2020 NHL Draft Diary: Dylan Holloway

Dylan Holloway (6-foot, 203 pounds), No. 12 in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2020 NHL Draft, has been filing a diary this season for NHL.com. The 19-year-old forward at the University of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Conference scored 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in 35 games. In his final entry, Holloway talks about his excitement and future after being chosen No. 14 by the Edmonton Oilers in the draft Tuesday.

Hello everyone. It still doesn't feel real today.
Tuesday was incredible. My parents made it across the border from Canada and rented a house in town for the week. We also had family in from Michigan, where my mom is from, and the whole team was outside watching on TV.
I knew I wasn't going really high. I assumed it would be in that 10-20 range. As that was getting closer, I was getting more anxious, more excited. As we were watching, I didn't realize there was such a delay. My buddies from back home started texting me congratulations, it's the Oilers, before I knew what the pick was, so I was a little confused. I guess the TV broadcast showed the delayed reaction and I didn't really know until 20 seconds after everybody else. But once the Oilers made the pick it was kind of a blur from there.
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The first phone call I got from anyone with the Oilers was Wayne Gretzky. I was celebrating with my teammates and my coach, Tony Granato, handed me his phone. They had played together in Los Angeles, so Wayne called Coach Granato and he passed the phone over to me and Wayne Gretzky said congratulations. "The Great One" called me. I was so excited about that.
After that I got a call from Connor McDavid, and once again I was on cloud nine. I remember watching McDavid's first-year highlights in the Ontario Hockey League and thinking he's the next big thing, and the last couple years watching him tear it up in the NHL, and now he could be potentially my teammate someday. That's pretty amazing.
Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins reached out as well, so that was also so cool.
I had a couple Zoom calls with Edmonton before the draft and I thought they went pretty well], and I had talked to their scouts quite a bit throughout the year. I wasn't too sure though. I know it's the NHL Draft and anything can happen and I didn't want to get my hopes up. But now that it's happened, I'm so excited it's Edmonton. I feel like it's the perfect spot. It's so close to home, about 3 1/2 hours from my hometown, Bragg Creek, Alberta.
Next for me is getting ready for our season, which is scheduled to start Nov. 15. I know the draft is just one foot in the door and there's a ton of work I have to do. I'm also looking forward to the 2021 World Junior Championship, which is in Edmonton. I'm really excited for that selection camp and I feel like I've got a good shot of making the team.
Thanks for reading and following along this season.
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