Miller's modeling led him to childhood Honda ad with NHL legends

If there was ever a prospect ready for the bright lights of Broadway, it's former child model K'Andre Miller.

Selected by the New York Rangers in the first round (No. 22) of the 2018 NHL Draft, Miller had a part-time job as a model that started with print campaigns for Target when he was seven years old, and led to a Honda commercial with retired NHL stars Pat Lafontaine, Mike Richter and Neal Broten when he was 10.
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The 2010 commercial, set on a frozen Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis, had a 6 a.m. call time on a brutally cold day, and didn't wrap until around 4 p.m., but it gave Miller his first interaction with NHL players.
"I didn't really realize at the time, but now looking back on it, it was awesome," Miller told NHL.com. "Those are some pretty good hockey players. Seeing all those guys, it didn't hit me at first, but it was pretty spectacular to do at a young age."

Miller became a model by pure chance. His godmother had his pictures up at her cubicle in Target corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, and caught the attention of a colleague who insisted Miller and his mother Amy Sokoloski contact the talent agency the company worked with.
The agency loved the Minnetonka, Minnesota native, and soon he was booking gigs for ads with a variety of companies, in addition to going to school and playing sports.
"I liked doing it," said Miller, who will play at the University of Wisconsin next season. "It was pretty easy. I loved smiling."
Miller only booked shoots about once a month when it worked with his and his mom's schedules. The money he made went toward his youth hockey expenses.
"They would have tournaments in Toronto or Winnipeg and they'd be five, six, seven days and there'd be airfare and food and hotel," Sokoloski said. "So we would use that to pay for that and also to pay for gear and sticks. Every time he would get a check, that's what it would go towards. We would just keep it until he needed it for hockey or baseball or football."

When Miller's agency needed to cast a hockey commercial, they knew just who to call. By then he'd been modeling for print ads for about three years and Sokoloski saw the positive effect it had on him.
"You'd never know it now, but it's funny to watch him doing these interviews because was such an introvert and so shy," she said. "But it was kind of different experience for him and it opened his eyes that he could do those types of things.
"He was still shy when he would do the interviews. And that's why the Honda commercial was so cute, because it was like, it went away it because it was hockey and that's all he really cared about."
They saw the finished product during the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, and it's something they both still hold dear.
"It's still one of my favorite commercials and not just because he's in it," Sokoloski said. "I would like to see a remake of it. It just think it's such a cool video. I really enjoyed it."
"It was weird seeing myself [on TV] at a young age," Miller said. "But I definitely look back at it and have it saved on my phone and watch it sometimes."