Grzybowski hopes to put WCC shooters under a spell
If Joel Grzybowski had a dollar for every time somebody misspelled his surname, he’d be rich.
He’s even had to give school teachers a spelling lesson or two.
That’s right, it’s Grzybowski, not Gryzbowski.
That’s just the way it is for the Battlefords North Stars goalie and Saskatoon Blades prospect.
“I even had to correct the Blades one time for my jersey — they had Gryz(bowski) instead of Grzy(bowski),” says the goalie they simply call Griz, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound native of Hafford who spent two seasons with the Saskatoon Blazers of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League.
“There have been a few misspellings. I’d even have to tell my teachers that it was ‘zy’ instead of ‘yz’.”
Instead of a spelling lesson, Grzybowski is hoping to give a goaltending tutorial over the next week at the Western Canada Cup championship in Penticton, B.C., where the North Stars are among five teams vying for two Royal Bank Cup national championship berths.
Taryn Kotchorek, who is coming off a recent injury, got the lion’s share of work during the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs but the two netminders split the duties during the regular season.
“In our goaltending situation, we’ve been rotating them all year and they’ve both had great success,” said North Stars coach and GM Nate Bedford. “If Grzybowski plays great, awesome. And then Kotchorek can come in and play great, too. Right now, we’re real happy with our goaltending.”
The Stars open up the Western Canada Cup against the host Penticton Vees on Saturday night.
“I think we’ve got to make sure we keep our defensive play up,” said Grzybowski. “As long as we do that, I think we’ll be OK there. We’ve got the offence to score goals and I think we’ll be fine.”
At age 17, Grzybowski could yet figure in the future plans of the Blades, who have two potential overage goalies in Logan Flodell and Brock Hamm, plus a highly touted young prospect in Nolan Meier.
“Of course, Saskatoon’s in the back of my mind but, right now, I’m focused on the Western Canada Cup and trying to win that and then the Royal Bank Cup,” said Grzybowski. “After that, I’ll be focused on trying to make the Blades.”