NHL dream wakes up for Edmundson

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This article was published 24/06/2011 (5463 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A year ago, Brandon’s Joel Edmundson was just hoping to show that be belonged in the Western Hockey League.

By the end of the season, he had scouts believing he could play in the National Hockey League.

This weekend — the biggest weekend of his young hockey career — Edmundson and his family are in St. Paul, Minn., where he is expected to become the latest in a long line of Brandonites to be selected in the NHL entry draft, joining the likes of Mike Ferland, Matt Calvert, Alex and Tyler Plante, Carson McMillan and Ryan White, among others.

For Edmundson, it’s all a bit surreal, to say the least.

"I have dreamt about it ever since I was a kid, just watching the draft in past years pretending that I would be there one day," Edmundson said. "And finally the day has come and it really hasn’t sunk in yet, but it’s been a great experience so far … It’s an exciting week and I just can’t wait to be amazed when they call my name."

While he was barely on the radar screen for NHL scouts after playing Midget AAA hockey in Brandon in the 2009-10 season, Edmundson skyrocketed up the rankings throughout his 17-year-old rookie season with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. Ranked 69th in mid-season by the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau, the 6-foot-4 1/2, 200-pound defenceman continued to climb all the way to 33rd overall among North American skaters in the final draft rankings after scoring two goals and notching 20 points in 71 games while showing some toughness with 95 penalty minutes.

"Probably 20 games into the season, that’s when I talked to my first (NHL) team and that’s kind of when it hit me that I could get drafted this year," said Edmundson, who was measured with the second-longest wingspan of the top 100 prospects at the NHL draft combine in Toronto last month. "And then my agent told me he was talking to a few teams, that’s when it really hit me … It’s been a crazy year, but I worked hard in the off-season and I knew I had it in me."

So did his parents. Lois and Bob Edmundson, who hit the road to catch 34 of Joel’s games this season, first put their son on skates back when he was four years old. Like most young boys, Joel looked up to his older brother Jesse and followed in his footsteps in baseball and in hockey. When it came to sports, Joel never needed to be pushed, he only needed a ride.

"The beauty of it is the desire he has to do well and that gravity that sort of pulled him towards being as good as his brother has paid off," Bob said. "Our biggest thing was just to make sure we had a ride for him to get to where he was going."

An elite AAA player in both hockey and baseball — Joel, in fact, played in the Manitoba Senior Baseball League as a 16-year-old — Edmundson has always had the desire to excel, even as a youngster.

"He was self-driven and he’s always been extremely competitive," Lois noted. "It’s interesting. When he finished his elementary school at New Era, he got this little yearbook, I guess, for the Grade 8s and there were all these comments in it and one of his comments in it was, ‘Watch for me on TSN in a couple of years!’ " So I think that’s funny."

Tonight’s first round of the NHL draft will be televised on TSN at 6 o’clock, with the sub-sequent six rounds continuing on Saturday when Edmundson is expected to hear his name called. For his proud parents, it promises to be a day they will never forget.

“It’s one of those things that you’ve watched on the TV for how many years and just to be there and see how it all takes place, that’s the neat part about it,” Lois said. “It’s all kind of surreal and kind of a whirlwind. The draft is Friday and Saturday and he graduates from Crocus Plains (high school) on Monday and then he turns 18 on Tuesday, so this next week is huge for him.”

While Winnipeg wasn’t one of the 25 NHL clubs that had spoken with Edmundson prior to draft week, his father couldn’t help but dare to dream a little.

“Someone asked me about Winnipeg and every time I think about that, I get goosebumps,” said Bob, who grew up playing hockey himself as a youngster in Birtle with future NHLer Billy Derlago. “So let’s just let it happen and we will be excited, regardless of where he goes.”

It promises to be the most exciting weekend of his young life, but Joel is also careful not to get too far ahead of himself. Well-grounded by supportive — but cautious — parents, Edmundson knows that getting drafted is only the first step to getting to the NHL and there are no guarantees. It’s that focus and that work ethic that has carried Joel to this point.

“The hard work comes after the draft, so I just have to keep working hard and just improve every year,” he said. “People tell me I have lots of potential, so I will just have to show them what I can do … I’m just excited to see where I go.”