Sunday, May 17, 2009

Colin Wilson Meets the Press in Nashville



Sunday afternoon we were able to meet with Colin Wilson, the Preds top draft pick from last Summer's free agent draft for a formal press gathering and a little chit-chat. The above video includes the press conference in its entirety.

Apart from the formal stuff, we met an incredibly nice young man, fresh off the college campus that would be any parent's dream to have as a son. He is very polite and well spoken and will be adored by the Predator fans once he comes to Nashville for good, which may be sooner than you might think.

He used his experience at the World Championships to see a faster game that made him realize exactly what needed to be done to play on the NHL level. He gave Team USA team mate Ryan Suter credit for coaching him on many things while in Switzerland. The transition from college to pro hockey is as much dealing with life as much as it is on ice situations and it sounds like Ryan was just the right guy to lend a helping hand.

At the press conference, we got to witness a couple of really neat things. Prior to the interview Colin Wilson was given his first real Predator jersey with his name and number 33 sewn on the back. The jersey that he was given at the draft was a Velcro model so names could have been interchanged depending on who was taken.

The second thing that really says a lot about Wilson's character was that after the presser, he saw Jackson standing behind the rest of the crowd and he walked over to him and introduced himself. On the surface, it doesn't seem like a big thing, but many kids his age, in and out of sports, don't have the manners and courtesy to even notice that there was someone in a group of ten or so folks that he had not been introduced to.

Colin Wilson with a young fan at the open house

At the Predator open house Wilson patiently signed autographs and posed for pictures for a line that lasted for three hours. There was a good crowd on hand and ticket sales were reported to be brisk and better than expected.

Everyone in attendance seemed to have a good time and all who met the young future Predator came a way with a smile, an autograph and a great first impression.

Welcome to Nashville Colin! You will be a fan favorite.

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

1 comment:

John said...

Thanks, Buddy. Good stuff as usual.