By Warren Kozireski —
The pandemic played havoc with scouts’ ability to evaluate players in person from 2020 through part of 2021, but Buffalo took a late round flyer on Portland Winterhawks forward Tyson Kozak in the seventh round.
He rewarded their confidence exploding for a 32-goal, 37-assist regular season and arrived in Rochester for his first professional season with momentum.
“I think it was my two-way game,” Kozak reflected on why the Sabres selected him. “I thought I was a good 200-foot player who is good in his own zone. And my last two years (in junior) I was able to produce as well and keep that 200-foot game and not cheat the game, so it was a good year for me.”
Since turning pro, various injuries have hampered his development limiting the Manitoba native to 55 and 41 games over the past two seasons. This season, though missing four games in early-November, he has found scoring magic again and was tied for the team lead with five goals through his first 13 games already matching his season total over the first two campaigns.
And he leads the team in penalty minutes also showing that two-way game.
“Why we’ve had some success is getting to the net, especially Kozak,” teammate Graham Slaggert said about his teammate. “You see a lot of his goals come in the blue paint and my dad always had a saying that ‘goals don’t hide, they’re right in the blue paint.”
Four of those Kozak tallies came over the first seven games of the regular season.
“It’s been good; started good obviously, I’ve been putting the puck in the back of the net at the start and it’s kind of died down a bit over the last couple games, but overall, I think it’s been a good start,” Kozak said.
“It’s just getting to the net. All of my goals have been in that blue paint area, so I’ve been focusing on hanging around the net and find loose pucks,” the 5’11” 185 lb. center said.
As usual Kozak is a key component of the Amerks penalty killing unit, but this season he is also seeing additional ice time in situations such as three-on-three overtime, which weren’t as frequent the past two years.
“I definitely appreciate the trust that Leo (Rochester head coach Michale Leone) has in me. It means a lot and I love being in those situations as well.”
Since 1963, only one out of four players selected in the seventh round of the NHL draft and just 11% have played in 100 or more NHL games.
“Honestly, I don’t think it matters (whether) you’re drafted or undrafted. There’s a lot of guys out there that want to make the NHL so a lot of guys are putting the work in, including myself.”
Kozak has the skill set and defensive attention to detail to become another late-round gem, he just needs to stay healthy long enough to demonstrate that to the decision-makers.
(Photos provided by Rochester Americans hockey club)
