Braden Walls is playing his second season in the ERSTE Liga after spending last season with Brasov. Walls comes from Calgary, Canada and played three seasons of junior hockey in the Alberta Junior Hockey League for the Calgary Canucks and the Drayton Valley Thunder. He played in the NCAA at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks with NHL goalie Chad Johnson and future Fehérvár forward Adam Naglich. Walls would later play two seasons in the CHL before continuing his career in France, he would play one season in France in Briancon with Dr. Viktor Szélig and Bence Szirányi and five seasons in Angers. He would end up playing with former NHL players Jean-Sebastian Aubin and Guillaume Lefebvre as well as players who are familiar to Hungarian hockey fans in Jonathan Harty and Raphael Girard. Thus far Walls is leading Ferencváros in scoring with seven goals and eight assists in ten games.
Ferencváros won three out of three this past week, what was the key to the success?
Everyone is working hard and we have a good game plan, everyone wants to play in the system and everything is working well right now. All four lines have good chemistry with each other and both our goalies are playing well. Overall we have a solid team game and everyone is chipping in and we have been hot.
What was the biggest reason that you decided to sign with Ferencváros this off season?
I was looking for a new experience and I really like the city and I had an opportunity to come. Things did not work out with Brasov in the end, I was presented with an opportunity and I thought it would be a good place to come. I knew the team had a new coach and a new vision. Now I am happy to be a part of it, it is a new experience and I am happy to be here.
What is something that FTC has this season that gives the team an opportunity to win it all this year?
I think we have a pretty fast team and it is hard for other teams to keep up with us for 60 minutes if we are playing our best. We have a deep team and all four lines can really play, we always have a chance to win if we are playing hard. We can score goals and really wear other teams down. Our biggest strength is our depth and speed.
The league has changed during the past year, what is the biggest difference between this season and last season?
We have not played every team yet this season. Last year in Brasov the big derby game was always with Csíkszereda. This season all the games against Hungarian teams such as Debrecen, Dunaújváros and Újpest have been big games and have gone either way. Every game is important but these have been more amped up. There are some good teams in the league even through two of the top teams from last season left. New teams came into the league and other ones have gotten better, I think it will be a tight league all season.
You have been playing together on one line with Leo Fitzgerald and Brett Switzer the past few games, how is the chemistry between the three of you?
It has been awesome with them, when you come to a new team you don’t know who you will be playing with. It takes time to find the balance, at the start the lines were kind of mixed up but now I landed with Brett and Leo, they are two smart and quick players, which really helps me. We have just started to find the chemistry, the past two weeks we have really started to understand each other. We just trying to work hard and keep it simple, it has been really good to play with each other.
