Of course, that seemed to be the way he was every time I saw him play. He was Mr. Consistency. That’ s definitely what he became as a junior and professional player and that’ s what he still is to this day
Of course, that seemed to be the way he was every time I saw him play. He was Mr. Consistency. That’ s definitely what he became as a junior and professional player and that’ s what he still is to this day
back in December. Byron complements that young, talented squad nicely with his steady play, adding minutes in the depth position and being great on the PK. Head coach Mike Babcock has said that he loves Byron’ s consistency and the fact that he is very strong in the face-off circle, even at the NHL level. When we put together our draft list in Everett back in 2007, Byron was close, but it was hard to convince our group we had to draft him. However, I was definitely bent on getting him to our training camp in Everett that fall. According to Byron, there was only one other team that offered him a camp invite that year, but he decided he wanted to come to Everett. We just clicked, I guess. Byron showed up at Everett’ s camp and again, he turned in a solid, steady performance, but not enough to get the attention required to be put on our protected list. We had a good, positive exit meeting and I told Byron I would follow up with him over the course of the season, something I usually do with Manitoba players who attend our training camp. Now, this is where the story gets interesting. One thing I know about the elite level of minor hockey is that the 15-year-old season is very hard for most players. It is a big-time adjustment going from Bantam to playing AAA Midget against kids two-to-three years older than you. That happened to Byron. He returned to Winkler and got cut by the Pembina Valley AAA Midget team, a very
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