CEDERQVIST EXUDING MORE CONFIDENCE, PHYSICALITY
Jan 28, 2023By Suzie Cool
It’s fun that we’re getting to that point in the 2022-23 American Hockey League campaign that the rookies are beginning to look like real pros. One of those examples on the Rochester Americans roster is rookie forward Filip Cederqvist.
“I'm starting to finding my place,” said Cederqvist when asked how much more physical he feels he’s starting to play after last night’s game against the Charlotte Checkers. “It's been a big difference with hockey here compared to at home, but I think I'm starting to find spaces and to really get the confidence to make plays. I'm feeling much better than I did a couple of months ago.”
Cederqvist’s improvements since the beginning of the season are hard to miss. The rookie forward stands at 6-oot-3 and weighs in at 208 pounds, and it was only a matter of time before he started using that size and brawn the way it’s needed in the AHL.
“I just think right now you can with both Cederqvist and (Isak) Rosen, you can feel it,” explained Amerks head coach Seth Appert when asked if this was around the point in the year where rookies turn it up a notch. “You can feel there's a little spark in their minds right now. It's really starting to click, and you can see them having these little light bulb moments of , ‘Okay, if I do this, it's going to lead to this and I'm going to be able to do this’,” said Appert.
Appert isn’t wrong.
Cederqvist has appeared in 28 of the Amerks 38 games this season, missing a stretch of games from mid-November to mid-December with an upper-body injury. Since then, Cederqvist has gone on to post 11 points on three goals and eight assists.
It’s not an overwhelming stat line, but for Cederqvist’s size and first year on North American ice, it’s an impressive output mixed with the innate physicality that he’s currently bringing to the lineup.
“I think I’ve really grown in my physical play and I'm pretty strong, I'm pretty big, so it's better to take advantage of that,” explained Cederqvist when discussing how much more physical he feels in the two games he’s appeared in this week.
However, as much as Cederqvist has already grown this season, he knows more work needs to be done to continue on a good path in his professional career.
“Since I came here, I've been working really hard every day, and I think if you work really hard a long time you're going to be rewarded and I think some of that starts to pay off. I really think I can grow a lot of things in my game, but I think I'm on a good path.”
The Amerks and Cederqvist close out their three-game homestand tonight on home ice in the final meeting of the season with the Checkers. All the action will be carried on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.