Joey Payeur
Cole Tymkin prides himself on keeping his focus while in the heat of on-ice competition.
But he’ll be dealing with an understandable distraction this weekend when he hopes to become an official Major Junior hockey player.
The Fort Frances resident, who turned 16 on Sunday, is eligible for the OHL entry draft that takes place this Saturday.
Tymkin will be participating in a 3-on-3 tournament in Thunder Bay at the same time the draft is unfolding, but won’t mind stepping away for a few minutes if the need arises.
“When you get drafted, the general manager of the team who selected you usually calls you directly to let you know you’ve been picked,” said the speedy, hard-hitting forward who spent this past season with the Thunder Bay Minor Midget ‘AAA’ Kings.
“I’ve heard about other guys in previous years who were in this tournament that came right off the ice to take the call when it came,” he noted.
Tymkin was confident he performed well at the OHL combine two weeks ago—and even may have improved his chances of getting chosen higher in the draft than he first anticipated.
“We did several different off-ice tests when we first got there, like testing our vertical jump, long jump, and 20m dash,” explained the former Muskie.
“Then on the ice, they test you on things like how fast you can skate forwards and backwards with or without the puck,” he added.
“In both the on-ice and off-ice tests, I came in right on the average for my age group or just under.”
Tymkin was part of Team Red at the combine, which ended up winning the overall combine points championship based on the results of their off-ice testing combined with how they did in two scrimmages against other combine teams.
Tymkin had two assists in Team Red’s 6-2 win over Team Black, then netted a pair of goals in their championship-clinching 6-4 victory over Team White.
“The first game, you got to know everyone and see where everyone was at skill-wise,” Tymkin noted.
“In the second game, there was some bad blood between the teams that was left over from guys facing off against each other at the OHL Cup [earlier in March],” he added.
“There was no hitting allowed at the combine, though, which I don’t think affected my game but made me think more about showing my skill than my physical presence,” Tymkin continued.
“It was a lot of fun, though, especially on the bench where we were laughing with each other,” he recalled.
“You’re getting to play with the top 90 draft-eligible kids in Ontario.”
Tymkin has had phone interviews with seven different OHL teams so far, and was expecting to do possibly two more before the draft.
“I’m pretty curious where I’ll end up going and when,” he conceded.
“Most guys pretty much could get picked anywhere from the second round to the last round.
“But I don’t care where I go,” Tymkin stressed.
“I just hope that wherever I go, I’ll be able to beat the other guys at the camp for a spot on the team.”
Tymkin said he models his game after St. Louis Blues’ forward David Backes.
“He’s a big guy for that team, not physically, but he fits a perfect role,” Tymkin remarked.
“He’s a leader like me and he’s good at cheering guys up when they’re down.”
It’s been a long road leading up to Saturday but for Tymkin, getting that phone call will make all the effort worth it.
“It would be a dream come true,” he said.
“I’ve been working for it the last couple of years but I didn’t really think it was possible I could get picked in this draft until this year,” he admitted.
