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Ten years ago, Bryce Ryan never set foot on a pair of skates, let alone knew anything about the game of hockey. It was something not even his parents had any knowledge or interest in either. It was nothing against the game, it was merely just a non—existent interest for the sport in their household.

Fast forward to 2018, and the 16-year old LaSalle native now finds himself, not only enjoying a successful rookie season playing for the Essex 73’s of the PJHL’s Stobbs Division, but a 5th Round pick of the Kingston Frontenac, 93rd overall, in this past spring Ontario Hockey League Draft.

“Getting that call that they were interested and it actually happening was exciting, “says Ryan. “There was interested from a lot of teams in the O, but I’m happy being picked from Kingston. They’ve shown a lot of interest so far in my development here in Essex. Coming to many games and following my progress”

Ryan was born Feb 10, 2002 in Windsor, Ontario and lives with his family in nearby LaSalle just south of Windsor.

The son of parents Wayne and Shari Ryan, Bryce is third oldest in the family sharing that spot with maternal twin brother Cole, along with older sisters Brit, 28, and Amanda, 27.

Hockey didn’t find its way to Bryce the usual way with Dad taking his son for his first pair of skates or jumping a on local pond for a game of shinny.

It was a close friend of his father Wayne, who got both the twin boys interested in the game by coming by the house one afternoon and announcing out of the blue he had signed them both up for LaSalle Minor Hockey.

“We were like, what?” jokes Ryan. “My parents had no idea about the game and to be honest I really had no interest either. But, we decided, lets try it.”

The next thing, the two 5-year twins find themselves at the local Canadian Tire being sized and suited for skates and equipment just prior to the start of the hockey season that fall in LaSalle.

“Well, here we go I guess,” says Ryan. “First practise, were out on the rink at the old LaSalle Arena. We can’t skate. We can’t even stand up for more than a second. It was hilarious looking back on it now.”

But in time, Bryce kept persevering and started to fall in love with the game very quickly and had a passion to only become better, but start looking forward to playing at a higher level.

“It just grew on me I guess and then I couldn’t wait to play, any chance I could really,” adds Bryce.

 “I wanted become a better skater and player all around.”

Ryan would spend five seasons playing in the LaSalle Minor Hockey Association with the LaSalle Sabres and through hard work and honing his skills eventually  earning a spot with the Windsor Midget- Minor AAA team playing travel hockey at an elite level prior to his jump to junior.

As Ryan progressed two particular achievements stick out the most in his young career thus far.

“The 2013 OMHA Cup Championship victory against Richmond Hill was huge for us,” admits Ryan.

“That was a great team to play on. And then being picked to play in the Under-17 tournament in Kitchener for the Ontario Alliance Team in the spring of 2018 was special as well even though we didn’t win the tournament, the experience was awesome.”

It’s there where Kingston saw the potential in Ryan and began their pursuit of him.

Currently, Ryan is working on finishing his high school studies, attending E.J. Lajeunesse French High School in Windsor. After moving across town and attending a year at Brennan, Ryan found himself back at E.J LaJeunesse and intends to complete his Secondary Education there before moving on to University with thoughts of possibly pursuing a teaching career in Human Kinetics one day.

Though he has shown his current coaches on the 73’s his dedication and various abilities, it’s his skating and play making talent that seem to stick out the most.

“He is a phenomenal skater and seems to get better every time we see  him out there in a game,” says 73’s General Manager, Steve Caldwell.

Ryan credits ability to becoming a better player all around from the time he spent at the Windsor Hockey Academy which runs in out of the Central Arena formerly known as the Ice Park which he participated in as part of his middle high school years.

“I think I have to credit those three years I went there as to when I really improved my skating ability. We would spend a couple of hours almost every day there and when you put that kind of time in you hope it’s going to payoff. I started at the Academy in grade eight and participated there until grade 10”

Current, Ryan is eighth among 73’s scorers posting a decent 14 points with 7 goals and 7 assists, with three of his goals coming on the power play. But to the opinion of many, it’s his playing making skills and impact on the ice that stick out more that his name on the scoresheet.

“He is very mature for his age and not afraid or too proud to look to our veterans for inspiration all the while respecting everyone of his teammates equally,” adds Caldwell. “He listens well and has the want to always improve and get better. He is just a great kid with a lot of talent all around.”

Ryan’s commitment to the 73’s was not a hard decision to ponder and came fairly quickly after his camp with Kingston in late summer.

 “I’m very happy here in Essex,” proudly admits Ryan. “There were options after the Kingston camp to play Junior B and calls from a few Junior C teams as well, but I knew this is where I wanted to go. It’s close to home, close to my family and friends and being part of a team like Essex is a perfect situation for me to be in.” Ryan added, “Even if the Frontenac’s don’t pan out for next year, I would be more than happy to stay in ‘C’ and just play here in Essex. It’s class act here all the way around. It’s really a win-win for me either way.”