The Byrams are bouncing over Bowen's NHL debut
Stacey Byram was asked Thursday morning to explain how it felt for her son to be on the cusp of debuting in the National Hockey League.
“It's like your birthday, Christmas, wedding and the birth of a child all rolled up into one thing. That's what it feels like,” Bowen Byram's mom said.
Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar confirmed to media on a Zoom call Thursday morning that Byram, the 19-year-old defenceman from Cranbrook who's in the conversation for best player to ever suit up for the Vancouver Giants, would hit the ice for his first NHL regular-season game that night when Colorado visited the Los Angeles Kings.
Colorado made Byram the No. 4 overall choice of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver. The Giants picked Byram No. 3 overall in the 2016 Western Hockey League bantam draft. Byram's fresh off his second world junior tournament, this time helping Team Canada to a silver medal in the bubble in Edmonton.
Hockey people have been talking about Bowen Byram for some time. Michael Dyck, the Giants' head coach, first connected with him when Byram was in novice hockey more than a decade ago and remained in touch.
Dyck tells a tale about helping out coaching with the WHL's Kootenay Ice seven seasons back, getting the OK to bring a 12-year-old Byram to practice one day in Cranbrook
and Ice players raving about how good Byram was even then.
All those steps, and others much more monotonous, are bound to be conversation pieces when Byram's mom, dad Shawn and sister Jamie, 22, talk about Thursday's news.
“It was more about nerves for me for his first WHL game,” Stacey said, pointing to that Oct. 14, 2016 matchup in Lethbridge when Bowen was an underage call-up for the Giants. “This is more about excitement. This is more about the realization of a dream.
“It has been impacting me more than I'd like to admit, though. We've thought that it was close for a while.”
They do have some experience in this. Shawn was a big, bruising winger for three seasons in the WHL, and made his NHL debut on Feb. 24, 1991, when he suited up for the New York Islanders against the Philadelphia Flyers. He played another three games with the Islanders that campaign and then one in 1991-92 with the Chicago Blackhawks. Shawn Byram spent 11 seasons after that playing minor pro and in Europe.
Dyck, a defencemen in his WHL days, played against the elder Byram there. That's where that tie comes from.
Dyck's son Carson, who is a winger in the Alberta junior A league, is the same age as Bowen. Dyck was at a novice tournament with his son all those years ago, saw a Cranbrook team with a player named Byram, wondered if he was any relation to Shawn and sought
him out. Bowen would start out playing spring hockey for Dyck. He would eventually spend some winters in Lethbridge, living with his grandparents (Shawn's mom and dad) and playing minor hockey for teams coached by Dyck.
Dyck had been an assistant coach with Vancouver during Don Hay's tenure as bench boss.
The Giants coveted Dyck for coaching vacancies after that, and he signed on as bench boss in June 2018, which was the summer after
Byram's 16-year-old rookie season with Vancouver.
That returns us to Shawn's background.
“Through this whole process, I've felt very fortunate that Shawn has gone through what he's gone through with hockey,” Stacey said.
“He has these experiences that he can draw on. Something might happen and you might want to read into it and he'll say, `This means nothing. Don't worry.'”
Byram quipped on the Thursday Zoom call with the media that it was “pretty cool to have two guys with NHL games in the family. … Hopefully, I can pass my dad.”
Dyck took it a step further, suggesting that Bowen will have the lead quickly.
The Avalanche do begin a run of six games in just 10 days on Friday and Colorado traded away veteran left-shot defenceman Ian Cole, 31, on Tuesday, a move that looks like it's about opening up space for Byram.
Byram led the three major junior leagues in goals by a defenceman (26) in 2018-19 and then led all scorers in the WHL playoffs that spring (26 points, 22 games), helping the Giants to the league final.
Since then his game has rounded out and matured even more.
Dyck said: “I'm happy for Bowen. I'm happy for his family. This is a big moment for any hockey player.”
It's a moment that in past years a family would aim to see in person. COVID-19 doesn't permit that.
“I do feel like we're missing out on a really cool experience with Bo. At the same time, it's nobody's fault and we'll make the best of it,” Stacey said.