Excerpt from Canadiens.com (Heather Engel):
“Raymond Bourque was my dad’s favorite player so I watched him a lot growing up and often modeled my game after his,” Carle said.
While the Hall-of-Famer had an early impact on his career, more recently the Canadiens’ third pick (53rd overall) in 2006 has looked to a certain two-time All-Star to help mould his game.“Andrei Markov is such a smart defenseman,” he said. “He’s always in the right place at the right time. He’s so slick on the power-play and just does everything well.”
Carle is learning to follow suit in Hamilton, earning regular shifts on the penalty kill, both this year and last. He’s playing with confidence and it won’t surprise many that he’s on pace to surpass his rookie point totals from last season.
And while the injuries have delayed Carle’s season debuts, it’s worth noting that Markov, too, endured his share of bumps and bruises early on in his pro career as well.
Now that’s a script worth repeating.