Kunyk Continuing to Learn
November 19, 2009
FRED RINNE
Sun Media
Coming into this 2009-10 AJHL season, there was little chance that Sherwood Park Crusader forward Cody Kunyk would fly under anybody’s radar in the hockey world.
After posting a 58 point season and securing a scholarship with the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the 2010/2011 season, the 6″, 180 lb. Sherwood Park native mostly looked forward to helping his Cru win an elusive AJHL championship.
And with 41 points after just 21 games played in this campaign, he is making a strong case for league MVP honours.
But along the way the World Junior A Challenge came calling and Kunyk, with Grande Prairie Storm forward Tanner Fritz , St. Albert Steel forward Daniel Carr, Calgary Canucks forward John Dunbar and Camrose Kodiaks defender Ben Gallacher , he would represent the AJHL for Team Canada West at the prestigious world tourney in Summerside, P.E.I.
Despite losing a hard-fought 2-1 final to the United States, Kunyk says it’s an experience he will never forget.
“It’s an opportunity that doesn’t often come your way, and when you get a chance to play for your country like that, you jump at it,” Kunyk says.
“It was very well organized, well run, and I was just happy to be a part of it.”
Happy indeed, as Kunyk found a home on a line with Connor and Kellen Jones of the BCHL and defending RBC champ Vernon Vipers. Along the way, Kunyk would register five goals and three assists and be named to the 2009 WJAC Tournament All-Star Team.
“It was great to be in the room with such a great mix of talented players from different parts of Western Canada,” says the well-spoken Kunyk.
“I was pretty nervous at first, but we (other AJHL players) shared the same flight out and travelled together to the hotel and I think that helped us be a little more comfortable,” he added.
After that, he says Team Canada West Coach Ryan Ferster of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks and staff helped the bonding process by mixing up the roster’s players from Manitoba through B.C. in all facets of the daily routine.
“I think that was a big part of our success, we really bonded well as a team and we got better as the tournament went on.”
Despite falling short by a goal in the gold medal game, Kunyk took that international stage and quickly turned it into a provincial opportunity.
Last week, he was named Source for Sports AJHL Player of the Week for the week of November 9th – 15th. In three consecutive road games, Kunyk tallied 4 goals and 10 points for the Crusaders.
This is good news for a Crusaders club that jetted out of the starting gate on fire but tailed off in October, and, in the midst of a gruelling 16 game-in-31-day schedule, played without arguably the team’s best player for nine of those contests.
The storm now weathered and Kunyk back in the comfortable confines of Strathcona County, Crusaders Coach Ross Kenny is happy to have No. 9 back in the lineup.
“Any time you have an opportunity to go from being “the guy” to being one guy on a team of many “the guys” , you tend to have to be more focussed on your role, on fundamentals and detail,” says Kenny.
“In that type of environment, you really have the opportunity to test your ability in a special way and hopefully he can bring some of those lessons back to (our team) environment as well.”
Focus is the key word Kunyk uses when he talks about the tournament legacy.
“We have a lot of young guys in the room, and sometimes, it is easy to forget that little things, each shift, make a difference,” he says.
“There (at WJAC) we had to concentrate hard on each individual task, each shift; that doesn’t change now, in fact if I can help, especially the younger guys understand that is what it takes to win, that will be important for us.”
Kunyk’s stock continues to grow in the hockey world. This fact is lost on neither him, nor his coach.
But both are grounded, and take it all in a skating stride.
“Ross has been big in pushing me hard to be the best player that I can be, but also to be able to help the team the best way I can,” says Kunyk.
“He also likes to remind me there are a lot of things in the game I don’t know yet,” he says with a chuckle.
And so understands and laughs his coach.
“You always have to be learning,” says Kenny.
“In the context of the team environment, he can continue to learn how to help us be successful, for sure, and in the long run, onto college hockey or the next level, those lessons will help him be a better player too.”
For the Crusader faithful who have never celebrated an AJHL championship in the club’s 30 year history, they hope Kunyk’s experience and excellence will ultimately translate to club success.
