FlamesNation chats with Patrick Sieloff

 

 

Observers at this year’s development camp can’t help but notice 2012 second round pick Patrick Sieloff. A graduate of the highly-touted U.S. National Development Team (and a gold medalist at the Under-18 World Championships), he’s been throwing some big hits and making some plays as he prepares to join the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires in the fall. FlamesNation’s Ryan Pike chatted with him earlier this week.

Ryan Pike: What have you been up to since the draft?

Pat Sieloff: I’ve been working out in Ann Arbor still with the same trainer and one of the other players. I’ve gone to Windsor a couple times and done a workout there. It was a pretty tough workout. I felt it for a couple days and I’m looking forward to that pushing of the next level of competitive. I feel like they have that extra step, Windsor, and that’s why they put so many guys in the NHL and have been a winning organization. And I feel like with the workouts and the other stuff they do, I think it’s going to be great.

RP: Have you chatted with Greg Nemisz about playing for Windsor?

PS: I haven’t spent too much [time] with the people who have been through it, but I’ve worked out with Cam Fowler in the past years. He’s with Anaheim now and he kind of went through it and was around when I was in the process of going there and going [signing] my commitment, but he said he feels like it’s the best organization in the OHL. I know the guys there and I know the staff there and from my point of view so far, I couldn’t agree more.

RP: What made you choose going to the OHL over the NCAA?

PS: I feel this is the route I need to go forth for my hopefully NHL career and have a shot to be in the NHL and I feel like the coaching staff there, they’ve been through it with Boughner and Rychel and the GM there, they’ve been through the NHL and they’ve been through the OHL and all that stuff.

It’s something you have to take into consideration because of what they’ve accomplished in their lives and how many years they’ve played in the NHL and where they’ve been in the past years with the organization. Not many guys can say they’ve been in a winning organization in the OHL and I feel like this is an organization that has been winning in past years.

RP: How’s Windsor coach Bob Boughner preparing you for next season?

PS: He said, ‘You know, it’s not going to be easy. I’m going to put you through stuff that you’ve never been through.’ But that’s what I want. I want that next challenge and I want what he had. He’s a guy I look up to because of the success he’s had over the years with coaching and playing on the ice and I’m looking forward to playing under him.

RP: You’ve been throwing the body around quite a bit during this camp so far. Are you ever tempted to reel in the physicality a bit at camps like this?

PS: That goes through my head, but when I’m out there I play my game and that’s just how it’s been. But I keep it safe, I try to. But if it’s something with guys fighting for a spot, it’s what it is. You gotta do what you gotta do.