A few minutes with…Jamie Carroll

The Brahmas' newest offensive threat opens up about signing with the Brahmas, his off-season workout and the advantages of playing in a smaller venue

I spoke with Jamie Carroll last week about signing with the Texas Brahmas. Thanks to a technical malfunction with my digital recorder (it was me, I'm sure), I lost a portion of the interview, so we re-recorded it yesterday. Here is our conversation.

Q: Other than the weather and the quality of the golf courses out here, what draws you to come to North Texas to play for the Brahmas?

A: Last Summer, I spoke with Dan quite a bit and he was trying to get me down there last year. I opted not to, something I maybe regret now because they won a championship...I came very close in my first year to winning a championship with Port Huron; we lost in Game Seven in triple overtime in the Final, so winning has been in the back of my mind since that game we lost in Game Seven. You know, I just wanted to go to a program where we’re going to have a good team and I know Dan is going to put together a championship caliber team every season. I got to know Ronnie Vogel quite a bit playing with him in my first year. He speaks very highly of the organization, the ownership and coach Wildfong, so I think those are the main things that drew my attention other than like you said, the weather and the golf courses – I think as a total package, it’s hard to beat at this level.

Q: You played with a number of guys in Port Huron with CHL experience. What’s your take on the league, from what you’ve heard?

A: Just from talking to guys that have played in the Central League before, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the caliber of hockey is pretty much the same. I’m looking forward to playing against more than, you know, the same five teams all season; that was kind of a drag after a while. So I’m excited about that.

Q: The Brahmas typically have a stacked offense with regard to the quality of their forwards. Work ethic and team play have driven their success. How do you see yourself fitting in to this model?

A: I like to think of myself as an offensive guy but I think I fit into team systems pretty well. Whatever Dan has us doing system-wise, I’ll work as hard as I can to put the team first…I’ve talked to Dan quite a bit over the past two summers and he wants me to come in and be offensive, whether it’s on the power play or even strength. Honestly, I feel that I’m going to be looked at to put up points. Obviously, the team system comes first - hopefully I’ll be out there in situations where I can set up line mates or shoot the puck myself. In my first two seasons pro, I was relied on to put up points – hopefully I can do the same for Texas.

Q: What are you doing during the off-season to keep in shape?

A: I’m working out four days a week with a hockey strengths coach. One of my good friends owns a gym here. He has a skating treadmill and synthetic ice, so I’m there four days a week with other professional hockey players; from NHL guys to East Coast guys. I’m doing my workouts and on top of that, we get a lot of ice time. The gym is connected to two sheets of ice, so we get out on the ice quite a bit. So far, I’m really starting to see that my strength and conditioning is improving. The next month or two are going to be huge for me in terms of getting my body ready for the long season but I’m confident that once October 1st comes around, I’ll be ready to go.

Q: Your home ice in Port Huron, McMorran Arena, with 3,400 seats, isn't much bigger than the NYTEX Sports Centre. What's your take on playing in a smaller venue versus some of the larger arenas?

A: When the fans are passionate and they’re right on top of you; that can create a huge home-ice advantage…It’s not necessarily the number of fans you have either...it’s their intensity and their passion for the team. In Port Huron, we didn’t always have the most fans, but the ones who were there on a consistent basis were very passionate and they knew that they kind of had to make up for the lack of numbers. They were always loud and supportive, which was great. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the fans in Texas. It’s not the largest venue, but I’m assuming the fans that they have love the Brahmas and it sounds like they pack the rink on a consistent basis...you want teams coming in on the road thinking - we’ve got to play the Brahmas on their home ice and that’s not an easy thing to do. I can imagine after winning a championship, the fans are going to be that much more into it. At the same time, it will probably create more fans than they had last year based on winning a championship. Hopefully, the success will continue…I can’t wait to get down there.

We are looking forward to Jamie getting down here as well. All indications are that he will definitely be an impact player on the 2009-10 roster.

Photo Credit: Chris Campbell