A player in western Canada who will be closely watched this season is Braden Oleksyn. Oleksyn, a 14 year old power forward in the making from Saskatoon has decided to take his talents to the extremely competitive smaaahl or the Saskatchewan midget AAA league. Currently, Oleksyn is taking part in his first training camp and is adjusting to the advanced style of play, "I've had a very good camp so far, the biggest difference is the speed, its a lot faster and you really have to keep your head up, move the puck quick and keep your feet moving."
Oleksyn says he will just take it one step at a time in terms of adjusting to the regular season play when all eyes will be on the talented 14 year old. It was just last season that another 14 year old made the jump to midget hockey and ended up going first overall, his name was Alex Forsberg. Forsberg was very successful in making the jump to midget hockey as an underaged player, placing in the top 5 in final scoring. Braden was quick to point out that they are very different, "me and alex are two totally different players so I will just have to go out there play my game and show them what I bring to the table." Of course it is inevitable that the comparison's will occur in that Alex was such a high draft pick, it will be natural to compare the two players this year in that regard. "well every kid obviously wants to go high, so yes you can maybe say that's one of my goals, but if not it doesnt matter when you go its what you make of it."
Currently, Oleksyn is our top rated prospect heading in to the 10-11 season. Please refer to the newsletter for future interviews, rankings and spotlights now and throughout the entire hockey season. The next newsletter is due out this Friday, September 3, 2010.
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