next thing I know I’m getting offers to try and go pro, I figure why not right? People want to go pro in sports all the time so I may as well give it a shot. A couple years later and here I am in the SHL draft, so I guess everything worked out!

Juniped: That’s wonderful that it worked out! Now tell me, how did the day of the draft go for you? How were you feeling, what did you do?

Panda: Well to be honest sir I was pretty nervous all day, I couldn't sleep so I got to bed around 4 this morning and actually headed down to the facilities at the WJC complex to burn some steam. Since a few of us playing in the tournament are being drafted I understood and the studies are open pretty much all the time anyway for players 10 practice and train. So I started around 4:30 and I ran a couple miles and then I did some weights. Around 6 I headed to grab some early breakfast and then headed back to my room to call the folks. after some resting and a short nap in my room There were a couple of round-robin games for us to play. I'll be honest my mind wasn't totally in them and went by in such a blur that I don't know how we did. I don’t think we did well haha, UCORCAL is pretty good. After the games I kind of went back to my room to center myself then I headed down to the main gathering area where a bunch of us were watching the draft happen live on TV. To be honest I didn't expect my name to be called until either the late third or the fourth round. I know I didn't get drafted in the original Juniors draft and it wasn't until Colorado picked me up as a free agent that I got some ice time. probably because I wasn't Junior eligible until after the draft honestly haha but anyway I didn't have as much experience as the other guys in the Juniors so it was a lot harder to take a chance on me. So you can imagine my surprise when I was drafted early in the third round by Toronto! It was a nice surprise because I have a friend on that team as well so I was excited to be able to play for them as they were one of the top teams I wanted to go to. So I guess it was good for them and me that I fell all the way to the third round haha.

Juniper: So I guess you’re excited to play for Toronto?

Panda: Yeah I'm excited, I talked to a lot of the guys that were there for all the international tournaments and they all seem real great. I think I fit in pretty well and I think they may have a role for me in the coming years which is nice. it may not be what I currently do but honestly I just enjoy the sport and I'm willing to learn whatever. If that role is checking opponents in the walls then I'm actually 100% fine with that. I can get at all that repressed anger I have haha. But honestly I've tried to be an all-around player, and I hope that I can use that to be able to transition whatever role they want me to if they don't want me to be a winger. After all it seems like they drafted a lot of offensive players haha.

Juniper: Well great I’m glad that you’re excited. Now lets fire off some rapid fire viewer questions, you ready?

Panda: Send it, let's do this.

Juniped: What motivates you to work hard?

Panda: Hmm good question. I think number one I want to make my parents proud. I want them to be happy with who i’ve become. That used to be in academics but now it’s in sports. I also want to be someone my teammates rely on. I want to be someone they can count on to get the job done, no matter the situation. So that keeps me motivated to work hard and get my nose to the grindstone.

Juniped: What is your favorite thing about your career?

Panda: Honestly the fact that I was able to go from being a relative nobody before the J to being drafted third round so far is huge for me. I feel like I’ve improved a lot since coming here and I’m glad I was able to prove I belonged, and hopefully I will continue to prove my usefulness. I want to show people that drafting me was worth it, and Toronto was willing to take the chance on me.

Juniper: What is your proudest accomplishment?

Panda: Well besides getting drafted? Haha actually I’m really proud of this math competition I was in during High School! It was a challenge where a bunch of teams across the US were given an obscure question, and we had to create a solution given math and generate a presentation on solutions. We didn’t win, but we made it to the finals and to be honest I’m really proud of that.

Juniped: Haha do you mind if I ask what the question was about?

Panda: Yeah, it was, given the rate the water level decline and of the surface area of the Lake Powell, model the volume of the lake and the expected depth in 5 years. Then determine the impact of the long-term drought in the region. Including the socio economic and political makeup. While determining how to balance the output flow for power and irrigation while managing the resource given the legal constraints of the 2010 drought.

Juniped: Wow that’s quite a question, I’m not sure I would be able to answer it to be honest.

Panda: Haha yeah, it was a 14 hour challenge and while we got knocked out in the finals round, I’m happy we were even able to get there.

Juniped: Can you tell me what you guys determined?

Panda: Honestly maybe I’ve taken too many hits to the head but I don’t remember! Hahaha

Juniped: Oh no worries, on to the next question then. What would sing at Karaoke Night?

