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<\/p>\nBRANTFORD, Ont. \u2014 It\u2019s 11:25 a.m. on the first Friday in October, and Vladimir Dravecky is on the massage table inside TD Civic Centre getting treatment from Brantford Bulldogs athletic therapist Thomas Byrne.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s talking about his first taste of The Keg the night before with the team\u2019s assistant general manager, Justin Ismael. As his teammates wander past the therapy room\u2019s open door to head home to rest following their morning skate, Dravecky is just getting started on his daily routine.<\/p>\n
On his phone, it\u2019s the intermission of his father Vladimir Dravecky Sr.\u2019s game back home in Czechia with HC Ocel\u00e1\u0159i T\u0159inec, one of the country\u2019s top clubs. Vladimir Sr., 40, is in his 25th season of professional hockey, 12th with Trinec and eighth as one of their alternate captains. He started as an offensive player, and his son thinks he could still play a top-six role, but says he has become more of a defensive player and mentor for the team\u2019s younger players. This year, Dravecky Sr. is playing on a line with one of his son\u2019s close friends, Petr Sikora. Though he\u2019s a forward, he played D during one playoff run and once even played goalie when the team was in a bind.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants to help the young players and help them become NHL players. That\u2019s what he likes is to help the younger players. But he\u2019s still really good,\u201d Dravecky Jr. says after hopping off the table.<\/p>\n
Dravecky Jr. talks about his dad as his idol and the reason for his daily rituals, saying they\u2019re \u201cvery similar.\u201d They\u2019ll work out together on family vacations, and Dravecky Jr. is now working with his dad\u2019s strength and conditioning coach in the offseason, though his dad trains on his own when they\u2019re at home because \u201cafter 20 years, he knows what to do for himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s 40,\u201d Dravecky Jr. stresses for a second time. \u201cHe\u2019s taking care of his body and doing everything to still play. It\u2019s unreal. To be honest, I think he could play to 45, but he wants to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around TD Civic Centre, Dravecky Jr., a top 2026 NHL Draft defenseman who left Rogle BK in Sweden \u2014 where he played three games in the SHL a year ago \u2014 to join the Bulldogs as an import for his draft year, has quickly developed a reputation for his own off-ice habits.<\/p>\n
When he first arrived in Brantford, he told general manager Spencer Hyman, \u201cI need two and a half hours on the ice a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOK, well, we practice for an hour and a half,\u201d Hyman told him.<\/p>\n
\u201cOK, well, I\u2019ll do an hour with a skills coach or by myself,\u201d Dravecky replied.<\/p>\n
Bulldogs head coach Jay McKee says they\u2019ve had a hard time getting him off the ice, even on scheduled off days.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrust me, your body does need some recovery,\u201d McKee has had to tell him.<\/p>\n
McKee also says \u201chis practice habits are incredible\u201d and that they\u2019ve made a real difference in their skates, because \u201cit shows other guys how you can be in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 11 years in this league, he\u2019s probably the best practice player that I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d McKee said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s probably from him practicing with men in Europe. Everything is 100 percent. He\u2019s vocal, and that\u2019s one of the biggest things that I think separates a pro practice from junior is it\u2019s very vocal. I\u2019ve had (Bulldogs alums) Florian Xhekaj and Jorian Donovan come back on their breaks for a practice with us, and I\u2019ve asked them \u2018What\u2019s the biggest difference?\u2019 and I know the answer, but I want the players to hear it because we preach it all the time and it\u2019s hard to get all the time. But he\u2019s very hungry. Vladdy has been incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vince Laise, the team\u2019s associate coach, describes Dravecky, a 6-foot, 189-pound right-shot D, as \u201cdialed\u201d and has noticed that even after getting to the rink early, shooting pucks, and getting on early, he usually also stays for another 20-30 minutes after practice. After all of that, they\u2019ll still find him in the gym (where staff say he\u2019s also a standout next to his peers), and then getting treatment, and then rolling out on his own \u2014 including on game days \u2014 before going home long after his teammates have.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost guys run out of here because they think they need more rest. He\u2019s got the athletic side of it down, and he\u2019s got the mindset of a pro,\u201d Laise said. \u201cHis passes are snapping on the money. He\u2019s jumping through holes. He calls for pucks. And I do believe that having a father who is still playing professional hockey and him growing up and his dad saying, \u2018No, this is the way to have a career,\u2019 it\u2019s obvious the influence.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his work ethic, the first thing McKee, Hyman and Laise all noticed about Dravecky is that he has a bullish confidence about him.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the guy who, when Laise asks him, \u201cVladdy, you feeling good today!?\u201d in the morning, he deadpans back, \u201cI always feel good, baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got tons of swagger. He\u2019s walking the line on that. But I do appreciate it because he backs it up with his work, so I\u2019m OK with it from a personal standpoint,\u201d Laise said. \u201cI think it\u2019s over the line if you\u2019re just saying it and it\u2019s fluff, but he\u2019s quite obviously a grinder.\u201d<\/p>\n
That confidence has led him from team to team in search of better opportunities, though, too.<\/p>\n
