It’s been a crazy week for AHL hockey player Luke Evangelista. The Oakville player shined playing in this past weekend's American Hockey League All-Star game.
He was given the chance to replace his teammate Tommy Novak at the event due to Novak being called up to the NHL.
"It was just a big confidence boost," Evangelista said "It was cool to be rewarded for having a pretty good start to my pro career."
At the All-Star game skills competition, Evangelista appeared in two events.
He participated in the puck control relay where he and team west earned a point during his race and he also appeared in the pass and score competition.
In the actual All-Star game, Luke played very well. Just like the NHL, the AHL has 3-on-3 tournaments and with the extra space in his game against the North Division Evangelista flew down the right wing and fired one of his iconic wrist shots past the goalie for his first-ever All-Star game goal.
Though Evangelista told reporters that he “snuck in” to the All-Star game, his play on the ice this season has said otherwise.
In 42 games this season with the Milwaukee Admirals, Evangelista has wracked up 34 points making him nearly a point-per-game player in his first year of professional hockey.
When Luke and I spoke last summer he talked about how he changed his training regimen from previous years where instead of skating five times a week and working out five times a week, he was skating only three times a week and still working out five times a week.
Evangelista really feels like this switch helped him this season.
"I’m really happy with how this summer went and the results are showing here," he says. "I think I had a really good schedule going, packing on that extra weight has really helped me in terms of my skating and not getting knocked off the puck as much. I feel like my summer has had a lot to do with my success."
With Evangelista’s success, the Predators may come calling soon to give him a chance at playing in the NHL.
Though it may be a little early for Evangelista to get that chance, he has had great conversations with Scott Nichol who is the General Manager for the Milwaukee Admirals and the Assistant General Manager of the Nashville Predators about his chances of being called up to the NHL.
"The feedback is really positive," said Evangelista. "They really like what they see which is reassuring for sure but I have definitely made it clear that I want to put myself in a position to get that call-up and hopefully make my debut this season."