Angle selected by Blue Jackets
With the National Hockey League draft winding down with only a handful of picks remaining, Tyler Angle turned off the television and put down his phone.
The 18-year-old Thorold native had a strong season with the Windsor Spitfires and was hopeful he would get selected.
But as the draft went on and he didn’t hear his name, Angle figured maybe it wasn’t meant to be.
“I was talking to my agent a couple of days before the draft and he said there is a chance I was going to get drafted, obviously it wasn’t going to be in the earlier rounds, but if it did happen, so be it,” he said. “Once it got to the last couple of picks left in the draft and I still hadn’t had my name called, I was getting a little nervous and just hoping for the best.”
Angle then received a phone call from his advisor informing him he was going to be taken by the Columbus Blue Jackets with the 26th pick (212th overall) of the seventh and final round.
“It was so exciting,” Angle said.
Angle, who played 11 games for the St. Catharines Falcons in 2016/17, said he will never forget the moment.
“I think right when I got the call from my agent it sunk in,” he said. “My heart kind of stopped, just thinking about minor hockey and seeing the drafts and all the players selected and hopefully thinking one day you’re going to be in their spot.
“To get drafted was obviously a great step to get to that spot. Now I have to work even harder. It’s going to get harder from now on.”
Angle will get a chance to do that this week at a development camp in Columbus.
Angle notched 20-24-44 and 34 penalty minutes in 58 games this season and has totalled 32-33-65 and 82 penalty minutes in 166 career OHL games with the Spitfires from 2016-19. In 2017-18, he registered 10-7-17 and 42 penalty minutes in 67 appearances with the club.
Angle said this season was a turning point in his career.
“Once I started to get more playing time that helped me to get more confidence,” he said. “I had great teammates with me who also helped me a lot. Just the on-ice and off-ice relationships I have with the guys, we had a special group in Windsor, and that helped me be myself. It helped me on the ice and it translated to my game.
“Confidence was a huge point and our trainers trained us every day and that helped too.”
Looking back, Angle feels being a member of the Memorial Cup champion Spitfires two years ago also played a huge role in his development.
“I think my first step was making Windsor my first year as a sixth-round pick. Winning the Memorial Cup kind of opened some doors for me and seeing the guys I played with there and seeing what they do every day and seeing what they do on the ice, I translated that to my game and that helped me in my second and third year.”
Angle, who played for the Southern Tier Admirals before being drafted, is well aware the road will only get more difficult as he climbs the ladder.
“What I remember in minor hockey was the OHL draft. That was another stressful day for me and once I got picked I kind of figured it was one of the goals I have achieved and now I have to work harder to get to my next goal, which was the NHL draft. I think that was a big step.”
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