ANY DRAFT FINE FOR HOLLOWAY
Watching event from Bragg Creek home is OK for AJHL grad likely to go in first round
Dylan Holloway’s proud parents are open to a temporary remodel.
Their son is considered a sure thing to be selected in the first round of the 2020 NHL draft.
And if the broadcasters request a live feed, this Bragg Creekbased bunch will be ready.
“We’re still sort of figuring it out, but we’ll probably just move the TV into the living room,” said Holloway, a highly touted centre who skated this past winter with the NCAA’S University of Wisconsin Badgers. “My mom (Torrie), when she heard it was online, she asked what I wanted to do. Our TV room is pretty small, but I think just moving the TV up to the living room would be pretty good.”
For now, the flat-screen remains in its usual spot.
When the makeover might be necessary … who knows?
The fate — more specifically, the date — of the 2020 NHL draft has been a hot topic over the past week or so, with rumblings that the annual prospect pick ’em could be moved into early June. (The festivities were originally slated for June 26-27 in Montreal, but they won’t be able to congregate at Bell Centre due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)
With fans starving for any sort of live content, broadcasters are apparently pushing for sooner rather than later.
Word is, many general managers are against the idea, contending that it makes little sense to determine the lottery odds and draft order when they’re still hoping to resume the paused season.
Holloway, who starred for the
Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Okotoks Oilers before committing to Wisconsin, isn’t losing sleep over this debate.
He simply can’t wait to be drafted.
Whenever. However.
“Growing up, it just feels so far away — the draft and all that,” said Holloway, who turns 19 in September. “But now that it’s actually coming up, it is a special feeling. This has been a dream since I was a little kid, so it’s something that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.”
As a kid, he dreamed of being called to the stage for handshakes and hugs and to pull his new jersey over his head for the first time.
Instead, he’ll likely be waiting in the living room for his cellphone to buzz.
As we learned from the 2020 NFL draft, the virtual format shouldn’t lessen the thrill.
Holloway was among the millions of football fans who tuned in for a record-shattering broadcast of the opening round. The second-overall pick, in particular, piqued his interest.
“Watching it was pretty cool,” Holloway said. “Especially for me, coming from a Big 10 school, I remember I watched (Ohio State Buckeyes defensive end) Chase Young play, so it was pretty cool to see him get drafted and go through the whole process. It kind of made me even more excited for the NHL draft coming up.
“Obviously, their reactions were pretty cool. They’ve worked their whole lives to be drafted and to be in that moment. It just made me think about how special it will be to get drafted.”
Once the NHL’S name-calling starts, Holloway won’t be waiting long.
He didn’t fill the net as a freshman at Wisconsin, totalling eight tallies and nine assists in 35 games this past winter, but certainly has a track record as an offensive catalyst.
During his second campaign with the Oilers, Holloway racked up 49 goals and 101 points in 64 spins, a count that includes both regular season and playoff outings. He was named the AJHL’S MVP and also the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s player of the year for 2018-19.
Two years earlier, some dude named Cale Makar won both awards.
“Obviously, I kind of want to follow in his footsteps a little bit, but he’s a really, really special player,” Holloway said.
The Colorado Avalanche made Makar — the Calgary-raised defenceman is now a Calder Trophy front-runner — the fourth-overall pick in the 2017 NHL draft.
Holloway isn’t expected to go quite that high, but most projections have him between about Nos. 10-20.
Proof of the widespread interest: the 6-foot, 203-lb. left-hander has already done pre-draft interviews with almost every organization. About half have requested Facetime chit-chats.
“It’s been pretty busy,” Holloway said. “It’s kind of a little bit intimidating at the start, but they just want to get a gauge on your personality and find out who you are as a person, so the big thing is just to be yourself. That’s the one thing I’ve been just worrying about in those interviews.”
And when the date is set, then he’ll worry about rearranging the living room for his pinch-me moment.
“I’m just excited for the draft to come,” said Holloway, whose father Bruce played a pair of games for the Vancouver Canucks in the mid-’80s. “Honestly, if it happens sooner or later, to me, it doesn’t really matter. I’m just looking forward it.”
This has been a dream since I was a little kid, so it’s something that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.