Dog Bytes Newsletter

DRAFT JUST THE BEGINNING FOR LOCAL PRODUCT TESINK

Being a sixth-round pick in the NHL Entry Draft was an honour for Sea Dogs forward Ryan Tesink, but he also knows he has a lot of work to do before becoming a St. Louis Blue. Hearing his name called as he watched the draft on the Internet was a career highlight for the Saint John native.

"I woke up for the start of the second round and sat on the couch the whole time. I started pacing a bit later on - I thought I was going to get picked a little earlier and you start getting a little nervous when guys ranked behind you are getting picked ahead of you," Tesink recalls. "It worked out and I got a bunch of phone calls in a matter of 10 minutes. It was a great feeling to hear your name called. ... All the phones in our house were going off."

Ryan Tesink has been working hard all summer to improve on his rookie campaign

Tesink said the first person to call him was Sea Dogs Head Coach Gerard Gallant.

"It shows how much (the coaches and the organization) care about us succeeding and moving on when he's the first person to call, and in the sixth round he's still watching and following. That felt very good, I was impressed by that," Tesink says.

Tesink also knows the draft is just the beginning, and now it will take lots of hard work to prove he's deserving of a pro contract in the next two years. With training camp around the corner, Tesink feels prepared thanks to a strong summer of training with former Dogs captain Mike Thomas in Fredericton. He's looking to improve on a season that saw him named the team's rookie of the year with eight goals and 35 points in 59 games.

"Thommer, has a great work ethic and he trains really hard in the summer. I figured he'd be a good person to pair up with and try to keep up with," Tesink says.

Tesink's training partner, Mike Thomas, was known as one of the fittest players in the league and earned a pro contract

The six-foot-one, 204-pound Thomas, who signed an AHL deal with the St. John's IceCaps, was known as one of fittest players in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The six-foot Tesink says his goal is to add bulk to his wiry frame, listed at 155 pounds last season. While the draft is a memorable accomplishment, Tesink has had other individual highlights, such as scoring his first QMJHL goal in last season's home opener and scoring in overtime in the President's Cup playoffs. But Tesink doesn't hesitate when asked what his single biggest moment has been so far.

"Winning the Memorial Cup in the final, that's above anything that happened throughout the year by far," he says. "Not too many people get to win the Memorial Cup, especially in their first year in the league, so that's above any individual achievement or anything."