Blake Montgomery On Being Drafted By Senators
[Written by Stephen Wright]
Bermudian ice hockey player Blake Montgomery has reflected on the moment he got drafted by National Hockey League [NHL] team the Ottawa Senators.
Rather than attend the draft at the Sphere in Las Vegas in June, Montgomery, 19, visited Bermuda to watch the live televised event at the Boundary Sports Bar and Brill in Southampton with his family.
He was drafted in the fourth round with the 117th overall pick.
Montgomery, whose older brother Bryce Montgomery was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes three years ago, was recently interviewed by the Sens Talk YouTube channel.
“We planned [to visit Bermuda for the draft] during the second half of last season,” said Montgomery, born in Annapolis, Maryland.
“I talked to my mom [Dr Kimberly Robinson] and my agent about it. It was my second year eligible [for the draft], and I decided to spend it with family.
“I’d planned to go to Bermuda, and it was a good showing – a lot of people who I don’t get to see very often.
“It was cool they got to be there for a moment like that. I’ve got my Aunt Winnie out there – she’s about 93. Even she made it out – it was awesome!”
Blake Montgomery (OTT) getting the goalies ready as the Lincoln Stars take on the Madison Captials here at the USHL Fall Classic ????????
????: https://t.co/vpTItgHfFO #USHL #FallClassic pic.twitter.com/qiV2OPFmaH
— FloHockey (@FloHockey) September 20, 2024
Reflecting on his emotions when he discovered that he had been drafted by the Senators, Montgomery said: “I was in Bermuda, so the service wasn’t too good on my cell phone.
“The [NHL] draft was on TV but there was a delay of about three minutes. I was sitting next to my brother, and I just got a ton of texts, and I was like, ‘Oh, OK,’
“I didn’t want to open any of them because I didn’t want to know [the team].
“I put the phone down and watched the next few picks go by, Tampa, Nashville, and then Ottawa came up with my name next to them.
“My brother’s sitting next to me and just starts screaming and shaking me. I’m just trying to process what’s going on.
“I gave everyone hugs and got a call from Dan [Alfredsson, the Senators assistant coach] five minutes later so say welcome to Ottawa and ask if I could make camp the following day.
“I was ecstatic – it was something. I went to the beach afterwards with my brother to calm down and go for a swim.”
Montgomery, a 6ft 4in power winger, plays for the Lincoln Stars – a junior team in the United States Hockey League [USHL] – and will also play college hockey at Wisconsin, an NCAA Division I programme in the Big Ten Conference next year.
“I’ve got one more year at Lincoln,” he added. “[Next summer], I’ll get to go to Wisconsin for a six to eight-week programme [before term starts].
“I’ll be skating, working out and taking classes to get a feel for it before anyone is there.”
