ontanis

+4

HYPENATION

Gold: Canada Silver: USA Bronze: World

Lookin forward to the VHLM draft!

this is it, friends! grats to Philly!

congrats Helsinki!

Ottawa gets one on the board, this just might get interesting

What team do you want to be drafted to? I have no clear preferences right now, team-wise. I'm just happy to be here, working out, working on my game and skills with some incredible people helping me out. But if I were to give an honest answer, it would be the Ottawa Lynx and the Mississauga Hounds. Just because they were the first teams to reach out to me and ask if I had any troubles adapting on this side across the pond. Thanks a bunch to them. What kind of forward are you going to build? I'm going to be an offensive minded defenseman with a knack for scoring or dishing out that last pass to an open teammate. I want to be a universal player that can help the team in every way possible. I know that sometimes I tend to do too much and too soon, but that is something I'm working on, mentality-wise. I'm still young and I'm a keen scholar of the game. I'm in the video room everyday, watching the best players perform on the ice and trying to transfer something into my own game. Cake or Pie? Cake. Definitely cake. Moist chocolate cake. I'm a sucker for sweets, tho. I can eat pie, but if I'm presented with a choice between a cake and a pie, it is most definitely cake. Favorite VHL/M Moment? I'm still yet to have one, if I'm being honest. Of course, this trashing of Vancouver Wolves by the Helsinki Titans is quite a doozy, I'll tell ya. But for me the best moment would be to hear my name called out in the upcoming draft. Forums vs Discord? Discord, definitely. It's much more convenient and I can be on it almost 24/7. Worst Topping on a pizza? I know It's a cliche, but for me the wors topping is pineapple. I'm not that keen on having fruits on my pizza. I like my pizza simple - sauce, cheese and meat or sausage. That's it. No need to get fancy shmancy. Thanks for having me here, guys. 'Twas a pleasure.

Lithuanian defenseman Tauras Karazija has recently made himself eligible for the upcoming S67 Dispersal Draft. The 18-year-old defenseman of Lithuanian men hockey team and Dinamo Riga/HK Riga, will have no time to rest in the summer as he is looking forward to work out individually to impress scouts and GMs of VHLM teams during his time until the draft. Currently, Tauras has been working out in the USA and filling out immigration forms to prepare himself for the jump over the Atlantic full-time. Tauras was not keen on giving a definite answer on where next he is about to continue his career: “I can’t say that there is a team I’m targeting to get drafted to, no. The VHL Finals are still going on, so lots of GMs and top-brass people are following how the Finals will end and currently not really following what the prospects are doing”, said the defenseman. Although there is not much to debate about the outcome of the series – Helsinki Titans are currently leading the series 3-0 over the Vancouver Wolves. When asked about interest from VHLM teams, Tauras remained secretive: “Yeah, there was some interest from a team. But I’m not ready to draw any conclusions from it, because teams are just doing their due diligence before the draft and I’m not sure if I want to get my hopes up just yet”. Dinamo Riga, Tauras’ former team released a statement after Tauras declared himself eligible for the S67 Dispersal Draft: “Tauras was a great character to have on and off the ice. We are happy that we had the chance to work with him during his tenure here in Riga. We understand that he has big dreams and ambitions, and as much as we are reluctant to part with him – we understand his decision and we wish him all the best luck in the draft and his further career”.

Tauras Karazija Pre-Draft press conference Hello, nice to see and meet you all! As I have made myself eligible for the upcoming S67 Dispersal Draft, I will be keen to answer all of your answers here today! Don't hesitate to ask.

