WHL NOTEBOOK: Kozak finds offensive game as co-captain
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/02/2022 (1332 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Tyson Kozak has a lot to celebrate these days.
In the last eight months, the 19-year-old Souris product was drafted by the National Hockey League’s Buffalo Sabres, named co-captain of the Portland Winterhawks and began to fill the net in a way he hasn’t since he was a member of the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League’s Southwest Cougars.
He admits it’s been a bit of a whirlwind.

“It’s awesome,” Kozak said. “It’s definitely a lot of fun getting back to the player I was before in bantam and midget. I owe it all to my teammates and coaches, playing with great players and every night and practising with them and getting better every day.
“We have real great coaches (Mike Johnston, Don Hay and Brian Pellerin) as well so it makes it pretty easy to come to the rink every day and just give it everything we’ve got.”
Kozak, who was originally selected in the sixth round by the Winterhawks with the 121st overall pick of the 2017 draft, has blossomed since his days with Southwest. The five-foot-11, 170-pound, left-handed shot was impressive enough through two abbreviated WHL seasons to be drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the seventh round on July 24, 2021.
That gave him the opportunity to attend his first NHL camp in the fall.
“It was really good,” Kozak said. “It was a lot of fun. Actually another guy from Portland (Clay Hanus) got an invite to the camp so I went there and at least knew one guy. I got to meet all the coaching staff, all the staff and some new guys. It was a really fun experience.”
It wasn’t the only experience he would share with Hanus, a 20-year-old defenceman from Excelsior, Minn.
On Nov. 30, they were named co-captains of the Winterhawks.
“That was a really exciting day,” Kozak said. “It definitely wasn’t something that I was expecting. It was surprising, and I was really excited and honoured to be co-captain for this great organization.”
In his two seasons playing with the Cougars, Kozak had Jared McCorrister and Callum Fortin as captains. While he later also learned a lot from Portland captain John Ludvig, the two Cougars made a strong impression on him.
“Those guys were just really hard-working guys,” Kozak said. “You really had to play the game the right way. Especially Callum, he put in a lot of work so I definitely learned a ton from him. He was a pretty vocal guy too. He was a pretty good captain.”
In Portland, Kozak said Ludvig pushed the players around him to be better, and led the way in the gym and on the ice, which Kozak is trying to incorporate into his own leadership style.

It’s not the only way Kozak is drawing on his experience at Southwest. He seems to be on a similar trajectory in the WHL.
After posting 24 points in 33 games as a rookie with the Cougars, Kozak exploded for 26 goals and 46 assists in 40 games in the 2018-19 season as a 16-year-old veteran. Similarly, in his first 86 games spread over three WHL seasons, Kozak had 16 goals and 24 assists. This year, Kozak is second in goals on the Winterhawks with 23, and second in points with 52 through 46 games.
“It’s obviously really nice to be producing offensively,” Kozak said. “The thing that changed for me this year is that I have a little bit more confidence in myself. In the years previous, I was just really concerned about making a mistake and stuff like that. If I made a mistake, it would bring me down and bring my game down. “For me this year, I’m not as worried about making mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, it’s just how you respond to them. I think that’s what changed for me.”
Kozak’s reputation has been built as a dependable player all over the ice, so he doesn’t want to abandon what’s brought him success. At the same time, he admits that sometimes he catches himself cheating a bit for offence because the puck is going in.
“I try not to cheat but there are times when I do get a little ahead of myself during a game but then I kind of reel myself back in and try to get back to that game that I was playing as a 200-foot player,” Kozak said. “I know if I do good defensively that the offensive chances will come. I just try to not get away from how I was playing before but jump into the play a little bit more and not be so defensive minded all the time.”
As a drafted player and a team captain, Kozak said he’s starting to sense that he’s getting a little more respect from opponents, even if that doesn’t make much difference on the ice.
“I think players on other teams definitely give you a little more respect as an older guy,” Kozak said. “As a younger guy, you’re more worried about what the older guys will do to you during a game, and once you get older, you get a little more respect from the guys in the league.
“It doesn’t really much. They still play you hard.”
Like all WHL veterans, Kozak has been hit hard by the impact of COVID. His first full season, 2019-20, was interrupted and the playoffs were cancelled. Last season was a pandemic-shortened affair in which Portland played just 24 games.
This season, Portland was one of many clubs who had team activities paused in early January when COVID struck the dressing room. They were cleared to return on Jan. 10.
“It makes you realize how fortunate we are to be able to play hockey, the game we love, all the time,” Kozak said. “I’m trying not to take it for granted.”

He certainly has a lot to play for.
The Winterhawks (29-12-3-2) currently sit third in the Eastern Conference playoff race, four points back of the Kamloops Blazers and nine behind the Everett Silvertips.
Kozak is looking forward to his first chance to experience a WHL post-season.
“We know that any team can beat any team so it’s been quite an eventful year,” Kozak said. “We didn’t start too hot and then just before Christmas and after Christmas we’ve been playing really well. If we keep playing the way we have been, we should be going into playoffs with a lot of confidence and hopefully have a pretty good run.
“We’ll see how it goes.”
ICINGS: Winnipeg Ice forward and Strathclair native Conor Geekie is among 15 WHL players selected to take part in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game, which will be held on March 23 in Kitchener, Ont. The 17-year-old Geekie, who is projected to be a first-round pick in this summer’s NHL Draft, is tied for fourth in team scoring for the Ice with 44 points in 40 games.
» pbergson@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @PerryBergson