Draft day arrives for Søgaard

By RYAN MCCRACKEN on June 21, 2019.

NEWS FILE PHOTO
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Mads Søgaard stops a shot during a Western Hockey League game against the Prince George Cougars on Oct. 12, 2018 at the Canalta Centre.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken

Twelve months ago, Mads Søgaard could only dream about where he’d spend the next season, now the 18-year-old Danish goaltender is waiting to hear his name called at the NHL Entry Draft.

Søgaard – who joined the Medicine Hat Tigers in the CHL import draft on June 28, 2018, then went on to establish himself as one of the top netminders available in tonight’s draft with a stellar rookie season in the Western Hockey League – says it’s been a whirlwind year of hard work and determination, and now it’s finally time to kick back and enjoy the moment.

“Obviously it’s been a great year. I remember a year ago I was sitting and waiting to get picked by Medicine Hat,” said Søgaard, ranked second among North American goaltenders in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings. “To be honest I don’t think too much about what’s going to happen, I’m just happy to be here. Being able to go to the combine was great, hopefully I’ll get picked here and enjoy the weekend with my family.”

The 6-foot-8, 199-pound product of Aalborg, Den., says being invited to the NHL Draft Combine was a sign that his hard work was paying off in a big way, and 27 teams clamouring to talk with him didn’t hurt the confidence either.

“When there’s a room filled with people from the same team, that’s when it kind of gets real,” said Søgaard. “It was pretty cool during the year when I got to talk to scouts after games, but here, GMs are there and they all have an opinion on you and they ask you questions and they film you and everything. That’s when you kind of feel that it’s getting real now, it’s getting real serious.”

Søgaard finished the season with a 2.64 goals against average, a .921 save percentage – good enough for sixth in the league – and a 19-8-2-2 record with three shutouts. Søgaard also took home a few accolades in his rookie year, winning CHL goaltender of the week on two occasions and competing on the international stage twice, first with Denmark at the IIHF World Junior Championship then with Team Cherry at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. Looking back on the year, Søgaard says he’s thankful to have been drafted to a club that helped to further develop with his work ethic.

“I think I learned how to really work hard this year. I got pushed by (coaches Joe Frazer, Ryan Smith and Shaun Clouston), they all pushed me, same with my teammates,” he said. “In such a competitive league everybody is in great shape and everybody is competing both on and off the ice all the time. It was just great to be a part of, and honestly I can’t wait to come back next year and hopefully play a good year again for the Tigers.”

During the ups and downs of the season, Søgaard says he would always employ a post-game tactic that he learned while playing with Denmark’s under-16 squad. No matter how invigorating a victory or soul-crushing a defeat, Søgaard says he only allows himself two hours to live in those emotions before turning his attention to the next task at hand and never looking back.

“They set up a rule for us that two hours after a game it’s all done. You don’t think about it after that. You just move on to the next event, whether it’s a practice or a game,” he said. “For me, I really took that in and tried to use that. Everybody is different, I found it was something that worked for me and something that always kept me mentally fresh and not thinking too much about what happened in the past game, whether it was good or bad … I just did it consistently over the year and I think it helped me to play consistent over the year as well.”

If he completes his road to the NHL, Søgaard would become just the second Danish netminder in history to accomplish the feat behind Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen. While it’s not something that was on his mind during the year, Søgaard admits it’s hard not to ponder the possibility with so much buzz in the days leading up to the draft.

“Now these last couple days, the draft is really all we’re talking about,” he said. “We’re in Vancouver now and everything is starting to get real.”