Panda: Oh I love Karaoke, but if I had to pick a song it would be between “Toxic” by Britney Spears or “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears. I love Tears for Fears but to be honest Toxic is my guilty pleasure. However I might have to be a little inebriated to sing that in public haha.

Juniped: Hey that’s what I would pick too, I can’t get enough Toxic. Would you rather vacation in Hawaii or Alaska, and why?

Panda: Oh Alaska, hands down. Have you seen the scenery there? It’s some beautiful country, I would love to sit around and fish all day. I love it up there and I prefer the cold weather anyway. While Hawaii is nice, I think I would get tired of the beach all the time. I think it would be real zen to just retire to Alaska and spend my days carving and fishing on a houseboat out in the middle of nowhere. Go real off the grid.

Juniped: Nice, while I don’t agree sounds like a good time. Now what are your hobbies?

Panda: Well I play a lot of games in my free time. It’s a nice way to relax with friends around the world. I also like to play whatever other sports I can learn in the offseason. I play in some smaller beer leagues and such for baseball and play some friendly football leagues when I’m not training for the hockey season. I find it a fun way to both keep in shape and play some fun games. I’m partial to playing baseball mostly, but I once spent the offseason playing rugby that was interesting.

Juniped: If you were a superhero what powers would you have?

Panda: Oh that’s a good one. To be honest I think I’m town. I would either pick the ability to teleport, or the ability to control time. Think of all the time in the day you would save if you could nap in an instant by freezing time around you. It’s like having your own hyperbolic time chamber!

Juniped: Hyperbolic Time Chamber?

Panda: Hahaha yeah It’s from the Dragon Ball universe. One year inside the chamber is the equivalent to one day on the outside. Meaning you can get years of training in a short amount of time. Real cool idea.

Juniped: I see, and teleportation?

Panda: Oh yeah, have you never wished you could just pop down to Florida for a day to visit Disney? Or maybe there’s a crazy even somewhere across the world, it would be awesome just to be able to pop anywhere you like instantly. It would also really save me a fortune on air fare.

Juniped: Hallelujah, I can get behind that. Now what's your favorite holiday?

Panda: Ok this might be cliche but I love Christmas. I love the brotherhood around many places in the world. I also love the wintertime, but for me it’s a time to get together with family and just enjoy each other's company around the fire. Plus who doesn't love gifts.

Juniped: of course that makes sense. Since joining the league what would you say is the most interesting thing you have learned?

Panda: Honestly. I think I found advanced stats the most interesting thing I have learned. As I have said before I’m a nerd so there were some interesting stats to look at. Like for example, what do you know about PDO?

Juniped: Not much to be honest.

Panda: Well.. In basic terms is the sum of a team's shooting percentage and its save percentage. But the way it works it kind of measures how lucky a team and a player is. So if a player has a PDO that’s real high, they might be getting real lucky and will probably regress, This was pretty important to be because a 98 PDO can be considered kind of unlucky. However through my 19 games in the SMJHL, I had a PDO of 88.8! So that means I was INCREDIBLY unlucky hahaha, hopefully that means I’ll tear up the ice next season. While in our 12 WJC games plates so far, I have a 102.3 PDO, so I’ve probably been outperforming my actual skill level. However some of my other advanced stars like Corsi and Fenwick relative % are both positive, meaning I’ve been playing well and contributed to the team… I think I’m still learning…. Also I've gotten a lot better at hitting, I was never very good at that before.

Juniped: hey that's all more advanced than anything I know, but I'm sure some of our viewers will be excited to hear that players are into advanced stats and that some are still learning. Well that's all the time we have for today, is there anybody you like to shout out or think at the end of this?

Panda: yeah of course, obviously I'd like to give a shout out to all my old coaches, my parents, my past teammates, and all my friends. They have all helped support me and I wouldn't be here without them. I'd also like to thank the Colorado Raptors and the Toronto North Stars for taking a chance on me I hope to be able to live up to all of your expectations, and hopefully even exceed them!

Juniped: well thank you for your time today again, hopefully we can talk again soon. I'm sure you will have many fans asking more about you sometime soon. thanks for joining us and as any of you today folks, don't forget to like and subscribe, and hit that bell down at the bottom so you get a notification whenever we put out a new video or article. Until next time thanks for following the Daily Bugle and stay frosty!.

***hotdog*** · 07-18-2020, 10:12 AM

toronto got a steal with this panda, good luck juni!

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