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2004 Prospects: Player journal by Matt Robinson

Written by: Unknown on 06/23/2004

Well it’s been awhile since I last talked to you. A bunch of things have happened since the last journal. I found out who my new head coach was about three weeks ago. His name is Jim Hiller. He was the assistant coach for the Tri City Americans in the WHL. He played in the NHL in the early 90’s. He also played in the AHL, IHL, Team Canada, Germany and Italy. I am looking forward to having him coach me because of all his experience plus he started his career by going the NCAA route. He was on the Northern Michigan team that won the championship. This is exactly what I want to do. The day he was hired he called me up on the phone to tell me that he has a lot of plans for the team and me. I am really looking forward to this year and to meeting Jim in person.

In May I played in the Global Sports Scouting Hockey Showcase. It was great to see old friends from all over North America. It was also nice to have the opportunity to play with my younger brother, Garrett, because he will also be leaving home in August to play for the Moose Jaw Warriors in the WHL.

As mentioned in my last journal I was selected to play in the two BCHL Prospect Games. The two games were very fast, hard-hitting, and very exciting hockey. I was very surprised at how many people attended both games. The arena was full of NCAA, WHL and NHL scouts. I would like to thank Ross Bebe and Roy Henderson for giving me a chance to play in the Prospect games which gave me more exposure to NCAA scouts. Six more schools have called since the Prospect games including New Hampshire and Northern Michigan. I will be taking a fly down to Minnesota State and Bowling Green in July.

Coming up this weekend is the NHL draft. I am ranked 189th in the final Central Scouting report. I slipped down from 168th. I feel the reason I slipped in the rankings was my lack of a commitment to an NCAA school because I felt my play overall improved as the season went on. In the past week I have had several NHL scouts call me inquiring into various aspects of my game and life including why I have not committed to a school. I am quite nervous and excited to see what will happen. I am hopefully going to be drafted but understand that there is an obvious chance I go undrafted. I also realize being drafted doesn’t guarantee me anything but it does help bring me one step closer to my dream of being a National Hockey League player.

This summer has been extremely busy for me. I work during the day then I work out in the evening. I am also taking a summer English course to help get my grades up to potentially expose myself to more NCAA schools with higher admission standards. I will be taking a Math course in the fall to improve that grade as well.

I will be leaving for Port Alberni in early August to help with their hockey school. I am looking forward to seeing what the town is like.

I will let you know in my next journal how the draft turned out for me and what the rest of the summer holds.

Copyright 2004 Hockey’s Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.

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