James give a few words on the Prospect Update

Tom James received an email asking for a few words on the recent Prospect update in which his name had come up. Thinking that this might boost his name a little bit and perhaps show more of a presence infront of his potential future teams. The email asks for an interview at the rink just after his practice that afternoon. He wasn't exactly sure where this "Siobhan Clegg" got information on his practice schedule but he just figured she'd done some research. Thinking nothing more of it he sent an email agreeing to taking the interview and went to pack up his gear for the practice.

It was a reasonably run-of-the-mill practice focusing mainly on his forecheck passing. He noticed the local recreational team filing into the building with their respective bags just as he was entering the dressing room to cap off the practice and finishing off a bottle of water as a job well done. Leaving the dressing room, now in his normal clothes, was approached by a giant of a woman (a feature that stood out all the more being on a pair of skates) wearing the dark yellow of the rec team's jersey's. It was Siobhan, wearing "Clegg" on her back and "58" underneith and on her sleeves. "Power forward" thought James as he recognised that she was motioning him over to her. She got a small pad and pen out of her equipment bag and licked the tip of her pen.

Clegg - Thomas! Hi... Been looking forward to interviewing you!

James - Hey, what did you say it was for again? (Said after the sudden realisation that he hadn't actually asked)

Clegg - Oh, it's a local hockey newsletter going around. We report on ISHL matches and stuff and give the inside scoop on who's hot and who's not sort of thing. It's reasonably informal though, although our readers have been growing in number recently.

James - Oh, fair enough. (Said with a little bit of disappointment, hoping it was something a little bit bigger to make more of an impact but atleast he'd be appealing to possible fans. He managed to hide his disappointment, as not to be rude and prepared his mind for question answering.) Well, I'm ready whenever you are...

Clegg - I thought you'd never ask! Well first thing's first, how did you feel about the comments in general? What do you think about your competition for those all important draft picks? (Pen now poised on her pad)

James - Well the competition is definately hotting up. I look forward to seeing where everyone ends up in the coming drafts. As it said, everyone's been playing well and it's been great playing with them all. They're a stand up bunch of guys. And they're all good players, which definately puts the pressure on to perform in the current tournament, and then upcoming one, but I suppose that's all the more reason to just bring it and show what I can do.

Clegg - Is there any of the other prospects that interest you in particular?

James - Well, obviously since I already knew Wheeler beforehand, I'm looking forward to seeing where he ends up, and if we end up on different teams then I'm looking forward to playing some matches against him. But not only him, Nyrud's been drawing attention to himself recently by playing a bunch of solid games. Dooley's a really good player too. Pittman's obviously going to take an early draft aswell... If I'm honest, I could sit here and rattle off all their names. There's a lot of good talent going in this draft and you've got to hope that the GMs are keeping an eye on it. Especially hoping that someone's got their eye on myself, hopefully.

Clegg - Mmhmm, yeah... And what did you think of the comments about you specifically in the Prospect update?

James - I was glad that I've been making an impression. As it mentions, I've not looked as good a prospect in the scrimmages but I have been putting in the hard work and even if it doesn't show up in points or a positive +/- atleast what you have been doing has been picked up on. A nice pat on the head off the powers that be.

Clegg - So you're confident that you can play better than the scrimmages portray of you?

James - I do, I think if I put in enough practice I can become a positive +/- player by helping to keep the pucks out of our net and then hopefully put up a few more points on the board... (Trailing off a bit he noticed that the rec team had skated out onto the ice and had started doing some stretches and general warm ups)... I'm sorry, aren't you expected on there?

Clegg - Oh yeah, don't worry, I'll hop on in a minute, just one last quick question: with the competition hotting up as it is do you think you'll be one of the early draft picks or do you think you'll be waiting until the end for your draft pick?

James - Well I guess that's just yet to be seen I suppose. I'm not going to picked early if I don't put the work in so I've got to keep up the training, keep up the hard work and then hopefully, fingers crossed, one of the teams likes the look of me and sees a place for me on their roster. I don't think it'd be right to make any assumptions at this point, there's still a long way to go in S2 of the ISHL and the teams be concentrating on the players they already have, on the season and trying to get into the playoffs. Either way, whatever happens I'll be more than happy to play for whichever team is interested in me and hopefully I'll show them proud.

Clegg - Thanks a lot, I think we can wrap it up there, I need to get on the ice anyway, they'll be moaning at me for not pulling my weight if I'm not careful! (which there was a lot of, I wouldn't rate even Brett Clouthier in a fight against her with complete confidence)

She packed her pad and pen into her equipment bag and put it away before skating out onto the ice to join the warm up stretches. James picked up his own equipment bag (which was newer and cooler than hers) and left the building.