TYSON KOZAK QUIETLY EARNING TRUST
Apr 4, 2023A lot of fans might’ve been surprised to see forward Tyson Kozak drop the gloves on Saturday night against Utica forward Tyce Thompson. But his teammates and coaches were not surprised. Not surprised at all.
“He’s a menace,” Amerks head coach Seth Appert said after the game.
“It was awesome,” forward Sean Malone added.
“It definitely wasn’t my first option,” Kozak laughed. “But I got up, and he was looking at me and asked me if I wanted to, so I didn’t really hesitate.”
That’s putting it mildly.
After Kozak tracked Thompson, cut off his hands, pestered him, and prevented him from getting to the red line, Thompson challenged Kozak, hovering over him on the ice. Kozak immediately rose to the challenge. And the Blue Cross Arena crowd roared in appreciation.
The players on the bench had a similar reaction as the crowd. “We were laughing when we saw the replay,” Malone said. “He just chucked his gloves and was like ‘let’s go!’.” As amused as his teammates were, they were also very appreciative.
“He’s a quiet guy and to do something like that for our team was special, and I think he earned the player of the game for us,” Malone added.
“I’m happy to see him come into the fold here recently.”
Kozak has come into the fold, and has certainly made a name for himself in the locker room. He has earned the trust of his teammates and of the coaching staff. His role on the team should be considered even more impressive when you remember his age: he’s only 19 years old.
“He’s a tough kid. He’s mean, he’s physical, he’s fast,” Appert said. He emphasized how great he is defensively: “He’s out there for big penalty kills. He’s out there in overtime for big penalty kills. That’s just so rare at center, for that age.”
It can be hard to see, as a fan, just how important Kozak is to the team. Fellow rookies Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen are more prominent on the stat sheet; their contributions are easier to notice during the play of the game. But Kozak is shouldering a lot of defensive responsibility, and that’s impacting the outcome of the games more and more.
“Coming into the season,” Kozak said, “I definitely wasn’t expecting to have that kind of role, but I love doing it.” Kozak has appeared in 55 games for the Amerks so far this season, after having been sidelined with a lower-body injury for seven games.
“I think I’ve built a little bit of trust with the coaches. I love being out there when it’s close games, for faceoffs.”
He’s built more than a little bit of trust with the coaching staff, who continually put him in high-pressure plays. “I trust him implicitly in all of those defensive situations,” Appert said, “and his offensive game just keeps growing. He’s making more and more plays every month.”
“We’re just so excited to have a competitor of his nature in our organization.”
Kozak is all-in on doing the right think defensively in order to find offense. “I’m just a big believer in if you defend hard and play hard in your own end, the chances will come in the offensive zone,” Kozak said. “I’ve been told that most of my years in hockey and tried to play that way.”
He found one of those offensive chances on Saturday night, burying a rebound from Brendan Warren to tie the game late in the first period.
“That was a big goal,” Appert told the media. “I thought we had a good start, and now all of a sudden you’re down 2-1 late in the first. And for them to respond the next shift with a really, really good goal in the blue paint was a pivotal point in the game.”
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Kozak said with a shrug after the game.
Perhaps it’s his quiet humbleness that made the fight a surprise for Amerks fans on Saturday. But his competitive nature is no longer a surprise. “Hopefully I can keep it going the rest of the games this season, and in the playoffs,” Kozak finished.
The Amerks currently sit in fourth place in the North Division, five points away from clinching a 2023 Calder Cup Playoff berth. Their upcoming schedule is all within the division, so it’ll be a battle until the very end. But it’s a battle that Kozak, as he proved over the weekend, is ready to take on.