+4 Tauras Karazija

Tauras Karazija Rookie profile Name: Tauras Last name: Karazija Position: D Shoots: Left Team: HK Riga/Dinamo Riga (JHL/KHL) Date of Birth: February 15, 2001 Birthplace: Telsiai, Lithuania Height: 6 feet 1 inch Weight: 208 pounds Shoots: Left Lithuanian Tauras Karazija is a very offensive minded defenseman. He is blessed with an excellent hockey sense, confidence and coolness. Everything looks so easy and natural when Karazija has the puck under control in the offensive zone. He is a true power specialist that usually gets the puck on net and also delivers very good passes. Furthermore, he is mobile and a capable skater with good agility and technical skills. But decision making, compete and fitness are the areas Karazija should emphasize working on during practice and training. The bigger upside of Karazija is his defensive game, when he commits to it and length. While Karazija likely will not be much taller, he should definitely add more strength and muscles. The fact that Karazija likes to get involved physically and can deliver rather good hits is a big plus. With added strength, his physical play would be much more effective. Tauras Karazija should keep in mind that he is a defenseman, as he tends to drift towards the offensive zone more times than not. Thankfully the drawbacks are very coachable and with right and willing coaching staff, Tauras can be molded into a universal defenseman, capable of doing many things at once. STRENGTHS Defense: Very active feet, can contain his assignment with good agility and willing to get after the opposition with physical play, positions his body to box out opponents. Provides his team with a steady presence on the blue line, and thinks the game at a high level. Is adept at making the crucial first pass to start a breakout from behind the blue line. Puck handling and skating: Moves the puck quickly and beautifully around the ice with crisp clean passes, can fire the puck accurately on the net with a quik release. Very active stick at both ends, and uses it wisely to keep the pressure on the defense, helping them in their own zone or to disrupt the attack defending in his zone. He is an above-average skater, has a really smooth, pro-caliber stride, quik feet, and uses his feet exceptionally well to catch the puck all without missing a step. He is solid and strong on his feet, is learning to use his size in all situations. Playmaking and vision: Tauras Karazija sees the ice exceptionally well and with that vision is a good playmaker for his age. Despite his own abilities to stickhandle and finish, he uses his line mates very well, be it finding them when they’re open or using his intelligence and effort away from the puck to get himself open, support them, and give them options. Likes to keep the offensive game simple, and cuts out the extra overly creative pass by finding open teammates in good position. He wants to hold on to the puck, come into the attack zone, and be the difference maker. WEAKNESSES Physicality and checking: Although prefers physical play, his stature needs bulking and mass. His size is the obvious drawback, he needs more muscle as it will be a problem in the VHL. Tauras had no problem outmuscling JHL level players as he was a head above of the bulk of JHL players length-wise, VHL players will be a whole other beast. Decision making: While he is very cool and confident in the offensive zone, he sometimes chooses difficult solutions in the defensive end, which is a case of wanting to do too much, too soon. He should play easier and be closer on his opponent as VHL-level players will exploit this weakness. Tauras is yet another player who seems less inclined to play conservatively by holding back in transition and sometimes tries to do too much too soon, which can hurt his team. He wants to get the transitioned pucks and go back down so he can see the defending goalie's eyes and then score. It is this all-in, I'm-gonna-win-it-for-us play. Many times, it comes back, bites Tauras in the ass and hurts his team, but there is so much to like about his abilities. Compete levels: Karazija has all the tools in the world; however he struggled to put it all together at times during his stint with HK Riga. There were moments where effort and compete level were in question, but those moments were muted by others of tenacity and aggressiveness. You really were not sure which player you would see when you showed up to the rink on a particular day. Sometimes tends to forget his primary defensive duties and charges in with the offense, leaving his defense partner in a lone-warrior situation. Far from a poised finished VHL prospect, Tauras Karazija is not a big name in the VHL prospect world right now. Although relatively unknown, his natural defensive ability and upside on the offensive end is the reason why VHLM teams should take a look at Tauras Karazija and think about taking a chance on him.

