2023 NHL Draft Diary: Adam Fantilli

Adam Fantilli of the University of Michigan will file a draft diary for NHL.com this season leading up to the 2023 NHL Draft at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on June 28-29. The 18-year-old freshman center (6-foot-2, 195 pounds), who was born in Nobleton, Ontario, is an A rated skater on NHL Central Scouting's preliminary players to watch list and a projected first-round selection. He has 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) in 12 games this season, and was named the Hockey Commissioners Association's October national Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month for October after scoring 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in eight games.

Hello hockey fans:
It's been a tough month for our team, but we're getting through it as a family.
The passing of equipment manager Ian Hume (to prostate cancer) was really hard on all of us. Going to Ian's funeral (on Oct. 30) was heavy on a lot of the guys. I knew Ian pretty well, even though I am a freshman. We talked a lot over the summer and talked a lot when I first got to campus. An amazing guy; he did everything he could for our program.
Early last week, several players on our team ended up in the hospital after coming down with an illness, adenovirus. I was in the hospital a couple of days and had to miss the games against Minnesota last weekend (5-2 loss on Thursday, 6-3 loss on Friday). I was ready to go for practice on Monday and have since felt good.

I really respected what the healthy players in our lineup were able to do. Despite missing so many guys from the lineup, they battled, and it was really admirable. The second night, I thought they played really hard and felt they had a really good chance. A few breakdowns gave Minnesota some Grade A opportunities and they capitalized but I thought we played hard. It just didn't go our way.
Whenever times get tough, two leaders of our team, forward Nolan Moyle and defenseman Jacob Truscott, who are two of our captains, are very helpful. They're so knowledgeable about the league, the program, and the school, so if I have a question I'll go to those guys and ask them for their opinion or their thoughts.
I had a real good month of October and, right now, I just want to keep my head down and keep enjoying the process. I found my first month of college hockey to be a lot of fun, just being in that environment, being with the team and going on road trips. That's what's so much fun about playing hockey, getting to be with the guys all the time. I think staying in the moment was kind of the biggest thing for my success last month.

I was with some teammates on Thanksgiving to celebrate the holiday. It was real nice to have a good meal, hang out and watch some football.
I'm majoring in sport management and have really enjoyed my coaching and leadership class. Every week we have maybe two guest speakers who coach at Michigan, were coaches or are successful in life. It's just great to hear all the speakers, their opinions on life and what their message is to us is. I think it's really interesting and learning from those people has been fun.
This weekend we play two games at home against Harvard. I'm looking forward to it so much because I'll get to play against Joe Miller, my former teammate with Chicago in the United States Hockey League. It'll be great just to get to see him and then to play against him. We've been texting a little bit in anticipation of the games. We're both pumped to get playing. I mean, there's going to be eight ex-Chicago Steel players on the ice in that game, so it'll be a reunion of sorts.
Thanks for reading this month and hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!
Photos: Michigan Photography
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