My Influences: Michael McNiven

MONTREAL - Prospect Michael McNiven picked up some tricks of the hockey trade from watching several NHLers.

Shortly after the 2018-19 season ended, we sat down with the talented Canadian goaltender to learn more about his top influences.
Ray Emery
Growing up, he was my favorite goaltender. Just from where he came from and being the goalie that he was right there in the middle of his career with Ottawa, he took them on a couple of good runs. He was a really aggressive goalie. He didn't mind fighting a few times. That was exciting to see.

Ed Belfour
I was a Maple Leafs fan when I was really young, and he was the guy. Watching him play in my younger years, when I first started playing goalie, that's who I kind of wanted to be.

Jonathan Quick
As I got older, I turned into a Jonathan Quick fan. I modeled myself after him. Same thing, very competitive. Now, I think I've moved my game away from how he plays. I've tightened everything up more and he's a little more spread out, but he's another great goalie and he has a couple of Stanley Cups.

Carey Price
Just watching him and coming out of Junior winning the Calder Cup in the AHL, it was the same with me when I won CHL Goaltender of the Year Award and 10 years before that it was him. That was pretty cool to see as well. He's just an amazing goalie. It's fun to watch him play.

Sergei Bobrovsky
He's a cool guy to watch. Him and Jonathan Quick are a lot alike. They're both competitive and they both do everything they can to stop the puck. It's fun to watch them and they make the games really entertaining.