Series with Vancouver a homecoming for three Thunderbirds
Mar 20, 2019, 12:55 PM | Updated: 12:56 pm
Seattle defenseman Owen Williams has been reunited with two former teammates thanks to trades. (Brian Liesse/T-Birds)
(Brian Liesse/T-Birds)
When Seattle Thunderbirds defenseman Jarret Tyszka steps onto the ice at the Langley Events Centre for Game 1 of his team’s first-round WHL Playoff match up with the Vancouver Giants Friday, he’ll be stepping onto familiar ground.
Before he was manning the blue line in Seattle, Tyszka was racing up and down the same rink that the Thunderbirds will be invading Friday night. Tyszka grew up in Langley and played his Bantam hockey for the Langley Eagles.
“It’s kind of cool paying a WHL hockey game there,” the 19-year-old Montreal Canadiens prospect said before practice Tuesday. “I don’t know if I ever thought I’d be doing that when I was younger.”
During the 2013-2014 season, his last playing in Langley, Tyszka scored 27 goals and 74 points which got him selected in the first round of that spring’s Bantam Draft by Seattle. Friday night, he’ll be a key player if the Thunderbirds wish to upset the Western Conference’s top-seeded Vancouver Giants.
He’s also one of three Thunderbirds who hail from the general Vancouver area as Owen Williams and Henrik Rybinski are also making homecomings for this series.
“My brother played for the (BCHL’s) Langley Rivermen so I was always there,” Williams said of the arena in Langley. “I got to skate once or twice there when I was younger, it brings back some memories.”
Williams hails from Delta, B.C. which is just down the road from Langley and expects to have a number of friends and family in attendance this coming weekend. During his Midget year of 2016-2017 he played in the BCMML with the Greater Vancouver Canadiens along with current Thunderbirds teammate Henrik Rybinski.
All three guys say that they attended Giants games over the years as they were growing up.
“They had this thing where minor hockey teams would go watch and my team would always go,” Rybinski said. “They played on Hastings at the time, at the Coliseum, and I remember going to games there. It was really fun and exciting, and I remember thinking those guys were amazing and now you’re playing against them. It’s a pretty surreal feeling.”
All three guys have played WHL games in the Langley Events Centre before. Williams has played in three games there during his career and picked up an assist in Seattle’s 5-1 win over the Giants on Oct. 27th.
Rybinski wasn’t with Seattle when the Thunderbirds made their early season visits to the Langley Events Centre but did get to play there last year when he was with the Medicine Hat Tigers, and also picked up an assist. Tyszka has played the most games in his former rink of the three but missed the two prior games this year as he was out with an injury he suffered in Montreal’s summer camp.
Growing up in the Vancouver area, all three are ingrained into the hockey culture in British Columbia’s lower mainland, where the sport is king.
“It’s a huge hockey city and a lot of my family have been in hockey,” Williams said. “To go up there and play, it’s a most ideal situation for me and I’m sure for Tyszka and Henry.”
With friends, family and former teammates in attendance wanting to visit after and between games, the atmosphere in Vancouver will be full of potential distractions.
Seattle is there to try and win playoff games and the team will lean on its long-standing rules and expectations for the Vancouver guys, as well as the rest of the roster, come Friday.
“It’s motivating for the guys to play in front of their family and friends,” Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said. “But, at the same time they have stay focused and not let distractions get to them. We’ve had rules in place all year and the fact that its playoffs won’t change that much. The guys know what they’re supposed to be doing.”
What they’re supposed to be doing is taking on a Giants team that will be a tough match up.
The players all say they’re excited to play in front of familiar faces but are keenly aware of what is at stake.
“Take a deep breath and think of the goal ahead, winning playoffs,” Rybisnki said about the distractions. “Take it one game at a time, just try to keep focused and prepare yourself as best you can. For me, there’s going to be a lot going on, but you’ve got to reel in and focus on the goal at hand.”
Game 1 of the best-of-seven first round series is Friday night starting at 7:30 pm.
