Former Pittsburgh Penguin Ulf Samuelsson was down on the concourse of the Bell Centre in Montreal fielding questions from the press about his son Philip being selected 61st overall by the Pens. Like any proud father he was beaming with excitement, but like any former hockey player he spoke with an expert angle for Pitt's newest draftee. Audio below, or read the Q&A after the jump. Keep checking back for the final installment of interviews with players and coaches, today at 1:30.
His skating's a little awkward and he looks - he's always been kinda tall and lanky but he just keeps gaining more and more ice time everywhere he's played.
Is this a good or bad situation for him to go into? I mean, you still cast a big shadow there.
No, he's gone through that a long time ago. He's going to Boston to play college so if he can handle that he can certainly handle going to Pittsburgh and playing there so he's a mentally tough kid. He'll handle it.
Was there any hesitation sending him to BC?
No. I mean, he went around some schools and after he went to BC he said, "I'm going there" so there wasn't much discussion. He loved it from day one and I think he's going to have a great time.
What's it like for you as a dad to see your kid go?
It's exciting. I was kinda hoping he was gonna go somewhere in the mid fourth round so I would be the champion in the family by going early fourth round a long time ago but he got me beat by quite a bit so I'm sure I'm going to hear about that.
As a father do you give him a lot of insight into the sport and give some tips here and there?
Sure. It's an everyday sort of developing cycle. It's about eating and sleeping and preparing - all the things you read about in all the books. To have it just come straight from me I think it's really valuable for the kid to hear it from a father who has played.