Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender and Washington Capitals draft pick Garin Bjorklund (centre-left) sports Caps colours with his father John, mother Vanessa and brother Paycen after being selected by the NHL team in the sixth round of the draft at 179th overall on Wednesday. -- SUBMITTED PHOTO GARIN BJORKLUND
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Garin Bjorklund was huddled around the television with his family, watching pick after pick get called in the NHL Entry Draft when his phone rang.
The moment had finally arrived.
“My agent phoned me and told me that I’m going to be the newest member of the Capitals. I told my mom to video the TV so we could get a reaction,” said Bjorklund, selected in the sixth round by the Washington Capitals at 179th overall. “I was just super pumped. After that my phone kind of started to blow up and I stood up to give my family hugs. It was nothing but love with my family and I was just super excited to have them there with me.”
After years of early morning practices, sound advice and shoulders to lean on from his mom, Vanessa, and dad, John, Bjorklund said it was hard to explain just how much it meant to share that dream moment with his “superheroes” by his side.
“I can’t even put it into words,” he said. “My mom and dad are my superheroes. I wouldn’t be anywhere without my family members, my brother or my parents. To have them there with me on my big day, it was pretty special. I can’t even thank them enough for putting in the work, they just helped me so much on this journey.”
As soon as his name popped up on the screen, Bjorklund says his phone went on a spree of alerts that didn’t stop until the next morning. Messages from friends, family members, teammates, agents and most importantly, Washington Capitals staff. It took a while to get to them all.
“I kind of had to put my phone down because it was going on blast off. I was still responding to text messages from yesterday this morning,” he said, adding he still got the calls that mattered most. “The player personnel and goalie coach and whatnot, they all phoned me to congratulate me. It was such a big honour for them to do that. They didn’t have a specific timeline on when camp is going to be but they phoned me right after so it was pretty exciting.”
The 6-foot-2, 173-pound netminder recorded a 20-5-1-0 record with .897 save percentage and a 2.91 goals against average as a rookie this season to help shift eyes in his direction and earn a place in the Capitals system. Bjorklund – who also won the first 11 starts of his WHL career – was the second Tiger to be drafted Wednesday behind forward Lukas Svejkovsky, who defied the projections by going 108th overall to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the fourth round.
“I know how hard he works and for him to be drafted in the fourth round, I’m super excited for him,” Bjorklund said of Svejkovsky, who was ranked 165th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting entering the draft. “Me and Lukas are really good buddies so to have a little rivalry between the Caps and the Penguins is super exciting. I wish him nothing but the best. That guy’s got a bright future. I’m so happy for him and his family.”
After celebrating the massive milestone around a turkey with his extended family this weekend, Bjorklund will make the trip from his home in Grande Prairie to his training grounds at Crash Conditioning in Calgary – where he’ll spend the next month preparing for the next chapter.
“Getting drafted, it’s definitely exciting but at the end of the day I’m not even halfway up the mountain,” said Bjorklund. “This just means that I’ve got to keep my foot on the pedal and keep going because one day I hope to play for the Washington Capitals. I’ll just use this motivation to keep going and try to reach my goals.”
