Tyler Bunz has already donned the midget AAA Raiders’ blue and gold, the Medicine Hat Tigers’ orange and black and the Edmonton Oilers’ copper and blue, but the St. Albert goalie hopes to wear the red and white of Canada in the near future.
Bunz, 19, was named to the national junior team’s 46-player summer development camp in early August at Rexall Place after leaving disappointed last year.
“It’s a huge honour. It was one of those goals I was looking forward to completing when I went to camp,” said Bunz, who recently attended a Hockey Canada goalie camp in Calgary. “Last year when I didn’t make it that was kind of disappointing but I worked hard this year and had a good year and it’s starting to pay off with all the hard work and training that I’ve been doing.”
After being drafted by the Oilers in the fifth round (121st overall) in last year’s NHL entry draft, Bunz cruised to a 35-13-4-4 record in his third Western Hockey League season in Medicine Hat. Although the Tigers lost out in the semifinals to the eventual champion Kootenay Ice, it was Bunz's .919 save percentage and 2.47 goals against-average in the regular season that placed him on Team Canada’s radar.
With the world junior championship being held in Edmonton and Calgary from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, Bunz will have the chance to compete for his country in his home province. That extra motivation — to let his friends and family watch him help his country win gold — might be all the former bantam AAA Sabre needs to make the final cut on selection day.
“That’s the most exciting part, just putting on a Canadian jersey in front of your hometown friends and family. It just gives you that extra motivation to keep working hard and keep doing the right things and have a good start to the season and camp in August,” said Bunz.
With the average age for a starting goalie in the NHL at 28, Bunz admits it’s more likely he will be heading off to Medicine Hat again before he heads to Oklahoma City to start his pro career with the Oilers’ farm team in the American Hockey League. Bunz doesn’t see that result as bad because he has unfinished business down south.
“I’m more than happy to play five years in Medicine Hat and hopefully look forward to winning the championship with Medicine Hat. If I do go to Oklahoma City that’s obviously the thing that I’m looking forward to — moving my career to the next level,’ said Bunz. “Either way I’m looking forward to the decisions that will be made and whatever they are, I’ll just keep working hard and do the things I do well.”
This weekend Bunz will watch how the NHL draft unfolds, especially for local players Travis Ewanyk of the Edmonton Oil Kings and Brandon Wheat Kings’ goalie Liam Liston.
“I’m going to see what happens in the first round, then on Saturday just keep tabs and see if some of the guys on my team or that I play against get drafted. It’s always an entertaining time of the year with all the media and stuff and [speculation] who is going to go first overall. I will always watch it no matter what happens, even when I’m older. I still watch the bantam draft to see the guys from St. Albert.”
