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Bunz comes to second Tigers camp with eye
on making the team
SCOTT SCHMIDT
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When Tyler Bunz was taken as the top
goaltender in the 2007 WHL bantam draft by one of the most
successful organizations in junior hockey, he knew expectations
would come with it.
However, this 16-year-old — born in
Regina and drafted out of St. Albert — isn’t worried
about his game on the ice just yet; he’s still soaking up the
feeling of possibly becoming a Medicine Hat Tiger.
“It’s awesome, I mean they
have a great franchise,” said Bunz after a session at this
week’s World Pro Goaltending camp held at The Arena.
“From what I hear it’s a great coaching staff and a
great bunch of guys.
“Just to be around the guys in the
dressing room, it’s been awesome, they obviously teach me a
lot. They lead me and I follow their example so hopefully the camp
goes well and I do make this team and have a great
season.”
After coming in for last year’s
training camp knowing he would almost certainly be sent back to the
midget AAA ranks to develop, Bunz enters rookie camp Friday No. 2
on the team’s depth chart behind Ryan Holfeld.
Last season he went 11-9-4 for the St.
Albert Raiders, with a goals against average of 3.19 and save
percentage of .910. St. Albert finished fourth in its division and
was eliminated in the second round of playoffs March 3. Two days
later he made his Tigers debut, stopping 23 shots in a 6-3 win at
Edmonton.
A year older and with a bit more
experience under his belt, Bunz knows this year he might not be
sent home.
“They just told me to come out and
have a good camp and then we’ll see how it goes from
there,” said Bunz. “Obviously I want to play here. I
want to be a Medicine Hat Tiger because that means a lot to me.
“This summer all I did was train for
this moment, for camp, to come out and work hard. To prove to the
coaches that I do deserve to be here and hopefully they see
that.”
Bunz is a sizable, butterfly-style
goaltender who relies on his positioning and the quickness of his
feet. A fan of Curtis Joseph and the Oilers in his younger years,
Bunz says he now models his game after Pittsburgh Penguin’s
puckstopper Marc Andre Fleury.
“He’s definitely one of the
better goalies in the NHL today,” said Bunz.
“He’s really fast and I wanna be that fast, just
because he can be out of position and than in the blink of an eye,
he’s back in position.”
Bunz feels that his development is in the
best hands possible in coming to the Tigers. The new millennium has
been very kind between the pipes for the Tigers and he
doesn’t think it’s coincidence that top-performing
goaltenders have come one-after-another.
Bunz just hopes to learn all he can while
he’s here, no matter how long that is, or how much he
plays.
“Guys like Matt Keetley, Holfeld...
Holfeld has done awesome lately,” said Bunz. “Hopefully
I can better my game and be like those guys.
“I wanna learn from Holfeld, because
he’s learned from the best in Matt Keetley, and Keetley
learned those guys (before him). It’s kind of like a chain
reaction.”
Another thing that has gone hand-in-hand
with wearing the orange and black since the turn of the century is
getting used to boisterous crowds in a building where sound seems
to amplify as 4,006 screaming fans get going. Though not boasting a
lot of experience playing in front of larger crowds, Bunz has seen
the Tiger faithful in action and can’t wait to be a part of
it in uniform.
“All summer that’s been in the
back of my mind,” admitted Bunz. “I was here in
playoffs and that was an awesome atmosphere, it was just
unbelievable.
“I would be watching the fans more
than the hockey game, it’s unreal. It’s so loud here
because of the compact arena, people are right on top you. So
it’s in the back of my mind, stepping out on that ice for the
first time in front of all those people, so we’ll see how I
take it.”
Considering Tigers goaltending consultant
J.F. Martel says Bunz is one of the better 16-year-old goalies in
the country and he combines that skill with a hard-working
attitude, that chance will likely come sooner than later. |
