Sioux Falls draft pick and Hungarian national team forward looks to make a name for himself in one of the top junior leagues.
“I was on a visa interview on August 18th and luckily everything went smoothly and I got my passport back on the 18th. I will leave on Monday and will get to Sioux Falls late in the afternoon” said Csanád Erdély.
“Scott Owens, the team's GM and head coach will be picking me up from the airport, he just happens to be dropping his son off as well so it works out great.”
“I will be living with the same family as I was with when I visited in June, they were really nice, they have four kids, the two younger ones still live with their parents, they are twelve and thirteen, they both play hockey and the older one helps out with the equipment for the team.”
As we had written earlier Csanád spent one week with the team in June but the really work only starts now.
“I will hit the ice on September 2nd to try out all my new equipment, to get used to everything. The actual practices start on the third with a game on the sixth. I am familiar with about 90% of the squad, the team is mostly made up of players born in 95-96- and 97 with a few from 98, they are mostly Americans but there are a couple from abroad, we have a Slovak a Czech, one Canadian and myself. At first glance I saw we have a pretty strong team”
Last season Sioux Falls won the USHL title they will be trying to defend their title with Csanád Erdély on the roster as well.
“Obviously we want to defend the title, which will not be easy because there is so much turnover not only on our team but throughout the league as well from year to year.”
Sioux Falls is located in South Dakota which means that the U20 and senior national team member will be playing hockey relatively close to Dorottya Medgyes who was women’s U20 and senior national team member, who is starting her freshman season at the University of North Dakota.
Csanád natural has some personal goals to achieve next to the ones that he hopes the team will accomplish during the season. “I would like to put myself into the position that the coach had planned for me, to play on the top to lines as well as on special teams. With the U20 national team we would like to get back to the level we were at last season and to make it to the next round of qualifying for the Olympics, but I don’t think I will be around for that. Also I would be very satisfied if I had a point per game average for the season.
