Preziuso adds speed and size to his game for upcoming season
To call Tyler Preziuso’s summer an off-season simply doesn’t justify his efforts.
The 18-year-old Medicine Hat Tigers forward amped up his training and development through the break and returned to the Canalta Centre for this weekend’s training camp looking like a new man with 18 added pounds of muscle and a clear jump in his step.
“I changed trainers this summer and I stuck to more lifting than running this year. I feel good out there,” said Preziuso, adding he managed not to sacrifice any speed while tacking on muscle. “I still did a lot of footwork in the summer and stuff like that. I think I even got faster.”
Tigers assistant coach Joe Frazer says the transition is truly impressive. Whether watching him get around a defender on a blistering pace in Sunday’s intra-squad game, or walking down the halls of the Canalta Centre, it’s hard to miss.
"If you see him, you can definitely tell, and he's just as fast if not faster than he was last year,” said Frazer. “It's his third year in the league, and just the confidence he has now with using that speed — he's always had the speed but as you get older you gain that confidence to use it and we saw that this weekend."
Preziuso occupied a position on Medicine Hat’s energy line last season alongside Ryan Chyzowski and Ryan Jevne, where he managed five goals and 17 assists across 71 games before providing an important presence against some of the opposition’s top lines in the post-season.
The role came with limited ice time, which likely had a hand in Preziuso falling off the NHL radar after starting last season with a C rating from NHL Central Scouting Services. But Preziuso hasn’t let that affect his approach, and with any luck he’ll be filling a much bigger role with the team this season.
“I think no matter what you've just got to work. If something bad falls your way you've just got to work even harder,” said Preziuso. “Hopefully I can move up in the lineup and show what I have.”