Injury bug bites Wycisk again
Veteran defenceman Andrew Wycisk is injured and will not be in the lineup when the Niagara IceDogs take on the Barrie Colts Thursday in the first round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs. Photo: OHL IMAGES.
Andrew Wycisk was looking forward to playing in the Ontario Hockey League playoffs perhaps more than any other member of the Niagara IceDogs.
The longest-tenured member of the team, the 19-year-old (he turns 20 July 1) defenceman has yet to see any post-season action with the IceDogs who haven’t qualified for the playoffs since the 2018-19 season.
Niagara finally made it back to the playoffs this season, but Wycisk will be on the sidelines with a lower body injury when Niagara battles the Barrie Colts in a best-of-seven quarter-final series beginning Thursday in Barrie.
“Yeah, it’s tough. I mean, it’s frustrating,” Wycisk said. “This is obviously something I’ve looked forward to for a long time but I guess you just have to hold your head high, really. There’s not much you can do.
“It’s something I’ve never personally experienced. I was looking forward to it so much and hopefully I’m able to get back where we make a little run and hopefully I can get out there. But it’s something I was so looking forward to. I definitely would love to experience it.”
Wycisk, who said he is rehabbing the injury as aggressively as possible in an attempt to get back into the lineup, feels the fans of the IceDogs deserve a long playoff run after three difficult seasons in a row.
“It would be would be amazing,” he said. “I think this city definitely deserves it. It’s been a long time coming so we owe them a good fight for sure and hope for a good result.”
Wycisk, who was selected in the third round (45th overall) of the 2021 OHL Priority Selection by Niagara, has had more than his share of bad luck.
The Etobicoke native played a full season in his rookie campaign before hip problems, which eventually required surgery, limited him to 53 games in his next two seasons. He was able to play in 57 games this season.
“It’s frustrating, it’s unfortunate timing,” he said. “I think you have to try and not get too down on yourself. If you get into that dark place, it can be tough. I mean, there’s definitely some days where it where it feels like it weighs more on you than others. But just having good support from like friends or family or whatnot is kind of the biggest thing for me. It’s the most helpful.”
In addition to his rehab work, Wycisk is going through the normal routine as much as possible.
“I’m just staying around the guys watching video or whatnot, just trying to stay in that mental space so when the time finally comes I won’t be too far behind. I’ll be ready to go,” he said.
The IceDogs, who finished the season with just two wins in their final 22 games, will have their hands full with the powerful Colts, who finished with a 42-22-2-2 record and feature nine National Hockey League draft picks.
IceDogs coach Ben Boudreau is well aware his team is a massive underdog, but also isn’t willing to concede without a fight.
“You know what, anything can happen in the playoffs,” he said. “When you have a player like Owen Flores you’re going to give yourself a chance to win every single night. We’re lucky that our best player has the most important position.
“Up front, we’re going to be healthy, so we would expect that the guys that have carried us offensively would continue to carry us that way. Defensively, that has been something that we’ve highlighted all year. If it wasn’t for Owen I think we’d be exposed a little bit more.”
Boudreau feels the IceDogs will have try and wait out the Colts.
“The name of the game for us is how do we play defence against a very high offence team like Barrie and find a way to shut these guys down because I don’t think we should go run and gun against them trying to outscore them,” he said. “I think we should make sure that we don’t give up great chances and rely on our goalie to make the majority of this saves but take away the high danger areas.”
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