Highly touted Boston Bruins 1st rounder Fabian Lysell is embracing every second of his final IIHF World Junior championship.
The ultra skilled scoring winger is poised and driven to lead and have a massive impact for Team Sweden
I caught up with Lysell after a 5-1 setback to the United States in Pre-Tournament action at the Avenir Centre in downtown Moncton in December 21st.
CE: First of all, obviously not the outcome that you wanted today, but the compete level was there right to the end, what do you and the team have to do to be ready when the puck drops for real?
FL: “Like you said, I think the compete was ok, I think we have to manage the puck better, we need to get way cleaner in all three zones. Overall this is just something to build on, there’s a lot of guys that aren’t used to playing on the small rink and all that, it’s something to build on and keep going.”
CE: How special is it to play for your country, especially this being your final time at the junior level?
FL: “It’s a privilege, something that you definitely want to say yes to, and be proud of representing your country, it’s such a special tournament and I’m really looking forward to get going.”
CE: Your experience in the WHL and now the American Hockey League in Providence, there’s so many comparisons to David Pastrnak and bringing the offence and all of that, discuss your experience so far with the P-Bruins.
FL: “All the things you just mentioned is extremely tough competition all of the, it’s great to be in that environment whether it’s with Boston or the AHL, it’s a very good environment to get better each and every day and to see how all of the pros work on the ice and especially off the ice. That’s something, that I’ve really worked on and stepped on this year.”
“Overall the organization is great, we treat everyone the same way and making everyone feel welcome, you know positive towards the same goal of trying to make the team and strive for that.”
“It’s been a great first half of the year.”
CE: What have you learned about yourself as a player and person with Providence this year?
FL: “I feel like this is the first time I really started playing pro hockey, before that I played some games over in Sweden, but I didn’t play a lot, so this is my first real year to play big minutes in pro hockey and I feel like I worked on my game away from the puck a lot, so I’m finding open spots to create offence instead of not trying to doing it all myself, I’m using my teammates as well, which is a big thing to develop myself.”
“Another thing I’ve noticed is just how physical it is. The American League is tough and you have to get used to that, but I feel that’s something I’ve developed in my first half year at the pro level.”
CE: With that being said, what are you working on every day to strive to get better in hopes of throwing on a Bruins jersey one day?
FL: “I would say there are so many details. The board play, how to get off of certain situations in tight areas, and as I said before getting into those open spots in the O zone to get those dangerous chances.”
“There’s a bunch of different stuff, but there are some things you have to work on by yourself, and somethings just come naturally by playing more games at that level, but I think that comes hand in hand.”
“Definitely I think it’s all about being more detailed with my game and be better pro.”
CE: Is there always pressure on you to deliver, and do you feel pressure to always put up points or is just I’m going to doing everything the best I can do in all three zones?
FL: “I think I thought more about that when I was younger, now it’s more like, you just go out there and prepare the best as possible and try to make the right plays at the right times.”
“You know some days the offence is going to come and you’re going to produce, and some other days you won’t even if you’re creating chances and all of that.”
“I don’t try to worry about that too much about that, I’m just trying to round out my game and try to be able to more of threat for each practice and each game.”
CE: You mentioned how similar Boston and Providence really is within the organization how is that line of communication between the big club and discuss the togetherness that you feel between the clubs.
FL: “You know it’s huge, it’s only like a forty minute drive, which is different from other AHL teams, we have a lot of development guys probably there two to three times a week that talk to us.”
“We have great communication with the entire staff within the organization, it just feels like one big organization that’s working to develop all of the players within the organization. I’m really impressed by how they handle that.”
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