By Jason Menard, Hockey's Future

With a father who enjoyed an 11-year career in the NHL, Guelph Storm forward Carter Sandlak would seem to have big skates to fill. And, although he’s had a less-than-stellar start to the 2010-11 OHL campaign, he said the added pressure that comes from having a name known throughout the hockey world is something he relishes.

“I kind of like that pressure. You have to prove to everybody every night that you can play with these guys,” Sandlak said. “Growing up in a hockey family, it is good, but my dad says he’d be happy with whatever I did -- it didn’t have to be hockey -- he’d be supporting me 100 percent. But if I wanted to get a career out of this, then he’d help me wherever he could.”

And there are the obvious advantages that come from having a father familiar with the game and what it takes to make it to the NHL.

“Growing up he was my coach for a couple of years. He just tells me the little things to do that you have to do well, the things that people notice. That’s the kind of stuff,” he said. “He’s really not that much involved right now -- he’s back home doing his own job. I have my coaches and my agent telling me things that I need to work on, so they’re helping me with that right now.”

Sandlak’s coach and general manager, Jason Brooks, said it’s obvious that there is going to be added pressure on young Carter, but it’s not something that he nor Carter’s family is putting on him. In fact, Brooks explained that the pressure of having a famous name on the back of his jersey is something Carter’s well prepared for.

“I think there’s going to be pressure on him, sure, because Jim had a great NHL career. He’s somebody that you recognize in the hockey world, he’s an NHL scout. So sure, there’s pressure, but it’s not pressure that Jim’s putting on him or that we’re putting on him,” Brooks said. “He’s a kid that’s grown up with a father in the NHL his whole life, so it’s not as if this is anything new for him. He’s worked hard his whole career to get to this point and he’s got the opportunity to be selected in the draft. When that draft happens, it’s a year for him to go out there and play.

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