Luca Cagnoni was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the fourth round, 123rd overall this past summer in Nashville. Cagnoni attended the draft with fellow Winterhawks teammate Diego Buttazzoni and said that it made it that much better having a teammate there.
“I mean, I had a couple friends there but having somebody that’s on your team that you’ll you know, as you’re gonna see him for the rest of summer and have to play with him the next year,” Cagnoni said. “It’s kind of even better feeling I mean, we kind of got to experience that together, and then hopefully this summer coming up, we can experience it again.”
His relationship with Buttazzoni is clearly just as strong off the ice as it is on the ice with the amount of time they’ve spent together growing up and this past summer.
“I mean, we’ve known each other for a long time,” Cagnoni said. “I played hockey with this older brother. Basically, my whole whole career growing up at BWC (Burnaby Winter Club). So we kind of built a relationship with their family, friends all that, it was just lovely that he signed with Portland. I mean, it’s been great ever since like, he’s such a good guy. We get along so well, it’s so natural. So it’s just so fun for him to be here and we can kind of go through this together.”
In addition to spending time together at this past summer’s NHL Draft, Cagnoni and Buttazzoni spent a good amount of the summer together when Buttazzoni’s parents were gone.
“It was awesome,” Cagnoni said. “His parents were gone in Sweden for his older brother’s hockey stuff. So he spent about two weeks in my house and the first half of the days are just obviously training, it is still summer. So it’s a lot of hockey there, but at nighttime, we spent a lot of money at the arcade having some fun there, we would just like go hang out with some friends and it’s just so nice having like kind of basically a brother at my house that I can just spend time with all the time and kind of like memories that you’ll never forget.”
But when it comes to the draft, anything can happen, which can make it stressful for players. But it’s also clear that it’s one of the biggest days of their lives.
“I mean, one big thing is that anything like anything can happen on draft day,” Cagnoni said. “I mean, obviously, some people take shots at players, some people fall some people rise. I mean, anything can happen. So I mean, it’s obviously very stressful. Probably one of the biggest days of your life. Really, but getting your name called is a huge accomplishment no matter where, where you fall or what happens there.”
But it’s a big process that leads up to the draft and players hearing their name called. Potential draft picks have to go through interviews and the NHL combine.
“During the year I think I almost got every team’s like questionnaire doing interviews with them,” Cagnoni said. “Then you go to the combine, you have more interviews there with the workouts that you have to do so. I mean, you know, you got to have in the back of your head that like you got to do get here like you got to show who you are as a person, like your work habits and stuff like that. So I mean, it’s a little stressful but I feel like if you just be yourself, it’s the easiest.”
This is Cagnoni’s third full season in the WHL and it’s clear that he has big expectations for himself as well as the team.
“Personally I’m just trying to push the play like, no matter what the score is, or what like what’s going on in the game, just to keep on pushing every shift trying to be the best player on the ice every shift,” Cagnoni said. “So that’s kind of my goal. I’m not too worried about the big project right now because I know what our team can do and I have full trust and everyone on this team and I think everyone in this room knows the goal is to win the league and go to the top so everyone probably has their goals and just playing good, every shift every period.”
This Portland is seeing a lot of success early and it’s showing each week in their games and the CHL Top 10 rankings which has seen them sit at number one already this year.
“I mean, like we’re tight, everyone gets along there’s nothing going on in the room,” Cagnoni said. Everyone’s doing their own thing. Everyone’s trying to get better every practice. We’re pushing each other. I mean, even off the ice, you know, everyone’s good. So I mean, everyone kind of knows what we want to get to. We have a veteran group this year, everyone’s got some playoff experience. So I mean, there’s no real excuse this year.”
It’s also clear that these players know that they can’t let up on the gas, especially come playoff time with Cagnoni saying how it’s a whole different game once the postseason rolls around.
“You kind of have to be ready for change in their lineup or structure or even our lineup, our structure,” Cagnoni said. “So I mean anything can really get thrown at you. That’s kind of how you can tell the good players is just by how good they react and stuff like that.”
It’s clear that this season’s team is special with how they’re managing the high expectations and how well they all gel together.
“I think everyone trusts each other in the room,” Cagnoni said. “We have guys that can score, guys that can shut down, we have a great goalie right now. So I mean, we trust each other. We play our games with what we’re good at and then like things will just happen naturally and we’ll have success that way.”
Along with the team’s expectations, the Sharks gave Cagnoni some things to work on this season to improve his skill set. As an undersized player, the Sharks want him to work on being physical and other related parts of his game.
“Just cutting people’s hands off, even like dodging heads and getting around and stuff like that,” Cagnoni said. “Just keep on working on that and kind of if you can shut the play down before they can even get started then you can kind of go back on offense. So that’s kind of what they were talking to me about.”
This season’s Winterhawks team has a lot of quality leaders throughout the team including Cagnoni.
“I’m pretty vocal on the bench and stuff like that, just trying to get everyone up, get the energy up,” Cagnoni said. I mean, I obviously try to just lead by example on the ice by like, the way that I play the way that I push the play the things that I do, I mean, kind of getting out of my comfort zone this year with like, throwing more hits, you know, sticking up for teammates and stuff. So I mean, that’s kind of what it’s going to be I feel like every guy in this in this room and this team can do that for one another. So it’s a pretty good feeling.”
What sticks out with this season’s team is how close they are and the relationships that they’ve formed.
“You make brothers for life, you make family so that’s, you can’t really beat that,” Cagnoni said. “I mean, so many people I know that have maybe not gone this far or something. That’s what they say the most about. It’s just the relationships that you make along the way even with, like, their parents, or even like the kids and stuff like that, like, you know, just stuff like that. You just, I don’t think he really got away from it. I mean, that’s what everyone kind of loves about this game and obviously winning you know, everyone loves winning, that’s everyone’s goal.”
Northwest Sports Desk 