PORTLAND, OR – Carter Sotheran spent Thursday morning surrounded by friends and family at his local rink just outside in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was the party of a lifetime; an NHL Draft party.
Fifty of his closest family members and friends huddled inside Sanford Arena to watch the Sportsnet broadcast of the NHL Draft, anxiously awaiting to hear his name called.
The party erupted a little after 10:00 a.m. PT when the Philadelphia Flyers nabbed Sotheran with the 135th overall selection.
“We had a projector and everything up watching the draft and then my agent Kevin Magnuson mentioned that he’d call me when I got selected,” Sotheran said. “He was at the draft so he’d know a little before me that I was selected so when it came time, he called me about two minutes before I found out (on the stream). I watched it while I was on the phone with him and the reaction was pretty priceless and kind of surreal so it was a pretty good day.”
It was fitting that the Sotherans hosted the viewing party in the local rink Carter skated in throughout his youth to prepare him for his career in Portland and beyond.
