Kozak remains a smalltown boy at heart

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This article was published 06/12/2024 (301 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – When Tyson Kozak looks down at the ink on his left forearm, he sees a friendly reminder.

As someone who left Souris at the age of 16 to pursue his dream, the feisty forward decided to get a tattoo with some special significance.

“Those are the co-ordinates of my hometown,” Kozak said Thursday in a one-on-one interview hours before making his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres against the Winnipeg Jets. “I got it just before I went back for my second or third junior season. I’ve been away from home for a long time, just coming back in the summer.

“It’s for remembering where you came from and not getting too high. Stay grounded and stay humble.”

It’s clear that being from Souris is something of which Kozak is immensely proud.

“Yeah. I spent a lot of time on the outdoor rink and played with the same guys every year, being from a small town. I played with the same group every year growing up. They’ve been texting me since I’ve been here, letting me know how proud they are of me,” said Kozak.

“It’s pretty special because everybody pretty much knows everybody, growing up in a small town. It means a lot for my family and for the people back home. There are kids playing hockey back there and seeing someone from our small town has a chance to play (in the NHL), it could give them hope and maybe spark something inside them.”

During a 10-minute conversation, it’s also evident Kozak has remained humble and grounded and that’s part of what helped him achieve his goal.

Chosen in the seventh round of the 2021 NHL Draft, Kozak’s high motor, willingness to go to the hard areas and shift distruber mentality are what helped him earn his first recall and a spot on Lindy Ruff’s lineup card.

“I would say I’m a 200-foot player who is responsible in his own zone. I may not be a point machine or anything but I’m hard on the forecheck, a physical player,” said Kozak, who played AAA hockey with the Southwest Cougars before earning a spot with the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. “Before I got to junior, I was trying to be more of a skilled guy. Once I got to junior, I realized there are a lot of those guys out there. I realized what my role was and that I needed to change it if I wanted to be a successful hockey player.”

The change is now paying dividends for Kozak, who spent the first two seasons and change adapting to the pro game with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League.

On Nov. 29, Kozak was preparing for a game against the Syracuse Crunch when he was called into the head coach’s office.

Kozak was about to be a healthy scratch, but for the best reason possible.

“I was about to start warming up and we just had a team meeting and we were actually watching the Sabres game on the TV. They were in overtime against Vancouver and my coach called me into the office and told me I had been called up,” said Kozak. “It was a whirlwind of emotions and it was crazy.”

Those emotions were front and centre once again on Thursday, when Kozak finally got into the Sabres lineup.

Whether it was his helmetless warm-up that included the rookie solo lap or being in the starting lineup against the team from his home province, Kozak admitted to feeling butterflies.

“My legs were shaking, hands were shaking. But after that first shift, I felt very comfortable,” Kozak said.

The evidence would support Kozak’s assessment of his own game.

He didn’t look the least bit out of place, using his skating ability to create some chaos on a fourth line with Beck Malenstyn and Nicolas Aube-Kubel.

In 8:26 of ice time, Kozak had one shot on goal, five shot attempts, two hits and was 63 per cent in the faceoff circle.

With 2:24 to go in the second period, Kozak appeared to have scored his first NHL goal, finding a loose puck in front and beating Connor Hellebuyck with a shot that would have given the Sabres a 3-2 lead.

The Jets used a coach’s challenge for goalie interference and the overhead view clearly showed that Malenstyn made contact with Hellebuyck inside the crease and the memorable goal was taken off the board.

“Just saw (an) open net and I had the puck in the slot, and decided to put it in,” said Kozak, whose parents, Trevor and Michelle, and younger sister Paige were inside KeyBank Center for the monumental moment. “It sucks for it to be disallowed, and, obviously, it sucks even more for us to lose in overtime.”

Around the glass

Snubs and such

The topic du jour around the NHL this week was the unveiling of the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters for Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland and right on cue, folks around the country were quick to weigh in on the choices — with the level of vitriol ranging but often reaching a high intensity level.

Count us among those surprised Jets centre Mark Scheifele wasn’t chosen by Team Canada.

Jets head coach Scott Arniel revealed he’d spoken to Team Canada GM Don Sweeney and Scheifele about his omission, but that he’s still under consideration as an injury replacement should the need to add the forward arise.

In his first game since the announcements were made public, Scheifele had his best game since his hat trick against the Florida Panthers, notching a pair of assists in just under 25 minutes of ice time.

He looked more like himself and the Jets top line with Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi scored an even-strength marker on a beautiful redirection by Vilardi and had numerous shifts where they created a number of scoring chances.

There’s no doubt Scheifele is disappointed at not being named to the roster, but the best thing he can do to keep himself on the radar is to continue to play a determined game.

Speaking of Team Canada, in the spirit of full transparency and keeping the receipts, Ken correctly identified 10 of the 13 forwards, five of the seven D-men and two of the three goalies in our projections one month ago, while Mike correctly identified eight of the 13 forwards, five of the seven D-men and all three goalies.

Mike had mentioned both Winnipegger Seth Jarvis and Tampa Bay Lightning centre Anthony Cirelli in the sleeper category, but opted to put Zach Hyman and Alexis Lafreniere ahead of them on his list on Nov. 9.

On the most exciting day of his hockey life, Kozak shared some thoughts on Jarvis getting the call to play for his country.

“I played with him when I was younger and I played with him in junior. It’s pretty insane (to see him named). It’s good for him though,” said Kozak. “He’s such a hard worker. In junior, he was the hardest working guy on the team, all the time. I couldn’t be more proud.”

There’s little doubt that it was a difficult task to make the final selections and even a full roster of the snubs generated plenty of buzz for still having more-than-capable players that were left off the “B” team for Canada.

No, this won’t be quite as good as the previous Olympics with NHL players, but it’s well past time for NHLers to be involved in best-on-best competition and we can’t wait to tune in to see what it’s going to look like in February.

Laine off to a good start

It’s nice to see that former Jets’ sniper Patrik Laine is in a better place and finding joy on the ice once again.

Since returning to the Montreal Canadiens lineup earlier this week, Laine has scored a goal in consecutive games, recorded five shots on goal and is averaging just over 17 minutes of ice time per game.

Laine and the Canadiens will be in Winnipeg to face the Jets Dec. 14, and you can expect he will receive a warm welcome.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg