Matt Copponi at 2023 Oilers Development Camp. (Andy Devlin/Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club)
Matt Copponi has been through it all when it comes to the NHL draft.
For the past two years, the Merrimack College rising junior from Mansfield, Mass., watched all seven rounds go by without hearing his name called. Those disappointments certainly helped prepare him for another go-around this summer.
“It was definitely something I was prepared for more than someone who hadn’t been through the process before,” Copponi said. “I had to wait a little bit, but I just kind of kept an open mind the whole time. If it didn’t happen, it didn’t happen. That was my mindset.”
It is said that good things come to those who wait. That was, indeed, true for Copponi, a 6-foot, 179-pound center.
