“I mean, all my buddies had been taken and were kind of looking at me. We were all sitting in the same row. Nobody knew exactly how to act or what to say. It was kind of like, ‘Come on, Hank.’ It was not a great feeling,” The King said. “Then after the fifth round, someone from Dallas said since they’d taken my brother, they were going to take me in the sixth round.”
Twenty-one goaltenders had been selected, including Rick DiPietro first overall by the Islanders. The Rangers had drafted Union College netminder Brandon Snee in the fifth round, 143rd overall. Calgary had taken Brent Krahn with the ninth overall selection. The Stars had selected Dan Ellis 60th overall.
But now, it was coming up on Dallas’ turn at No. 169.
“I was really excited,” Lundqvist said. “I starting moving up to the edge of my seat, thinking I would hear my name. I remember hearing, ‘Dallas selects….’
He heard, “Dallas selects from Poldi Kladno of the Czech League … right wing Ladislav Vlcek.”
“It seemed like such a long time before they said his name,” Lundqvist said. “I didn’t know what to do.”
