Emotional roller-coaster for Kozak family in son’s NHL debut vs Jets

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Every once in a while, things happen exactly as they should, the way a mother and father might dream them up, fairy-tale ending and all.

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That’s the way it seemed to be happening this week for Trevor and Michelle Kozak, parents of Tyson Kozak, a kid who grew up with big dreams in a small Manitoba town.

As proud as a Souris peacock when Tyson was drafted in the seventh round, 193rd overall, by Buffalo three years ago, the Kozaks watched from afar as their son became a 30-goal scorer in junior with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, then joined the Sabres minor-league team in Rochester.

One week ago, Tyson was called up to the NHL for the first time, skating with the Sabres extras in practice as they lost their third and fourth consecutive games.

On Wednesday, it was mom and dad’s turn to get the call, a member of the Sabres staff telling them their son would make his NHL debut on Thursday.

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The team he’d be facing: The Winnipeg Jets.

“Oh, goodness,” was Michelle’s reaction. “Clearly, we have to cheer for Tyson, but at the same time you’re like: ‘Go Jets.’ A lot of people in our hometown were the exact same way. OK, we’re Jets fans, but …”

Suddenly they had to get to Winnipeg for a 7 p.m. flight. But they had to keep it quiet, especially from their son, because Tyson wouldn’t know he was playing until the Thursday morning skate.

“We found out Wednesday morning and had to try to keep it hush-hush the best we could,” father Trevor said.

“It was pretty hard to not say anything,” Michelle added. “I swear our whole little town knew before Tyson did. We landed in Buffalo at 2 a.m.. Still never said anything. And we didn’t know that we were in the same hotel as Tyson.”

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That’s right, the Kozak entourage – Trevor and his second wife, Chanlie, Michelle with her partner, Kyle Gosnold, and their daughter Paige – were staying two floors below Tyson at the Marriott connected to the downtown arena.

No sweat, unless they happened to run into each other in the lobby or something crazy like that.

“As luck would have it, we ran into him in the lobby,” Trevor said. “Just as he was heading to the rink in the morning. He was probably as stunned as we were. He was more or less: ‘What are you guys doing here?’”

Mom tells it this way: “He kind of looked at us, but then kept walking, stopped, turned around, did a double-take, walked back, like: ‘What are you doing here?’ And we said: ‘What do you think we’re doing, Tyson?’

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“And he’s like: ‘Well, I don’t know.’ And then it clicked in: ‘Oh god, I’m playing tonight.’ He still had no clue. The team didn’t tell him.”

If the story ended with that and a highlight-free performance from their son in the game that night, win or lose, it would have been good enough. But it was just getting started.

First came the rookie skate, Tyson being sent out all by himself for a few pre-game laps, as per tradition.

That’s when the culmination of all the sacrifices they’d made and the time they’d invested hit home for mom and dad.

“The rookie lap was that,” Trevor said. “A lot of work and dedication just all came together. A very proud moment for everybody.”

“I was bawling my eyes out,” Michelle said. “Tyson’s a small-town kid. He played all his minor hockey in Souris, played with the Cougars. No private schools, any of that kind of stuff. He’s worked hard to get where he is. So many hours at the rink and in the car.”

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The truth is Tyson Kozak was an overwhelming long-shot to ever reach the NHL. A 5-foot-11, 173-pound junior, he was coming off a three-goal, 18-game season when he was drafted.

As a pro in the AHL, he scored five goals in 55 games his first year, five in 41 his second.

His five in 14 this season was good enough for a share of the team lead, but that’s not the only thing that got him called up.

“He’s a winner,” Rochester Americans coach Michael Leone told local reporter Nick Rippe that day. “He’s going to play for a long time and he’s going to help somebody win.”

What the kid lacks in size or finish, he makes up for in work ethic and tenacity.

“To see a player that doesn’t even get on the power play … talk about doing it right,” Leone said. “He’s been unbelievable. It’s a really good message for the group: It’s a team sport. It’s not about points, it’s not about individual accolades. It’s about playing team hockey and winning, and Tyson Kozak is a winner.”

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Fast-forward to late in the second period of Thursday’s game, when the Kozak family appeared to get its fairy-tale ending. The kid from Souris broke a 2-2 tie, nearly sending the entourage through the roof.

“Overwhelming,” Michelle said.

But wait. The Jets were challenging the goal, saying Connor Hellebuyck had been interfered with.

Mom, dad, sister and the rest stopped celebrating from up in their suite, watched the replay on the big screen and weren’t fazed in the least.

“That’s not goalie interference,” Michelle thought. “Of course it’s a goal.”

Trevor, too, didn’t flinch. His son had just done the unthinkable, he thought, lifting an entire southern Manitoba community.

“And then the announcement came out,” he said. “It just drops. I don’t want to say sh–y, but it was sh–y.”

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The reaction of their son, also captured on the big screen, wasn’t lost on the Kozaks, though. It might even have picked them back up.

“You see the look on his face, it didn’t bother him at all,” dad said. “The smile didn’t leave his face the whole game.”

After the game, a 3-2 Jets win in overtime, the kid admitted he’d been shaking like a leaf going in.

On the moment he thought he’d scored: “Pure joy and excitement. Unreal moment.”

And then it wasn’t.

But the ruling, and the loss, didn’t detract from what he’d just accomplished.

“Not a lot of hockey players play in the NHL from small towns,” Tyson said. “So that’s a very cool moment for me and my family back home.”

For those watching in Souris, it was a moment that won’t be erased by a small detail such as the official scoresheet.

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“Even though they took it away from him, in our hearts he still got that goal,” Marilyn Kozak, Tyson’s grandmother, said.

She was laughing.

At times in our Friday chat, so were mom and dad, still riding the emotional roller-coaster two days after it left rural Manitoba.

“I don’t even know how to explain it,” Trevor said of the whole experience. “Just elation. There was a little tear to the eye of everybody who was up there with us.”

Dad was talking to me from the Toronto airport, where he and daughter Paige were catching a flight back to Winnipeg. On Monday, it was back to work managing a feed mill in Souris.

Mom, though, was staying in Buffalo, long enough to catch one more game, Saturday against Utah.

“He doesn’t know if he’s playing, either,” Michelle said. “But I think he made a great impression, anyway. So hopefully …”

Her voice tailed off.

Hopefully? Maybe this whole ride isn’t over, yet.

After all, small towns produce big dreams.

paul.friesen@kleinmedia.ca
X: @friesensunmedia

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