2014 Draft Blog: Jordan Papirny

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It's become an annual tradition; guest blogs written by a handful of draft eligible players who share their experiences throughout the key season. Some of the names of players who we have recruited and agreed to give us their time in the past include 1st round selections like Mark Pysyk, Jordan Eberle, Joe Colborne, Curtis Lazar, John Moore, Michael Matheson and Brett Connolly. 

This year's first entry come from a goaltender of note from the WHL, Jordan Papirny of the Brandon Wheat Kings. Papirny was a recent guest on the show as part of our IN STUDIO summer series and after meeting him I was compelled to ask if he'd like to take on this project over the season. 

After the jump, the first chapter in the season-long blog written by Brandon netminder Jordan Papirny.

Photo: Twitter

My name is Jordan Papirny. I am a goaltender, going into my first year of the Western Hockey League with the Brandon Wheat Kings. 

I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta playing my minor hockey years with SWAT. I started playing goal my first year of atom. Ever since i started playing hockey i always loved the challenge of being the goalie. 

After playing my last year of peewee with the SWZ Oil Kings , I decided to try out for South Side Athletic Club. My first year I didn't know where I compared with all the other goalies but as always, I strapped the pads on and worked as hard as I could. I ended up making the Bantam AAA Southgate Lions. 

The next year I came back to South Side and we had a tremendous team! We had the opportunity to play in the Bantam AAA western championship, and won a bronze medal. I also was fortunate enough to be selected by the Brandon Wheat Kings in the first round of the bantam draft. 

The next year I played midget AAA here in Edmonton for South Side Athletic Club again. Our team wasn't the best but we all learned a lot from that year. 

I went into my next season hoping to crack the Brandon Wheat Kings roster as a 16 year old and fell short. However that Christmas, I got to represent Team Pacific at the u17 world championship in Quebec. We didn't get the results we wanted but it was all our first experience playing at an international level. 

Photo: Brandon Sun

Finishing the year we were one goal short from a plane ticket to the Telus Cup! We lost 1-0 to Red Deer in game 5 of the AMHL finals. 

After last season I reevaluated my game as a goalie and focused on areas that I needed to improve on in order to make an impact at the Wheat Kings training camp in August. We are starting the year here in under two weeks and I'm ready for the long journey that our team is going to face. I really believe that we have a solid group of guys with a lot of potential, and I think we can do some really good things this season. 

See you next time,

Jordan Papirny

Jordan Papirny is listed at WHL.ca as being 6'0 and 170 lbs. The Edmonton native was drafted in the 1st round (22nd overall) by Brandon in the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft. He was named the 2013-12 AMHL Playoff MVP after posting a 1.61 GAA and .946 sv% for Edmonton's South Side Athletic Club.