For his first professional experience outside American soil, Drake Caggiula comes to strengthen the workforce of the Lausanne Hockey Club. Thanks to his strong NHL experience (8 seasons for 292 games disputed), the Canadian has chosen to come and test himself at the National League for the second part of his career. In the middle of a pre-season phase, the former fan of Toronto Maple Leafs agreed to explain his relationship to ice hockey since his childhood. Interview.
Ice hockey in the center of his life
Drake was born in Pickering, a city close to Toronto in Ontario. As mainly in the different regions of Canada, ice hockey is at the center of lives and discussions of its inhabitants. A passion which our new striker could not escape.
Drake Caggiula : “I grew up all my childhood in this rather big city where there must be almost 100,000 inhabitants. Honestly, you have the impression that everyone does ice hockey or in any case appreciate watching on television. As soon as you go to school, you are part of a team and it gives you this impression of being part of the same community gathered around this sport. I think there are 12 skating rink just in the city. I also have a big brother who started before me. I spent my time watching him play with his friends, then I had the chance to play with them. It also helped me a lot in my development to be able to train with older, strong and talented people than me. In my family, we lived hockey and we ate hockey.
By living next to Toronto, I was really a fan of the Maples Leafs franchise, even if I was above all a lover of this sport. I liked to be able to watch games on television, but it was not as simple as today. I just enjoyed looking at other teams, because what was important was the game itself. These are great memories that I have with my father. We landed both on the sofa every Saturday evening and if we were a little lucky, there were Toronto or other Canadian teams who were on television. »»
Is it a regret for you never having had the opportunity to play for the Maple Leafs when you were in National Hockey League?
Drake Caggiula : « When I was at the University of North Dakota, the franchise was interested in signing me, But I felt that it was not ideal for me to play as close to my home. Do you see what I mean? You have your parents, your friends who come to see you constantly, it’s a lot of distractions. So I had refused their offer. Now I tell myself that I would have liked to play it, if only one match. So I have no regrets, but it would have been like a little dream to do it. »
Place to training
After several years to play for his local Ajax-Pickering Raiders team, Drake Caggiula is drafted in OHL and will play for two seasons with the Stoufville Spirit, then will join the University of North Dakota very famous in the training of professional athletes.
Drake Caggiula : « It was important for me to be able to go to NCAA and a passage by the OHL was a logical step in my training. It is a smaller city than where I come from and it did me good to be able to play there. We also won the championship and there was a small community of 500-700 people who supported us throughout the season.
Subsequently, I managed to return to the University of North Dakota which is one of the best university programs when you want to become a professional sportsman with Michigan, Boston College or Denver, probably in the country’s top 5. They have proven over time by helping hundreds of young people to become professional as Jonathan Toews or Zach Parise. If you want to become a professional as a hockey player, this school will really help you to get there. I stayed there for 4 years during which we managed to remain very competitive with a title won in my last year, it was really like in a dream honestly. It was also during this period that I was able to build myself as an adult man and more like a teenager. »
You have just mentioned this last year at the university where you have won the title NCAA and been elected MVP of the tournament. Do you think that is when you managed to stand out to go later in NHL?
Drake Caggiula : “Hmm … I think every year allowed me to take a course. During my first season, I was 18 years old and I played against guys who were sometimes 26 years old, it was hard. The more the years passed, the more I managed to impose myself technically and physically. There was a big evolution after my second year, because it was at this point that different NHL teams began to call me to be able to sign me. My dream of being able to play in the best league in the world began to become little by little reality. During my last season, I think I have managed to mutate while starting to play like an NHL player, that’s what made the difference in my opinion. »
Welcome to the professional world
Following his four academic years, the Canadian winger will join the NHL as a non-drafted for Edmonton’s Oilers. Rewarded for his diligence and excellent performances, the future number 96 of the LHC has given himself the right to make his childhood dream a reality.
Drake Caggiula : « When I signed with Edmonton, I arrived with this non-drone label. In a sense, you have more pressure at the beginning, because you have only one year of contract and you have to prove that you deserve your place every day. The franchise may give you a little less forgiveness than if it had drafted you before, because it does not need to justify its draft choices. However, when you are not drafted, you may not expect to have a chance to play at this level. In a way, you don’t have much to lose and you feel less waiting on your shoulders. By analyzing my way of being as a player and especially as a human, the possibility of having managed to reach my childhood dream is simply incredible. »
In his first professional season, the Canadiens will have the opportunity to play 60 regular season games as well as 13 playoff games. Despite different injuries that will cut him off in his momentum for several seasons, Drake is satisfied with his North American experience.
Drake Caggiula : « Because of a blow that I received in the last pre-season match, I lacked 8 to 10 weeks from the start of my first season. I could not return to the game until about 30 games and it was not easy to start in these conditions. A few months earlier, I was still a academic player and I had to go for the course to be at the same level as my teammates. It is not something easy and even less when you cannot start at the same time as the others. I have lost a lot of self -confidence at the moment because of this incident. But you learn that injuries are part of the game and over time, you learn to put things into perspective.
I have a lot of good memories of my passage in NHL: my first match in which I had my first assist, the first goal after 8 games, my experience in the semi-final of the playoffs against Anaheim where I discovered what the real skating atmospheres were, I have so much. I also had the chance to be able to play with Conor McDavid in Edmonton, with Patrick Kane in Chicago or with Sidney Crosby In Pittsburgh, I am so lucky to have been able to rub shoulders with them for several times. »
A new step in his career
Today, Drake Caggiula Get out of his comfort zone and comes to confront a league that he has never known. Bigger skating rink, different rules, the attacker is aware of the different adaptations he will have to make, without it frightening him.
Drake Caggiula : « Regarding the size of skating rink which is larger here, I think these are small adjustments. In a sense, it is even positive for me, because my skating quality is perhaps my biggest strong point. I will have a little more space and time to make decisions. By signing in Lausanne, I knew the changes that were going to confront me and that’s what I was looking for.
From a family point of view, arriving here now is just a chance. I had never come to Switzerland before and I am just a mouth of the landscapes, the quality of life and the way everything is accessible by car, train or plane. It is important for us not to arrive here as a simple passenger, we want to establish ourselves here for a while, it is a new stage of our life with my wife. We want to be part of the community, discover a new region with its own cultures. We will register our two daughters in school here so that they can also live a new chapter of their lives in Lausanne.
I can’t wait for the season to start and that I can gradually meet you from the ice or outside the skating rink. »