dondo
06-27-2009, 05:12 PM
we all know this by now, but its good to give kudos to local lad made good.. well done Evander, edging out Brule (6th) for franchise highest pick in the NHL entry draft.
ian walker vancouver sun:
Nothing like setting your sights high. Then again, this is EvanderKane we’re talking about.
You know the guy: Won a Memorial Cup with the Vancouver Giants as a 15-year-old. Gold with Canada’s under-18s as a 16-year-old. Another gold this year, this time with the Junior nats.
So it really was no surprise that the Giants sniper wasted few words when asked —just moments after being chosen fourth overall by the Atlanta Thrashers at the NHL entry draft, mind you — what type of player he expects to become.
“I always love to score goals,” Kane told TSN. “I want to get as many as possible. I’m hoping to be a 50-goal guy one day.”
Talk about confidence. And to think, just minutes earlier, the 17-year-old Vancouver native was fidgeting in his aisle seat in the lower concourse of Montreal’s Bell Centre, his eyes darting back and forth from the scoreboard to his unusually clammy hands. To his right, sat proud parents Perry and Sheri Kane. Further along the row, sisters Brea and Kyla could be found. His grandmother, sitting pretty, was one row back.
“It’s been pretty fun and pretty stressful,” admitted Kane to reporters. “I knew they were very interested so it’s a really good opportunity. I’m going to try and make them proud. If I have the summer that I plan to have, I’m going to give myself a really good opportunity to make that team.”
The 6-2, 185-pound Kane becomes the highest-drafted Vancouver-born and -raised player since Barry Beck went second overall to the Colorado Rockies in 1977. Kane also supplants Gilbert Brule — who went sixth to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2005 — as the highest Giant selected in the team’s eight-year history.
“It’s a special honour and a special thing for me,” said Kane, who scored a team-record 48 goals to go along with 96 points in 61 games in his sophomore Western HockeyLeague season. “Being a Vancouver Giant is obviously a great privilege and I know being part of that organization was tremendous for me.”
If it sounds like Kane thinks his time with the Giants is nearing an end, it’s because he does.
“Yeah, I do,” said Kane. “I think I’m only going to continue to get bigger and stronger and hopefully by the summer I’ll have put on enough weight and I think with my skill level I should be successful.”
He’s not the only one thinking that way.
“This is a guy who is going to go into camp with the expectation of making their team and I’d be surprised if he didn’t,” said Giants general manager Scott Bonner, who was in Montreal to take part in the festivities. “I’ve been planning our lineup next year without him and I don’t see that changing.”
In Atlanta, Kane will be reunited with former Giant captain SpencerMachacek, who was selected by the Thrashers in the fourth round (67th overall) in 2007.
“I think him being there is going to help me going into camp and show me the ropes a little bit,” said Kane, who is projected as a solid top-line point producer who can also play a gritty, physical game. “But at the same time, I’m going to be going into that camp trying to make the team right off the hop and that’s going to be my goal.”
Even more exciting is the possibility of playing alongside Ilya Kovalchuk.
“Yeah, I think playing with a guy like that is definitely going to elevate my game,” he said. “Hopefully it can be a real good line combination in the near future.”
Like the very near future. Remember, this is Evander Kane we’re talking about.
Kane was the lone B.C. boy selected in the first round. Red Deer Rebels’ Landon Ferraro and Saskatoon Blades’ Stefan Elliott were both bypassed on Friday, after being projected as Top 30 picks.
iwalker@vancouversun.com
thoughts?
Evander joins Machacek on the Thrash
http://blogs.ajc.com/iceman-thrashers-blog/2009/06/27/thrasherville-welcomes-its-newest-citizen-kane/?cxntfid=blogs_iceman_thrashers_blog
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/tavares-hedman-duchene-kane-schenn/article1199564/
ian walker vancouver sun:
Nothing like setting your sights high. Then again, this is EvanderKane we’re talking about.
You know the guy: Won a Memorial Cup with the Vancouver Giants as a 15-year-old. Gold with Canada’s under-18s as a 16-year-old. Another gold this year, this time with the Junior nats.
So it really was no surprise that the Giants sniper wasted few words when asked —just moments after being chosen fourth overall by the Atlanta Thrashers at the NHL entry draft, mind you — what type of player he expects to become.
“I always love to score goals,” Kane told TSN. “I want to get as many as possible. I’m hoping to be a 50-goal guy one day.”
Talk about confidence. And to think, just minutes earlier, the 17-year-old Vancouver native was fidgeting in his aisle seat in the lower concourse of Montreal’s Bell Centre, his eyes darting back and forth from the scoreboard to his unusually clammy hands. To his right, sat proud parents Perry and Sheri Kane. Further along the row, sisters Brea and Kyla could be found. His grandmother, sitting pretty, was one row back.
“It’s been pretty fun and pretty stressful,” admitted Kane to reporters. “I knew they were very interested so it’s a really good opportunity. I’m going to try and make them proud. If I have the summer that I plan to have, I’m going to give myself a really good opportunity to make that team.”
The 6-2, 185-pound Kane becomes the highest-drafted Vancouver-born and -raised player since Barry Beck went second overall to the Colorado Rockies in 1977. Kane also supplants Gilbert Brule — who went sixth to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2005 — as the highest Giant selected in the team’s eight-year history.
“It’s a special honour and a special thing for me,” said Kane, who scored a team-record 48 goals to go along with 96 points in 61 games in his sophomore Western HockeyLeague season. “Being a Vancouver Giant is obviously a great privilege and I know being part of that organization was tremendous for me.”
If it sounds like Kane thinks his time with the Giants is nearing an end, it’s because he does.
“Yeah, I do,” said Kane. “I think I’m only going to continue to get bigger and stronger and hopefully by the summer I’ll have put on enough weight and I think with my skill level I should be successful.”
He’s not the only one thinking that way.
“This is a guy who is going to go into camp with the expectation of making their team and I’d be surprised if he didn’t,” said Giants general manager Scott Bonner, who was in Montreal to take part in the festivities. “I’ve been planning our lineup next year without him and I don’t see that changing.”
In Atlanta, Kane will be reunited with former Giant captain SpencerMachacek, who was selected by the Thrashers in the fourth round (67th overall) in 2007.
“I think him being there is going to help me going into camp and show me the ropes a little bit,” said Kane, who is projected as a solid top-line point producer who can also play a gritty, physical game. “But at the same time, I’m going to be going into that camp trying to make the team right off the hop and that’s going to be my goal.”
Even more exciting is the possibility of playing alongside Ilya Kovalchuk.
“Yeah, I think playing with a guy like that is definitely going to elevate my game,” he said. “Hopefully it can be a real good line combination in the near future.”
Like the very near future. Remember, this is Evander Kane we’re talking about.
Kane was the lone B.C. boy selected in the first round. Red Deer Rebels’ Landon Ferraro and Saskatoon Blades’ Stefan Elliott were both bypassed on Friday, after being projected as Top 30 picks.
iwalker@vancouversun.com
thoughts?
Evander joins Machacek on the Thrash
http://blogs.ajc.com/iceman-thrashers-blog/2009/06/27/thrasherville-welcomes-its-newest-citizen-kane/?cxntfid=blogs_iceman_thrashers_blog
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/tavares-hedman-duchene-kane-schenn/article1199564/