The 17-year-old has already played in Czechia, Slovakia, Sweden and now Canada. At 15, he left home and used one of his three citizenships with Czechia, Slovakia and the U.S. to play for Slovakia\u2019s U18 program, which models like USA Hockey\u2019s NTDP and plays against the second-highest men\u2019s league level in Slovakia. There, he negotiated so that he was the only player on the team who was also still allowed to play for his men\u2019s team. Ask him why he later left and made the switch to the Czech national team before the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and he says, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t working well.\u201d Ask him about his move to Rogle and later the decision to leave there for the Bulldogs after one season, and he says he liked it there, liked their style of play and development model, but that the coaches \u201cwere always talking about defense\u201d and he \u201cdidn\u2019t want to wait until somebody was going to get injured\u201d to get a real opportunity to stick with the SHL team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I need to improve my defense,\u201d he said. But he also added this: \u201cI\u2019m an offensive defenseman. I think I can defend two-way, but I\u2019m a highly offensive defenseman who is high IQ and makes plays to make my teammates better and help them. I\u2019m a good leader, very good leader, and I love to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
That attitude has been embraced by the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n
Mention it to Hyman, and he\u2019ll answer quickly: \u201cHe\u2019s William Nylander. He\u2019s Willy. That\u2019s exactly what he is. He\u2019s a defenseman, but he\u2019s Willy. That\u2019s how I see him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows he\u2019s going to be a pro. He\u2019s going to go about his business. He\u2019s going to be a point guy,\u201d Hyman said. \u201cHe has to learn how to play defense better, and that\u2019s where Jay comes in, and that\u2019s why he came I think is because Jay is amazing at developing D, and now this kid is going to learn how to play North American style hockey before getting drafted.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that last part is true.<\/p>\n
\u201cJay was the reason why I went here because when you have a coach like this who played like 800 games in the NHL, that\u2019s unreal. He can show me things, tell me things about his career, and he has so many experiences,\u201d Dravecky said. \u201cThis just can help me for my career, and that\u2019s also why I made the decision to come here, because you don\u2019t have many coaches like this around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Blues first-rounder Adam Jiricek returned from his NHL camp and they decided to move Dravecky from PP1 to PP2, the coaching staff wondered how he would take it because they didn\u2019t think he\u2019d like the news.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t miss a beat,\u201d according to McKee.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said \u2018Yep, I\u2019m good, whatever you guys need\u2019 and then he practiced like a pro,\u201d McKee said. \u201cHe\u2019s a very confident kid, but wherever you need him and whatever you need him to do, he\u2019ll do it. He has that mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he started a little slowly by his standards, registering one goal in his first three games in the OHL and turning the puck over a fair amount, McKee decided not to pull back on his reins, however, preferring to give him the first 10-15 games of the season to learn for himself what he could do at the junior level.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s feeling out the league still, and I\u2019m OK with him making mistakes right now because it\u2019s early in the year and you don\u2019t win championships in September-October,\u201d McKee said ahead of Game 4 of the season. \u201cAnd if he has the ability to do some of these things and we\u2019re getting positive results out of it, if I shut him down early, we\u2019re not going to get the most out of the player. We also learn a lot about him that way, too. I\u2019ve seen a lot of video on him, but we need to also see him in games.\u201d<\/p>\n
By Game 12, he had racked up four goals and 12 points and was plus-11. Laise and McKeee had found that \u201che\u2019s more physical than people give him credit for\u201d and \u201cgreat in terms of coachability.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to characterize him as set in something,\u201d McKee said. \u201cI see an offensively gifted, high-risk defenseman. (But) I think he does defend well. That\u2019s not taking away from him defensively. He gets in on guys quick, he\u2019s got an active stick, he\u2019s very alert. I think he does have a good defensive game to him. He\u2019s not one-dimensional, I don\u2019t want to put him as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Dravecky is averaging more than 22 minutes per game so far this season. (Courtesy of the Brantford Bulldogs)<\/p>\n
They\u2019re also playing him\u00a0a lot, even on a blue line that features three drafted NHL prospects plus fifth-year overeager Lucas Moore. Through his first few weeks in the league, he\u2019s averaging more than 22 minutes per game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tools are there,\u201d Hyman said. \u201cHe skates like the wind. The instincts are there.\u201d<\/p>\n
That play and those tools, after a strong showing at Czechia\u2019s three nations tournament with Switzerland and Finland this summer, have put him firmly in the mix for Czechia\u2019s World Junior team as an underager this year.<\/p>\n
Brantford may not be his last stop before the NHL, either, as multiple NCAA schools have made trips to see him play and have interest in him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love hockey, so the moving doesn\u2019t mean nothing for me,\u201d he said when asked about being away from home since 15. \u201cEverybody is asking if I miss my family. Of course, I\u2019m really close with my family. But I\u2019m doing what I love, and this just makes me happy, and I\u2019m staying in touch with my family. This is my dream, and I\u2019m living my dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having both of the Bulldogs\u2019 other imports be Czech teammates and friends in Jiricek and Adam Benak has helped with the transition, though, he says, and he\u2019s really happy in Brantford.<\/p>\n
One thing that\u2019ll never change? His unwavering confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to make it. I think I can be there and I\u2019m going to do everything for that,\u201d he said. \u201c(The OHL), it\u2019s a very good level. When the old players came now (after NHL camps), it\u2019s much better the level. But I was with the pros. I don\u2019t want to be cocky, but if I\u2019m honest with you, I\u2019m a little bit higher with the passes and the speed in practice. But in the games, it\u2019s different. But it\u2019s because I was with the pros always. That\u2019s why I\u2019m like that. I feel very good here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRANTFORD, Ont. \u2014 It\u2019s 11:25 a.m. on the first Friday in October, and Vladimir Dravecky is on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-241798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}