As the youngest of three brothers in a hockey family,
Nathan Amidovski faced an uphill battle whenever a family pick-up game broke
out.
His two older siblings, Aiden and Lirim, are Ontario
Hockey League draft picks, 117th overall by the Guelph Storm and 181st overall
by the North Bay Battalion, respectively. Their father, Bujar, played
professionally in the AHL and ECHL after spending his major junior days with
the Kingston Frontenacs and Toronto St. Michaels Majors.
While
his brothers had an age advantage in these early contests, Amidovski never
lacked confidence, always confident that he was better. “I have realized that
my whole life,” he said.
“Sometimes
it was tough, obviously, we’ve played mini sticks and road hockey games, and
they've always been pretty tough on me and hard on me,” he continued. “It's
fun, but they can get a little bit physical sometimes also, playing with them.
That's also been good for me though, just having somebody to look up to.”
Referred
to as “Ammo” by his teammates, the youngest Amidovski is up next, projected as
a first-round pick in next month’s OHL draft.
This
season he led the U16 AAA Barrie Colts in scoring with 40 goals in 33 games. He
added 29 assists as the Colts went 33-2 in the regular season and 9-1 in the
playoffs.
Lindsay
Hofford, a former assistant general manager for the Arizona Coyotes, is head
coach of the dominant Barrie team and sees a bright future for Amidovski. He
described his first practice with the star forward as having a wow factor,
saying he called London Knights head coach Mark Hunter and telling him, “Hunts,
this guy can fly it’s scary.”
“He’s
got a skillset that should put him in the National Hockey League,” said
Hofford, who also spent time as the director of scouting for the Toronto Maple
Leafs and head coach of the Knights. “But that doesn’t always happen, because
there’s other parts of his game, or a player's game, that are also important.”
Amidovski
is six-foot-two as a sixteen-year-old and described by Hofford as having
exceptional athleticism, 10-out-of-10 skating ability and 10-out-of-10 ability
to shoot the puck and score.
Making
the jump to higher levels requires more, however.
“The
main thing is your attitude. Anybody that goes into it in a negative sense and
they’re worried about what they're not getting, it can be a debilitating
spiral,” Hofford said. “A lot of these kids, especially the younger kids that
go into it, are the kids that have been on the ice in all critical situations.
They’ve been the best players on their teams most of the way through their
hockey career and all of a sudden, they're at the bottom. They're not just
going to be given things right out of the start, so that's the number one
adjustment.”
Despite
his large frame, he also needs to get stronger, and putting in work in the gym
will help him get stronger both physically and mentally, said Hofford. This
will be another piece of the puzzle as he works to develop the body and mindset
of a professional player.
“The
ability to just roll up your sleeves and get to work, and just looking at your
game and working on all the areas that need improvement and having a plan to do
that is really important,” said Hofford. “With Nathan’s skills there will be no
stopping him, because his skills are elite. If he wants to go there and have
the elite attitude, he will have elite results.”
The
burgeoning young prospect seems to have the right mindset and is ready to
modify and adapt his style of play to the OHL’S demands.
“I kind
of just see myself as being still an offensive player, putting up points and
scoring goals,” Amidovski said. “But I kind of feel like I have to be more of
an all-around player just to translate over to the OHL because it's going to be
tough to score like I do right now.”
He’ll
need to keep doing that to reach his ultimate goal.
“Going
to NHL would be pretty ideal,” he said, “trying to stay there as long as I can
and just be a good player at that level.”
About the author: Ian Finlayson is a student in the Sport Journalism post-grad program at Centennial College.