Demko thrilled to be drafted by Canucks

Goalie Thatcher Demko completed his freshman season at Boston College in 2013-14. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Demko went 16-5-3 with a 2.24 goals-against average and .919 save percentage and earned All-Hockey East Rookie Team honors and Hockey East honorable mention. Demko, who played his minor hockey in Southern California before joining the United States National Team Development Program in 2012-13, is No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting's final list of the top North American goalies eligible for the 2014 NHL Draft. He has offered to maintain a blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2014 NHL Draft.

PHILADELPHIA -- Hello hockey fans. It's been an interesting last two days, to say the least.

I'm a pretty even-keeled guy so I felt OK Friday. In the morning I went to breakfast with some friends and family and then we just lounged around the hotel having a good time. My dad was more nervous than I was.

Then around 5 o'clock I got my suit on, got all dressed up. Once we got to the building and I sat down in my seat, that's when the nerves started to kick in. It's tough just sitting through it because you don't know. It's all a waiting game.

As the picks went by and I didn't hear my name called in the first round, I really didn't get disappointed. You can't expect anything. You just have to be happy that you're here. It's an honor to be here in the first place. You can't be angry because you're not getting your name called.

You don't really know when you're going to get called. Some mock drafts, they say he's going first round, he's going second round. At the end of the day, guys have slid further. I've seen crazier things happen at the draft. You don't really know what to expect.

We got up this morning and came back to the building early and got back to our seats. I was a little more nervous today, but at least I didn't have to wait long.

I wasn't really expecting it when the Canucks picked me. I was checking my phone, texting someone and I heard Boston College, looked around, stood up and hugged my parents. It was pretty surreal.

I went down to the Vancouver table and met all the people, shook all their hands. They seemed pretty happy. But not as happy as I am. It's a great spot for me.

I put the jersey on and then they went in the back and made me a jersey with my name on the back of it. Just seeing my name on the back of an NHL jersey ... wow. I'm not there yet by any means but seeing that, you can't really put it into words.

Thanks for reading along this season.

Follow Thatcher Demko on Twitter: @thatcher_hockey