Cole Mertz Post-Draft Press Conference

[ColeMrtz 571]

To Halifax 21st with the 21st overall pick goaltender Cole Mertz, answering any and all questions.

[ShawnGlade 1,002]

1. What are you most excited about playing for Halifax?

2. What are your goals this season?

3. What do you like about the VHLM?

4. How does it feel to be drafted pretty high when most players at your TPE don't go till later rounds?

5. How excited are you for the VHL draft next season? 

[ColeMrtz 571]

On 8/10/2018 at 4:42 AM, ShawnGlade said:

1. What are you most excited about playing for Halifax?

2. What are your goals this season?

3. What do you like about the VHLM?

4. How does it feel to be drafted pretty high when most players at your TPE don't go till later rounds?

5. How excited are you for the VHL draft next season? 

1. I've said it before and I'll say it again, being able to be one of the founding players on Halifax is exhilarating. We set the standard for the franchise in the future and I hope to set the bar high.

2. I hope to finish the season with the starting position in net, that's going to take a lot of work, and a lot of commitment, but I'm ready to do whatever it takes.

3. It introduces players to the league, and I find that getting the chance to gain experience before being thrust into the VHL makes for a better experience throughout the leagues.

4. It puts the pressure on to preform, no doubt, but it also gives a vote of confidence in yourself. You know your GM has your back and believes in your ability to preform at a high level. I feel like I'm on track to meet those expectations.

5. I'm not even thinking about it yet, right now I'm focusing on getting myself where I need to be for this current season. Recent draft class reports certainly give me a lot of hope though, to be highlighted as one of the players to watch it makes you wonder about just how far your career will go.

On 8/10/2018 at 5:40 PM, Sonnet said:

How do you think you stack up against some of the other goalies taken in this draft?
What's the first thing you plan on doing when you get to Hallifax?
What can you provide to your new team that others can't?
By the end of the season, how much improvement do you think we'll see in your game?
Who's had the most influence on your career, thus far?

1. I made sure I knew who I was up against going into the draft, I was more than happy with where I went and I think as the season goes on I'll prove I was worth the pick. A lot of guys have the upper hand on me at the moment but I don't plan on slowing down anytime soon.

2. Making big saves and getting having a good time, sure eyes are on you to set a precedent for the franchise but you also don't have high expectations being an expansion team. Nothing will be more entertaining than proving everyone wrong.

3. A unique playstyle, most goalies in the league seem to follow a textbook style where they keep themselves well rounded while not being exceptional in any one front. I don't have the size to be decent across the board, so I'm training speed and agility. What I lack in raw ability I make up for with perception and speed. I feel like variety is what recent goaltending is lacking.

4. Exceptional amounts, I intend to keep growing at my current rate or faster, and that means by the end of the season I should be well into the 100's for TPA.

5. Honestly, Tyler Smith. We were both drafted to play the same position and that can go one of two ways, it can make you enemies or friends, and we became very good friends. We push eachother to be better and hopefully we'll face eachother in the VHL one day. Hell, maybe we'll be teammates again, but I doubt the two of us could stay Starter/Backup forever.

[jRuutu 2,302]

1. Lets say I want score against you, where should I try to shoot?

2. Deflections - the most annoying way to get scored on?

3. If you would get to choose - would you keep the shootout as part of the game or would you go completely to 3v3 or 4v4 and play until goal comes?

4. When you go behind the net to stop the puck, do you ever think about if you get hit by the forechecking forward?

5. On the scale of 1 to 100, how annoyed are you when your defenders fail to keep the crease empty, so you could see the shots?

Edited August 13, 2018 by jRuutu

[ColeMrtz 571]

1 hour ago, jRuutu said:

1. Lets say I want score against you, where should I try to shoot?

2. Deflections - the most annoying way to get scored on?

3. If you would get to choose - would you keep the shootout as part of the game or would you go completely to 3v3 or 4v4 and play until goal comes?

4. When you go behind the net to stop the puck, do you ever think about if you get hit by the forechecking forward?

5. On the scale of 1 to 100, how annoyed are you when your defenders fail to keep the crease empty, so you could see the shots?

1. It’d help to shoot wherever I’m not. The puck has a tendency to stop if it hits me.

2. Surprisingly no, if the puck is tipped in that’s not on me, that’s on my defenseman. The most annoying way to get scored on is some Datsyukian magician coming down the ice and undressing you in front of a home crowd. That’s the stuff that makes you want to turn the net around and call it quits.

3. I can’t say I enjoy the stress of a shootout, but it’s a part of the game. It’s exciting to watch, exciting to be a part of, and it usually goes by faster than sudden death OT.

4. Have you seen these pads? The forwards should be afraid of me. If someone’s got the balls to take a run at me behind the net I’ll make sure they don’t get to finish the season.

5. It’s situational, if the defenders trying to do his job and gets tied up what can you do but if I’m screaming at him that I’m screened and he just sits there that’s when I consider pulling his feet out from under him so I can stop the point shot he’s screening me on.