Taking Flight - From the 'Q' to the 'D'

Joe Veleno was drafted in the first-round, 30th overall by the Red Wings in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. The 6-foot-1, 191-pound center is one of four Red Wings' prospects writing a blog for our Taking Flight blog series, which chronicles the ups and downs of each player as they work their way to becoming Red Wings. Veleno currently plays for the Drummondville Voltigeurs, in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Here is his second blog entry of, 'From the Q to the D.'

• https://www.nhl.com/player/joseph-veleno-8480813

From the 'Q' to the 'D' - Entry 2

        by Joe Veleno<br>Hi everybody, it has been a while since I've been able to catch up with all of you, but it has been a very busy time for me. Usually my Christmas holiday is about spending time with family and friends, the people I love and care about. This year Christmas was different for me because I was a member of Team Canada at the World Junior Championship played in Vancouver.<br>So, I was all about focusing on my hockey with Team Canada, focusing on winning the gold medal. I knew this year I was prepared to sacrifice seeing family and friends to participate in the world juniors and play hockey in exchange - seeing friends and family for hockey is business. I was prepared to do that, and I think I really enjoyed my time down there in Vancouver. Although we didn't get the results we wanted, I think as players we know what it means to represent our country, to play for our country. I think it was all a dream come true for every player on that team to put on that jersey and to play hockey during the Christmas holiday. Every Canadian kid watches that and to be able to play - in Canada, especially - representing your country, I think it meant a whole lot.<br>Most of my family was with me and Hockey Canada did a great job of making sure the players spent time with their families to celebrate Christmas, yet as I already said, my focus was hockey.<br>Hockey Canada thought I was having a good first half of the season. I think I had a pretty good stretch there where I was getting a lot of points in so very few games for Drummondville that I think it kind of raised my stock once I got to Team Canada's training camp. I had a good camp and when I found myself on the Canadian roster for the world junior tournament, I was really excited, I was really happy, I was proud of myself. I thought I deserved to be on Team Canada, but it's a little nerve-wracking when they're making the final cuts and there's just so many good players and so many top players across the country that deserve to be there as well. Once I made the team, I was just filled with pure joy and was just really looking forward to the tournament.<br>Playing for Team Canada was a whole different experience than what I'm used to playing here in Drummondville as a top-line center. Having to adjust to the role of being a winger when I've never really played on the wing and playing as a bottom-six forward, I think it was good adversity to face. I wanted to help the team win in whatever role I was given. I accepted my role, I played the best I could in the games that I played and with the ice time I got. Just putting on that jersey and playing for your country, I accepted any role I was given, because there's no better feeling than to put on that jersey and play for Team Canada. That's exactly what I did. I was prepared to encounter that and to embrace that role and to do the best I could with it.<br>I learned a lot of things during the tournament.<br>When the games get closer, the games matter more, when you're down to the last minute of a game, whether you're down by a goal or winning by a goal, I learned how to stay composed when you're facing adversity, especially when you're playing a different role than what you're normally playing, how to deal with it. That's pretty much what I went through. I learned how to give your best with less minutes of play and now that I've gone through it, if it ever happens again, I will be ready for it.<br>From my last blog, many of you know the Red Wings and Shawn Horcoff are in contact with me a lot. It was nice to have Horcoff at the tournament, he was there watching the Red Wings players, the prospects. There was time to chat with him after the games. He didn't want to talk to me too much about how I was playing but he gave me a couple pointers and he helped me with the situation I was in, playing the bottom-six role and learning what I had to do and how I have to play, telling me that it's a different role than what I'm used to playing.<br>Horcoff told me to do the best I could with what I get and to play with passion. He told me, 'You're playing for your country and no matter what role or what position you're playing, no matter how much time on the ice you have, always play your heart out every time you step on the ice. At the end of the day, keep in mind that you're playing for Team Canada, playing for your country.'<br>That's exactly what I did.<br>The Red Wings do a fantastic job keeping in touch with me. After every couple of games, they reach out to me and talk to me a little bit, what I think about my game, how I can be better in certain areas of my game. I think they do a really good job with that and it's helped me a tremendous amount. I've noticed big jumps in my game, things that I wasn't doing as well and now that they mentioned it to me, we see improvements in my game, we've found ways together to look over some things to see how I can get better in those aspects. It's helped me a lot for sure.<br>Now that I'm back playing for Drummondville, I know the second half is going to be the most important part of the season. I know we made some big acquisitions during the trading period. Now we want to build some more chemistry, build relationships with the guys that just came in here, make them feel at home. Obviously, the main goal is to win the Cup, the Memorial Cup. I think the guys know that this year is the year we're going for it. My personal goal is to win the league and to win the Cup. I know it's going to be my last year in juniors and there's not going to be a better thing than to win a few trophies and just have that on my resume at the end of the year.<br>It's been great catching up with all of you, but before I sign off, I want to let everyone know each player on Team Canada was disappointed we didn't win a medal at the World Juniors, but we were extremely proud to play for Canada. For us players, we know what we really did. We sacrificed a lot to play in that tournament, to help Canada win a gold medal again. So, there's always going to be negative comments or positive comments, but I think the players know how much we sacrificed to play for Canada. We didn't get the results we wanted, but we gave it our all. It was the best experience of my life.<br><em>In 34 games played for the Voltigeurs, Veleno leads his team in scoring with 62 points with 25 goals and 37 assists. He is plus-39, and has scored two power play goals, six shorthanded goals and six game winning goals.</em><br><em>At the World Junior Championship, Veleno played in five games for Team Canada where he totaled two points with two assists for the Canadians and was plus-2.</em>