William Belle and a few of his new University of Notre Dame teammates were assembling a couch when his phone began to erupt with messages.
Because of the stress that came along with the NHL Draft, the 18-year-old wanted to stay away from the noise and didn't have the TV turned on. When his phone began to buzz, it was only right that he checked what was happening.
His dream was quickly becoming a reality: the towering 6-foot-4 forward was being drafted into the NHL — by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the fifth round. "When I heard it was the Maple Leafs, I was pumped," Belle said on a Zoom call on Saturday afternoon.
"You know, it's a great organization, and I can't wait to get started. And I just thanked them for this opportunity."
You could instantly feel the confidence and boldness from the Belle when he flicked on his camera and began speaking during his Zoom media availability. He described himself as a north-south, physical, 200-foot player who's not afraid to get in his opponent's face.
"A player right now that I play a lot like would be Miles Wood, but somebody I think I could turn into," he said, "would be a Tom Wilson type of player."
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If you're a Maple Leafs fan, you'll enjoy hearing that from a prospect's mouth. Anyone would perk up if a prospect reveals that they model their game around one of the league's most merciless players.
But why him specifically?
"Just the power forward hockey that he plays, the simplicity of it and just the physicality and that edge he has to him, the meanness," Belle said. "I feel like I can bring that."
Belle had quite a unique upbringing: his father, Travis, was from the "backcountry of Virginia," where he played college football, while his mother, Maggie, was born in China. Belle's birthplace is Dongguan, China, but in 2015, when he was seven, his family moved to Boston, Massachusetts.
With the United States' U-18 National Team, Belle scored four goals and 12 assists in 53 games last season.
"I started skating in figure skates in a public shopping mall, and somehow graduated into hockey skates that were off-brand Bauer. My skate size was my shoe size, and then we eventually figured that out," he smiled.
"And then it turned into taking trains to Hong Kong and flying to Beijing to play hockey. Eventually, we moved to the U. S. and it just kind of kept taking off from there."
To get to where he is now, it's a unique path. "Yeah, this is a curveball story," Belle grinned.
But by Toronto's standards, this is one of the ideal picks. Big, physical, mean; it's everything the Maple Leafs wanted. And when the prospect enters a Zoom call and states he wants to model his game around a player like Wilson, that's an added bonus.
"He's got a passion for the game," Maple Leafs director of amateur scouting Mark Leach said of Belle. "He knows what he is, and I think he's willing to do what it takes, and he just wants to get at it."
"Yeah, he's an interesting guy to talk to," added Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving, who stood shoulder to shoulder with Leach. "He's got lots of energy, and we like the time we spent with him for sure."
It's going to take time for any prospect to develop, let alone a fifth-round pick. It could take several years. But the fact that Belle understands the type of player he is — and what he believes he can be in the future — isn't just a positive, but also a thing that teams seek in a prospect.
Combine that with the player's will to win, and you might have found a diamond in the rough.
"I'm here to win and I'm here to help my team. And I don't care who you are," Belle said. "I'm going to be in your face. That's just how I'm wired. That's just how I play."
(Top photo: NHL Network / YouTube)
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