DURHAM, UK –The Braehead Clan have enjoyed a hugely successful campaign on the whole achieving a very respectable league position as well as making it to the semi finals of the Challenge Cup. However one member of the Clan’s roster back up goaltender Mike Will has not seen much ice time this term as the Clan’s number 1 netminder Jaakko Suomalainen has been fit and in top form throughout the majority of the campaign.
Pro Hockey News recently had the opportunity to speak to Mike about how the 2011/12 season has been for him.
“We are progressing as an organisation and team on and off the ice.
“The boys are feeling good about the upcoming playoff games, we’ll get ready for that all important first game on the 27th at home.
“But at the end of the day it’s a two game series and anything can happen, so it really doesn’t matter who we play because we have the players to win against any team in our league.”
“For sure (the lack of ice time) gets frustrating, but that’s the role I have this season so you deal with it.”
With Braehead assured of a healthy play off slot Mike has recently started a number of games for the Clan including 2 clashes with the Sheffield Steelers. He spoke of how it felt to be Braehead’s last line of defence.
“It was fun, any game I play is a big game. When your ice time is limited it doesn’t matter who you play, you just have to go out there and show you can play. The home win against Sheffield was probably the biggest game of my career.
“Obviously I have seen more playing time than last season which is good and something I wanted to be doing, but I’m still pushing to get more ice regularly.”
Given that the 2011/12 season is almost finished Pro Hockey asked Mike about his plans for the next campaign.
“I’m not sure about my future yet, obviously Braehead have been good to me and I like it up here so we’ll see.
“I wouldn’t rule out playing anywhere. I like to travel so moving around playing in Europe or back in North America would be great so who knows.”
Before signing for the Clan Mike had spent some time out in North America.
“I played two seasons of junior a in Canada and in my second season I was talking to several colleges about playing NCAA and decided to go to Morrisville State. College sports are set up so well out there, you get treated like a pro on and off the ice.
“It’s a great way to further your education and play hockey full time around studies so I would definitely recommend it to guys over here. Unfortunately things didn’t work out for me so I decided to come back to the UK. I then got an email from Bruce Richardson asking if I was going to be looking for a team in the UK or going back to North America, so I jumped at the opportunity to play for the Clan.”
Mike went onto to give his own opinions about the general state of British hockey.
“UK hockey needs more rinks, exposure and more funding. It’s tough for kids to get involved and play when parents have to travel hours to get them to practices and games. I didn’t start playing ice hockey till I was 15, there were no rinks where I lived near Brighton on the south coast of England. If kids can get involved with the sport at a young age it will only make the sport bigger and better in the UK.”
As the interview approached its conclusion Mike spoke of his favourite and least favourite rinks and the best players he had come across in his career to date.
“Best rink… well my favourite is Braehead Arena, but the best rink with the most history behind it is probably Princeton’s Hobey Baker Rink, it was sweet to play there. Worst… backing-up in Whitley Bay was tough, sorry Sammy (referring to his team mate and former Whitley Warrior Sam Zajac).
“The best players I’ve played with well Kevin Phillips and Matt Haywood my house mates have to be up there, but probably Victor Hedman is the best player I’ve played with.”
Thanks to Mike for taking the time out to chat to us.
Contact the author – chris.mackenzie@prohockeynews.com
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