Interview with Ryan Sullivan Jr. [2/2]

[Advantage 2,769]

The Yukon Rush have had a great start to their VHLM Season, currently sitting second in the entire league with a 17-9-2 record and sit currently two points back of the offensive dynamo, Halifax 21^st, for the league’s best record.  Ryan Sullivan Jr. has had a solid first full season in the VHLM so far and has been one of the leading contributors of the Yukon Rush.  Sullivan Jr. has recorded 3 goals, 21 assists in 28 games as the team’s number one defender.  Additionally, he has been a physical and defensive dynamo with 89 hits and 37 blocked shots so far this year. 

 

Today, we will speak with Sullivan Jr. on his season so far, what he expects going forward and his excitement on what will come next for the young defender of the Yukon Rush.  He is the current favourite to be the Season 64 1^st Overall Pick and there is a lot of expectation and hype surrounding the son of the VHL Hall of Fame defender.

 

How has this season been going for you? Are you meeting your lofty expectations that you had coming into the season?

 

Not really honestly.  Don’t get me wrong, the season has been pretty good for the team but individually I have been fairly disappointed with my offensive performance.  I am certainly playing a very physical game as a two-way defender but I wish I was driving my team’s offense a bit more.  I’ve never been much of a goal scorer but I haven’t been setting up my teammates nearly enough for opportunities either. 

 

But all that should matter is that the team is doing well correct?

 

Sure, I mean absolutely the team comes first and I’m thrilled we are a top two team in the league.  That being said, I am in an important year for myself and to be average offensively isn’t good enough for someone with the lofty expectations and goals that I have.  So while it could be taken selfishly, I think you have to be a little selfish to be an elite level performer.

 

Rumours are that you are hoping to be on Toronto next year given that they have a likely top three pick?

 

I have some familiarity with the management of Toronto but I’m not necessarily hoping to go anywhere in-particular.  Toronto definitely would be an interesting team to play for and it would be nice to be a building block for a new rebuild but that isn’t necessarily the goal.  I just am excited to play in the Victory Hockey League and I’ll definitely embrace wherever I get drafted to.  I hope I do go to whoever has the first pick because that will be quite an honour to be selected in that position.

 

What areas do you want to improve?

 

I need to drive the offense better and maybe bury a few more goals.  My shot is decent but I wish it was a lot better and that will definitely be something I want to improve on going forward.  I want to be a lot stronger and continue to improve my two-way game so hopefully that I can be an effective complete defender in the Victory Hockey League.

[Sova 53]

Review: Interviews are a really nice concept for articles and you gave it a nice spin with the intro setting up the player and the circumstances. The formatting is done very nicely and it makes the article easy to read. The questions you picked are also interesting ones so all in all I can only say that this is a solid article.