Nico Myatovic is living the dream of every WHL hockey player.
The 17-year-old rookie Seattle Thunderbirds winger from Prince George is playing for right to represent the Western Hockey League in the Memorial Cup in Saint John, N.B. , June 20-29.
After finishing off the Kamloops Blazers Tuesday in seven-game series, the surprising T-birds begin the best-of-seven WHL final tonight in Edmonton against the Oil Kings and Myatovic can’t wait to get started.
“It’s kind of unexpected to be coming into the league as a rookie and going this far, but we’ve got a special group in there and we’re hoping to bring home a championship,” said Myatovic.
In zombie-like fashion, the T-birds have taken their licks and have refused to go away quietly in the playoffs. After sweeping the Kelowna Rockets in a four-game opening-round series, they had to claw back from a 3-1 deficit in the second round against the Portland Winterhawks to beat their archrivals in a seven-game series. He had a goal and an assists in their 6-3 win in Game 7.
The T-birds also ran into trouble in the Western Conference final against the Kamloops Blazers and were one goal away from falling behind 3-1 in the series when Myatovic responded with an overtime winner 11 minutes into OT in Game 4. He took a pass in the slot from linemate Lucas Ciona, double-clutched to avoid a check and rifled a shot in behind Kamloops goalie Dylan Garand to knot the series 2-2.
“That was probably the biggest goal of my life, just to help the team win that game was pretty cool,” said Myatovic. “I was just the high guy in the slot and my linemates, Jordan Gustafson and Lucas Ciona have been unreal. They were battling in the corner and Ciona was able to find me on the slot there and I was able to bang it home.”
Seattle lost the following game 4-3 in overtime in Kamloops but the T-birds closed out the series with back-to-back one-goal wins to advance to the final.
Seattle has had to lean on Thomas Milic, the WHL’s goalie of the month for May, and the T-birds big guns, Jared Davidson and Lukas Svejkovsky, rank second and third respectively in WHL playoff scoring heading into the Edmonton series.
“Tommie’s been a rock for us back there and we’ve just been playing for each other when we throw on that crest,” said Myatovic. “Everyone has stepped up and been a difference-maker in their own way and it’s pretty cool to see that.
“We haven’t seen any Eastern Conference series so it’ll be a bit of surprise. They’re obviously a very skilled team and from what we’ve heard they work hard too so it’s not going to be any easy contest. To start on the road will be good for us.”
In 67 games this season, Myatovic collected four goals and 24 assists. He endeared himself to T-birds fans in Kent, Wash., when he scored two goals in his first WHL game, April 13, 2021 - a 4-2 win over Tri-City.
In 2019 he was captain of the North Central Bobcats Tier 1 bantam team that won the provincial championship on home ice at Kin 1. He was drafted a month later by Seattle as the T-birds sixth-round choice and went on to play the 2019-20 season for the Cariboo Cougars U18 team.
“That bantam team I was part of was one of the best memories of my life, we were so tight, and playing at home for a provincial championship with all my family and friends is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” he said.
