ANAHEIM, Calif. — In what was leading up to a weekend every young hockey player dreams of, it was a weekend that followed up with excitement and a true Southern California experience.
Roger McQueen, Eric Nilson, and Alexis Mathieu, were three of the Ducks’ 10 draft picks who were at Angels Stadium Sunday afternoon before the game’s first pitch.
“Yeah it was a big day. Like (Roger McQueen) said it’s a dream come true for all of us and all the fortunate benefits by that and it’s pretty nice and pretty exciting.” Mathieu said.
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Roger McQueen throwing Sunday, June 29th 2025, first pitch at Angels Stadium
For some, when tasked with performing a baseball game’s first pitch it could go two ways. One look like a natural and it’s right on the money to home plate. The other, not so well, where you look like you’ve never thrown a baseball and you completely miss. For McQueen, he was right on the money delivering a first pitch to Angels shortstop Zach Neto behind the plate. While the ball was a bit above the strike zone, McQueen’s throw was centered towards home plate. After the ball was caught by Angels shortstop Zach Neto, he went up to greet the three of them, and it ended with him welcoming them to the city of Anaheim.
Before the festivities concluded at Angels Stadium, the NHL Draft took place on Friday night, 30 miles north up the 5 freeway at the Peacock Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. The Ducks’ first selection was McQueen, a 6’5″ centre out of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada taken at 10th overall. On day two, they selected Nilson 45th overall, a centre who played in Stockholm, Sweden. In the fifth round, Mathieu was selected, a defenseman from Sherbrooke, QC, Canada.
As the three of them spent some time over the weekend getting adjusted to life in Anaheim and the neighboring cities in Orange County, they all agreed upon one thing, and that was that the change of weather was different from what they’re used to.
“It’s very beautiful. It’s hot. It’s different from where I came from,” Mathieu said. “It’s very nice.”
With nothing but clear skies and temperatures in the 80s over the weekend, the newest Ducks players had a list of activities to do instead of the usual: Get drafted, fly across the country to their new team’s city, and see the facility. Being almost down the street from Los Angeles, Anaheim is just a 45 minute drive without the famous LA traffic. The newly drafted Ducks were already home.
As the new Ducks set way to explore their new home, the festivities kicked off after McQueen was drafted. Just moments after he heard his name called by actors Joshua Jackson and Marguerite Moreau, both former stars of the 1990s Disney movie The Mighty Ducks, on the draft stage, he would quickly join his father and board a helicopter ride to Disneyland.
McQueen recalled the ride as quick as 15 minutes from LA to the Magic Kingdom.
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Roger McQueen boarding a helicopter from Los Angeles to the Disneyland
“It was pretty crazy like right after they just said, ‘Yeah we’re going to Disneyland on a helicopter I guess,” McQueen said. “And kind of skipped all the media stuff and went straight there with my dad and the pilot there, so that was cool.”
“I was pretty nervous at the start getting on that thing. I’ve never been on one. So cool experience.”
When he arrived to Disneyland, he went straight towards Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and met Donald Duck. Then, after, he raced his way down to Cars Land to meet Lightning McQueen.
On Saturday, McQueen was joined by Nilson after he was drafted. The two of them boarded a yacht and were sailing across the Pacific Ocean.
“Never been on that kind of yacht before. But it was really fun and a cool experience.” Nilson said.
“I hadn’t been on a yacht like that. I’ve been on the ocean but not like that,” McQueen said. “I think we passed like a flock of 50 dolphins too which was pretty cool on the boat. And yeah it was awesome.”
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Roger McQueen taking in the sight of a group of Dolphins swimming by him and Eric Nilson on a yacht.
Anaheim Ducks
Anaheim Ducks Roger McQueen in white jersey joined alongside Eric Nilson in orange jersey riding a yacht across the ocean.
As the three of them concluded their fun-filled weekend, they left it with excitement and a vision of playing in a sold-out Honda Center.
“I mean everything about this place is pretty exciting. The fans seem to gather around the Ducks pretty well to so that was cool to see. Just having lots of fans at the draft and it’s a cool place,” McQueen said. “The weather’s a little bit of a switch up for all of us a bit. So that’s pretty cool. I think just super pumped.”