CEDERQVIST PLAYING WITH SIMPLICITY AS HE ADJUSTS TO NORTH AMERICAN STYLE OF PLAY
Nov 8, 2022Did you know there’s more than one Moose in the Flower City this year? Meet Rochester Americans rookie forward Filip Cederqvist.
“It was like the first day I was in Buffalo,” started Cederqvist when asked how his new nickname came to be. “Then I started talking with ‘Steggy’ (Amerks head equipment manager Andrew Stegehuis) for the first time, and he asked me what I wanted him to call me, and I said, ‘just Cederqvist.’ And then he's (Stegenhuis) just like, ‘That's not going to work. I got to call you Moose.’ And then after that, yeah, all the coaches knew, so it was smooth.”
Cederqvist is just 22 years old as he embarks on his first season in Rochester and his first playing professional hockey in North America. With the smaller ice sheet and physical style of play Cederqvist has experienced through the Amerks first 10 games of the 2022-23 campaign, it’s been an easy transition for the 6-foot-3, 208-pound forward.
All of which, in Cederqvist’s opinion, is pretty strong. Just like a moose.
“I'm pretty strong and I guess a moose is a strong, too,” commented the Amerks rookie when asked how his nickname has translated to his style of play in the American Hockey League. “I like to be strong on the puck. I try to create offense down below the net and just by winning some puck battles, too, so that's pretty much my game.”
Through Rochester’s first 10 games of the season, Cederqvist has tallied three assists and is still looking for that first goal on North American ice.
“It’s just simple. I'm just going to go to the net and hopefully get a bounce,” explained Cederqvist when asked how he can begin to see his offensive firepower take flight like his play away from the puck.
Although, offense from Cederqvist isn’t something Amerks head coach Seth Appert is worried about from the young forward.
“Cederqvist is doing a lot of good things,” said Appert when asked how Cederqvist has adjusted to the fast pace of the AHL so far. “It hasn't necessarily translated much to the scoreboard yet, but it's going to. You see it in games. You see the plays he's making. You see it in practice. He’s still adjusting to the North American ice sheet, learning how to use that big body to play down low and to play in the offensive zone. So, I think Moose is doing a lot of good things for us right now and I think his game is just starting to take off.”
Cederqvist was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the fifth-round (143rd overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft. The Amerks forward then signed a two-year, entry-level NHL contract with the Sabres on June 13, 2021, and joined the organization for his first Training Camp in Buffalo this past September before heading to Rochester for the 2022-23 campaign.
The best news out of all of this: Cederqvist fully understands just how legendary the Moose is to the Amerks and Rochester. There are no intentions of having the mascot change his name any time soon.