Big moments for Manitobans silver lining in Jets loss

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This article was published 23/03/2025 (198 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You couldn’t have scripted this any better for Tyson Kozak.

The 22-year-old rookie skater from Souris scored his second NHL goal on Sunday afternoon with a couple hundred family members, friends and supporters looking on inside Canada Life Centre.

“Kind of a surreal moment for me,” said Kozak, who was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the seventh and final round (193rd-overall) in 2021.

“I couldn’t believe it actually happened.”

There was a noticeable pocket of cheers inside the building when his backhander beat Jets goaltender Eric Comrie to give the visitors a 3-1 lead in the third period. That included his elderly grandfather, who was watching him at this level for the first time.

“His first NHL game and just happened to score. It’s pretty cool,” said Kozak. “A couple minor hockey teams from back home came, too. I haven’t played in this building before so it was a lot of fun.”

It’s only fitting he scored against the Jets, since Kozak appeared to have his first-ever goal in his NHL debut against Winnipeg back on Dec. 5 in Buffalo, only to have it overturned by a successful offside challenge.

He would go on to score one that counted the very next game against Utah and get one more big-league game in before being sent back to the American Hockey League, where he has 14 points (8G, 6A) in 31 games with the Rochester Americans this year.

Kozak is now enjoying his third call-up to the Sabres and his 16th NHL game timed out perfectly.

He wasn’t the only Manitoban to make an impact in this one. Goaltender James Reimer, who is from Morweena, Manitoba, was the undisputed first star of the game as he stopped 33-of-36 shots he faced in the 5-3 victory.

“You know, I was a teenager, I came here and watched the Moose play. It’s special to be able to play in your hometown and obviously a lot of friends and family here. Fun to play well in front of them,” said Reimer, who broke into the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs back in 2010 and has now played 516 NHL games.

This was his third career win at Canada Life Centre with the others happening in 2013 while playing for Toronto and in 2023 with San Jose. Getting to share the moment with Kozak made this visit even more enjoyable.

“Really happy for him. I mean, it’s special to play in front of your hometown or your family, and then to get a goal, it’s special,” said Reimer. “I mean, honestly, it’s just a credit to him as a guy and as a player. He plays (the) right way every single day. And so you’re always excited when a guy like that (gets) rewarded in front of his family.”

As for Reimer’s performance, it included a few incredible saves — none more so than one in the third period where he’d been wiped out during a net-front collision and still got a glove on a Nino Niederreiter shot.

“We’re paid to entertain, so I thought it would look a little better if I was on my backside,” Reimer joked.

“I went down and then I was just kind of scrambling, they had a couple of opportunities to shoot the puck, so I didn’t feel like I could get up. And so I just kind of swung around, so at least I was covering most of the net and then I was able just to see the puck and catch it.”

Now 37, Reimer is in the late stages of his career and on a last-place team that is already thinking about next year. Because of that, he admits games like this are ones he’ll savour even more.

“You know, I was just trying to just breathe and stay calm and just trying to control the play as much as I could,” said Reimer. “Thank the Lord. He was with me. And, you know, just fun when you get to do what He created you to do.”

Reimer was also proud of the way his team battled against the No. 1 club in the Western Conference, despite a string of injuries and the fact they’d played a day earlier in Minnesota.

“Listen, we have a lot of character and a lot of pride, and there’s a standard here that we want to play to and we want to get to, and we want to start to create that culture where that’s the standard you bring every single night,” said Reimer.

“What better time to enforce that when the games, you know, you’re out of it. That’s where it really comes down to your character. And so I credit these guys for buying in and playing to that standard. It shows a lot and we’re going to keep playing that way the rest of the way.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg