Rats Off-Season Q&A With Forward Mike Angelidis

September 4, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


Each week during the off-season, Albany River Rats broadcaster Owen Newkirk will catch up with a member of the 2007-08 River Rats to find out how their summer is going and what training preparations they are doing heading towards the Carolina Hurricanes and Albany River Rats 2008 training camps and the 2008-09 hockey season.

September 4, 2008

With Carolina's 2008 training camp officially beginning on September 19th are you getting excited for things to get underway?

The summer went by really quickly! I'm excited, and nervous, but I've been there twice now so hopefully everything goes well for me. It's been a good off-season, so I'm just getting ready to go, saying my goodbyes to the family and friends.

What is different about you as a player right now as opposed to the last two years in Carolina's system?

Well, I'm more confident. I finally got a full year under my belt in the AHL and this will be my third year pro, so a little more confidence and a little bit more expected of me. I'm in better shape and more confident so hopefully I can deliver on the ice.

You talk about expectations, what are you expecting of yourself in the 2008-09 season?

I want to be relied on more. I got to be relied on more last year during the playoffs, and at the tail end of the season, and I want to carry that over into this year. Hopefully I'll be able to get some more opportunities offensively and be a leader on the team. Being my third year I think I can be looked at to help out in the leadership department.

Being in your third season can you assist the new rookie class in their development at the AHL level?

Yeah, especially because it seems that we're going to be a pretty young team this year in Albany. But we have a good group of guys that have been around for three or four years, in the same category as me, so hopefully I can bring a little more leadership that way.

Do you feel like the core group of young players that you have developed with in the Carolina system has continued to bond? I know you had a great year in the locker room last season, but it seems to keep growing.

Oh for sure. Especially when we brought in some young guys at the end of the year, they bonded with us and now we're going to be on the same team for a full year, which helps make the transition for the rookies a little easier. And the guys that have been together for the last two or three years, Justin Peters, myself, Mark Flood, Brett Carson, Jakub Petruzalek, that helps out because going into the season we know each other and we'll be more confident because of that.

What is one of the hardest things about the Hurricanes' training camp?

The training! (Laughs) It's a lot of training, a lot of skating and they like to work you really hard, so I have to get my body ready for that.

Does your increased confidence in your abilities help you to approach training camp in a better mental state?

Oh yeah, I'm still nervous, but I'm not as nervous as I usually am. Going in there I know more people and I know what to expect. So I'm just going to try to go in there, have some fun with it and see what happens. I have worked hard, done all that I can do, so we'll see how it goes.

What are some of the easier or more fun aspects of camp in Raleigh?

Just being with the boys and joking around. It's always fun to get back together, it signifies the start of the year and we can talk about our summers, joke around and maybe get some card games going. Plus the weather is really nice there, a lot hotter than up in Ontario, so that's also nice.

Looking back at last year for the River Rats, you guys had a solid regular season and made the post-season for the second straight year, but were you left a little unsatisfied in the playoffs?

Definitely. Seeing Philly lose to Wilkes-Barre in the next round, knowing that we could have beaten Philly and given Wilkes-Barre a bit more of a challenge, that was tough. We played well in Game Seven with such a young team, plus we lost a bunch of guys to call-ups and injuries. We know we could have beaten Philly; I think we should have because we let a couple games slip. But the guys worked really hard and we can be proud of that. Hopefully this year coming up we can get further.

Is that the goal with the group for this season, to make the second or third round of the playoffs?

Yeah, first our main goal is to get into the playoffs and then from there the goal is to win the Cup. You never know what can happen, you've seen crazier things and we don't know for sure what these young guys will bring to the table. But we have a good core group of guys so hopefully we can take it all the way; we'll see what happens.

After playing under Coach Rowe in Albany for part of the 2006-07 season and the entire 2007-08 year, is it a double-edged sword to see him move up to Carolina as a Hurricanes Assistant Coach?

Yeah, it's too bad because Tom is a great coach. But it's nice to see him get a chance up there to be an assistant in the NHL, which is a great promotion for him. That's his dream to coach at the top, so it's nice to see him fulfill that. For Coach Daniels he gets to come here and be a head coach, which is pretty good for a young guy. I think he'll do an excellent job here.

You had a great partnership going with your line combination with Pat Dwyer and Nicolas Blanchard as being a terrific shutdown group, relentless fore-checking and smothering defense. You said earlier that you wanted to contribute more offensively; do you think you can do it while still playing on that line?

Yeah, I think it all goes together, not just shutting down, but also contributing offensively as well. I want to be more versatile, be able to do more things and handle whatever is thrown upon my line and me. We had a great line going there with Jibsy (Blanchard) and Dwyer, so hopefully we'll be back together again.

You three had a stretch toward the tail end of the regular season last year where the line was racking up points. Did it feel good to put it all together and find success at both ends of the ice?

Yeah, it's exciting when you score a goal or anyone scores on the team. But when your line scores it's really exciting. It gets the rest of the team going and can spark a win. There was a good month and a half where we were always together on the same line, so we had kind of bonded and we hung out a little more. To see each other get rewarded it was a great accomplishment for us.

Each year it seems that off-season training becomes even more critical to the success of the next season. Is there anything about your summer workouts that you are particularly proud of?

I think I've gotten a little bit quicker, I've leaned down a little bit more and I think I'm just a little stronger overall. I'm going in to camp hoping that my training went well. I feel stronger, I feel faster, but you can only really test yourself when you get to camp and see what the other guys have done off the ice. Right now I'm just excited to get there and showcase myself.

What kind of season is it going to be for the River Rats? You always talk about the new young guys coming up through the system. Is that one of the more interesting aspects, getting to see who is going to emerge and develop during the year?

Absolutely. You see guys who aren't really goal-scorers in the OHL all of a sudden becoming goal-scorers in the AHL. On the flip side you see goal-scorers from juniors or college coming in and becoming checkers. So it's kind of routine to see guys come in and change their role a little bit. We're going to be young this year, hopefully we have a good time and have fun. It's fun when you win, so the idea is to win a lot and develop into better hockey players.

Let's talk about your summer activities. Other than off-season training, what have you done to have fun and enjoy your time off?

I've had a couple parties here and there, and I try to play a round of golf or two, but I'm brutal so I don't really go very much, because I'm not very good. (Laughs) Other than that just hanging out with my buddies and my family and a couple vacations; I went to Florida and also a couple cottages up here.

You say that golf is not your strongest sport, what would be your most nightmarish golf foursome, consisting of you and what three River Rats teammates?

I'd have to say Peters, just because last time we went golfing at the end of the year we were on the same team and made a birdie put from about 40 feet out - I drained it - which was very lucky, but we celebrated like we just won the Cup. I'd also pick Blanchard, no doubt about that choice! And I'd probably have to take my roommate Carson.

It sounds like that would be a scary group to encounter on the course.

Oh it would be, lots of laughs and we might literally tear up the course.

I was talking with Trevor Gillies the other day about the hockey bus card game maybe going out of style with the influx of portable technologies such as video games and DVD players. Do you think the days of cards on the bus are slowly dying?

It's slowly dying, but it might be coming back - I remember when we were on sleeper buses we used to play a lot. I know for our team, no one wants to go back there and play cards because Gillies just takes everyone's money and bullies us around. (Laughs) So no one wants to go back and play with him, he just steals all the money from us.

Gillies did say that guys still play cards, but are doing so more in their hotel rooms or at home after practice than on the bus.

Yeah we do play. A lot of guys want to play poker and it's kind of hard to play poker on the bus, so on the bus we play this game called In-Between. A lot of boys play PSPs (PlayStation Portable); we have this shooting game and play as teams against each other.

Is that just another of many methods to help make the bus rides go by a little faster?

Oh yeah, they definitely help with the trips. The boys get to joke around, have some fun and it loosens them up. When you go to Norfolk it's a nine-hour bus trip so you need to do something otherwise you go bonkers just watching movies the whole time. It's kind of cool to hang out with the guys and play those types of games.

Are there any moments from last season that stand out in your mind as being the funniest of the year?

You know what, I've had a few funny moments. My first year was falling on the bus - I can't really remember any from last year that stand out, there have been so many. There were a lot of jokes with the guys in the room. Casey got Gillies in the face with a towel loaded with shaving cream during a TV interview, which is pretty funny and very rare that someone is willing to do that to Gillies because he'll probably come after you and try to kill you. There are great funny moments all year with guys falling on the ice and stuff like that.

You have been deemed the official English language instructor for Nicolas Blanchard, who I thought made great strides in his radio interviews last year. Can you give us a progress report for Blanch this summer?

I called him this summer and it sounds like he has not been keeping up with the work that I've given him. His English has gone down the tubes and he remembers some of the bad words, he just doesn't remember any of the good words. I am going to have to re-teach him everything this year. It's quite an effort to watch TV with Blanch because he asks every two seconds what the show's about. But he's getting better.

What is about this group of guys in Albany that makes them get along so well?

I think the boys are all pretty laid back kind of guys. When we got to the rink it was all business-like with Tom, so when guys showed up at the rink they concentrated and worked hard. Once practice was over we would go in the room and be able to relax a little bit. Then outside the rink we all hang out together, which I think is really important. There were no cancers last year, we didn't have a problem with anyone, everyone got along and that makes it all better in the room and on the ice.

What are some of the things you can enjoy or activities that you can do during the summer that you can't do during the season?

More than anything, just hanging out with your family. My parents live six hours away from Albany in the suburbs of Toronto, so for me I try to spend as much time as I can in the summer with my family, because it's hard for them to come down and see me very often. I try to hang out with them more, golfing - although I'm not good - and then going to the cottages.

You have yet to get into a preseason game with Carolina, is that one of your goals for this training camp?

Yeah, I can't control that; it's up to them. I'm going to go in there and work hard. If I don't get into a game I'll be disappointed, but I've learned over the past few years that you can't hang your head, you have to keep working hard, especially when I got sent down to Florida. I'm hoping I can get a game in this year, but who knows.

The Hurricanes have obviously been tracking your progress along with the rest of their minor-league prospects, but what should they expect to see from you this year that's different from the two previous seasons?

I'm going to try to be more consistent. Last year I was pretty healthy, so I'm going to try to be healthy all year again. Also last year I was probably still grouped in as one of the younger guys, but this year I want to play with more confidence, to not sit back and let the play come at me and also to be more comfortable with the puck.

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2008-09 Albany River Rats season ticket packages are on sale now for the River Rats 16th season of operations in the American Hockey League. The primary affiliate of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes will play their season opener at home on Saturday, October 11th against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 7:00 pm at the Times Union Center. For more information please contact the Albany River Rats at (518) 487-2244 or online at www.albanyriverrats.com.



American Hockey League Stories from September 4, 2008


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