Akerström Joins Las Vegas

[Mason 81]

 

Out West: Akerström Joins Las Vegas

 

On the day that Gabriel Akerström declared for the S74 VHL Entry Draft last week, there was immediately a surge of interest from teams interested in acquiring him and adding him to their VHLM rosters. It lead to a lot of discussion between Gabriel and his family, as they needed to sit back and evaluate a number of factors, the biggest of which was the opportunity the team would give him to develop and grow as a player in the season to come. Gabriel took a lot of factors into consideration, including the playing time that the teams would be able to offer him this season, the coaching staff and management group of each team, and perhaps most importantly, each team's culture and attitude toward winning. Gabriel sees a great deal of value in playing for a team that is focused on winning and developing great players to play at the VHL level, and that was perhaps the most important factor he considered in making his decision regarding which VHLM team to sign with for the upcoming season. With that in mind, the clear winner out of the teams that he received an offer from was the Las Vegas Aces.

 

The Aces made a great impression on Gabriel, being able to outline exactly what it was they could offer him this season in terms of role on the team and guidance through the league setup. The Aces had a spot on their second defensive pairing which Gabriel would be able to step into, and although there had been offers from other teams that would have allowed for him to play on their first pairing, the other aspects of the offer were what sealed the deal for Gabriel, primarily, the opportunity to play as part of a more competitive squad, and the team being one that was not far removed from enjoying recent success. As someone with ambitions to win in the VHL, it meant a great deal for Gabriel to be able to go to a team with a winning culture, and he's excited to be able to take the time to learn from those around the team who've enjoyed some level of success in recent years.

 

With not much turnaround between him signing his contract with the team and him playing his first games for them, Gabriel has a lot of learning and adjusting to do in a short space of time. He's hopeful that he is capable of adapting to the learning curve quickly, and we'll hopefully see some solid play from the youngster in his first couple of games with the team. There has been some talk that a big factor was being able to play in the city of Las Vegas. For a kid who's spent all of his life so far living in a small town in Sweden, the bright lights of the City of Sin will surely be an alluring prospect, but he'll need to remind himself that the reason he's making his way to Vegas is to play hockey, not to gamble. It's going to be an interesting first season in the league for Gabriel, and he's excited to get started with his new team and make an impact on the ice. 

 

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