- Childhood - Tauras Karazija hails from a small, peaceful and a beautiful country of 3 million people called Lithuania. Lithuania is mainly known for its three stereotypes: beautiful women, great beer and basketball. Tauras Karazija was born in 15th of February 2001 in an enterprising railway town of Telsiai, Lithuania. Telsiai is one the smaller towns in Lithuania with just over 25.000 people inhabiting the town with a bad stadium and even worse infrastructure for other sports. So, as you can probably sense it already – not the best place for ice hockey greatness. Tauras' not-so-yet-thrilling hockey career started in the Telsiai ice rink, located near the Telsiai town stadium. It was one Tauras‘ first hockey memories, as his dad, an ice hockey enthusiast took him down there to see him play with his fellow friends: „I remember being five years old and wobbling my way around the rink, trying not to fall over and smash my nose on the ice as my dad laughed on seeing me struggle“. But something about that wobbling and struggling made Tauras feel strange. It was that strange feeling of gliding through the ice so effortlessly. And that feeling is what made Tauras to fall in love with the beautiful game of hockey. While attending school in Telsiai, Tauras practiced hockey in the nearest town that had an open-24/7 ice arena in the town of Mazeikiai, a 1-hour bus ride each day from Telsiai. Tauras played centre for local minor hockey teams, helping and leading them to various successes, including the Lithuania Little Hockey League championship. - Teenage years - After turning 14 years-old Tauras Karazija was called up to the Lithuania U-16 team and off to his first national team training camp. And the good thing about hockey in Lithuania, is that the funding for it is so low that all levels of the national team use only one ice rink arena. So that means when U-16 train with, there‘s always a couple of players from the National team, taping their sticks, shin pads or just getting ready for their practice after ours, because ice time was limited. Just as Tauras was finishing up his practice and he was pulled to the side by Mantas Armalis. Mantas Armalis was the starting goalkeeper for Lithuania National team and quite a known hockey player around. But he was a good player, playing hockey overseas. “You are quite a player”, said Armalis. Tauras could feel the sense of achievement bubbling up inside of him. But a second later, Mantas made sure that Tauras would not get his head up in the clouds for a very long time: “You don’t look right. Your balance is all wrong. You don’t look up enough. You keep your head down too much… You will get murdered by proper defenders if you keep those habits up.” But then, he kept on going with that emotional rollercoaster of a conversation: “Do you ever want to play professional, Tauras?” And at that moment Tauras realized that he has never thought about playing hockey for a living. He never thought about making money off of it. Tauras was a kid who was just happy to put on skates five times a week and just play for the love of the game. But that was the crystallizing moment of his life when Tauras had to decide if he wanted to do this properly or not. All Tauras could mutter out was squeaky “Yeah… Who wouldn’t?” - Skating towards the ultimate goal - After Tauras‘ first U-16 tournament in Liepaja, Latvia he was picked up by Dinamo Riga. Dinamo Riga were going to be playing a friendly match with HC Spartak Moscow and invited Tauras to watch the game. Tauras and his father knew what was in the play. A few days later Tauras was in the car on his way to Latvia’s capital city Riga. Once in Riga, Tauras Karazija was liked for his skating and his size, so coaches decided that playing defense would be a better fit for Tauras. Truth be told, HK Rīga had very few defensemen, so they needed another guy back on the blue line anyhow. One coach in particular, Aigars Cipruss was the one who taught Tauras how to really play defense, and that’s where Tauras‘ career took off. Tauras made their team and ended up playing junior for the HK Rīga of the Russian Junior Hockey League (JHL) because it was the best youth league in the Eurasia region. Aigars Cipruss taught Tauras how to play in a position that was different and new to him - offensive defenseman. It combined Tauras' strengths with team needs. Tauras was moulded as an offensive defenseman that possesses a high level of puck skills, broad rink vision and sense, and smooth skating skills. He was taught that rink vision and passing skills are critical to breaking the puck out of the defensive zone. It’s the ability to complete the first pass successfully that leads to the second, third and fourth passes up ice. But for a defenseman to play in the biggest minutes of a game, besides being gifted offensively, he must be a responsible defensive player. A defenseman must be able to defend late in periods, execute on the power play and penalty kill, and defend when the game is on the line. And Tauras really wanted to be that player. So he soaked up every bit and piece of knowledge the coaches gave him. Tauras studied every second of film. Watched every minute of videos that showed how great offensive defensemen played. And he tried to emulate what he heard, saw and learned. The first year after moving to the bigger club - Dinamo Riga, he was sent to affiliate HK Riga and their junior academy. There Tauras Karazija ended up having a season that did not stand out of the rest very much: 29 games played, 6 goals scored, 9 assists, 15 points in total. After continuing to work on his skills, fitness and skating, Tauras immediately showed that hard work pays off. Tauras Karazija was given the chance he needed and finished his last season with HK Riga, scoring impressive 13 goals, contributing with 24 assists and 37 points total in 47 regular season games. He scored most points and assists among all defensemen in the JHL. His play in the juniors also contributed to him during the end of the season regularly being a member of Dinamo Riga senior team and sitting on the bench during KHL regular season games. Time went on, seasons passed and Tauras became more and more comfortable with the notion that he will be a professional hockey player. That he will be doing what he really loved and what felt closest to his heart. The world of hockey and the people that were involved in hockey on and off the field were also getting quite comfortable with the thought of Tauras Karazija playing professionally. Not long after his last season with HK Riga concluded - Tauras Karazija declares himself eligible for the upcoming VHLM draft.

thanks, y'all!!