Interview With Phoenix Coyotes Prospect Mikkel Boedker

Phoenix Coyotes first round pick in this year's draft Mikkel Boedker was interviewed by Brian Poulsen of the Danish newspaper Rodovre Lokal Nyt  recently and here is a bit of what he had to say about his draft experiences and other topics:

"I remember Wayne Gretzky walked up to the podium and a video photographer was walking along the stairs down in front of me. My mom told me that he was filming me. I just said no it's not me. I knew Phoenix had looked at me and I had hoped to be taken in the top 10, but I didn't think I would be taken now. Again my mom told me that the guy was filming me.

 Everybody stood up and cheered when Gretzky walked up to the microphone. And then he just said 'we choose from the Kitchener Rangers' ..... and then my name and I just thought 'Cool!'. I hugged everybody and my jacket went off in a hurry. Probably not the nicest way to take it off, but I wanted to get it off in a hurry and just get up there. I remember thinking please just don't fall up the stairs. When I walked up there everybody was happy.

 I had met Gretzky the day before when I talked to Phoenix and I had asked him for his autograph, and he told me 'you'll get it tomorrow at the draft'.

 When I get up to the podium he asks me if I still wanted the autograph, or if I wanted a picture with him. so I told him that now I can get plenty of autographs. And he just said. Yeah that's right, so we'll wait with the autograph. That was a lot of fun. They all welcomed me.

 After the first round we met Gretzky again in the team's suite inside the arena, and I remember thinking 'it can't be Gretzky standing in front me of'..

 He told me they were afraid they wouldn't get me. And I just thought 'how can you be nervous? you've been through so much'. I guess I did alright this season...

The first day I got there I met him [Kyle Turris]. I was standing there with all my stuff and he told me to meet him there later. When I met him it was just him and me. I asked where everybody else was. He just said 'we'll take a cab down the rink. I want to show you around here first'. That's basically what started our friendship. I was fortunate to play in the same line with him at the camp. It was great fun. Everybody was skating hard and just having a blast."

Thank you very much to Brian Poulsen for this interview and allowing me to post it here.

Boedker sounds just like a little kid in these interviews and he seems to be loving every second of this experience. He sounds excited to be coming to Phoenix and I hope he stays here in Phoenix for a very long time.

What really made me happy was the first meeting between Kyle Turris and Boedker. When I saw them playing together on the ice I could tell the chemistry and friendship was there but for it to have started like this is amazing and says alot about the character of Kyle Turris. With that kind of attitude he could be the next captain of the Phoenix Coyotes as well as a star in the NHL. Things are becoming more exciting by the day in Coyote Country and the rest of the NHL better watch out.

Image found through Google Image search here.