It’s a moment any young hockey player dreams of.
Signing a contract with an NHL team.
For Hunter Brusztewicz, the dream came true Thursday, when the 19-year-old put pen to paper on a three-year, entry-level contract with the Flames.
“It’s really exciting, I can’t thank the Flames enough for giving me the opportunity,” the Kitchener Rangers d-man said when reached by phone. “Just a really exciting day for me and my family.
“Absolutely ecstatic just to have it officially happen, it’s a very special moment.”
Brzustewicz has - to put it mildly - been tearing up the Ontario Hockey League this winter, too.
His 85 points are the second-highest single-season by a Rangers defenceman in franchise history, a spot in the team record books occupied by Flames legend Al MacInnis up until a week ago.
If the Rochester, Mich., product were to collect eight more points over the Rangers’ final five regular-season games, he’d have the all-time mark all to himself.
But Brzustewicz is more concerned about bringing some OHL glory back to Kitchener.
The Rangers will have home-ice advantage when they start the playoffs in a couple of weeks, searching for the city’s first championship in 16 years.
In a long list of next steps for Brzustewicz, the post-season is understandably next up to bat.
“Just finish off the season with my team, and go as far as we can, hopefully ultimately win a championship,” he said of his asprirations for the spring. “Then with the Flames, hopefully it’s just to get out there, meet everyone, put names to faces and work to my best to make the AHL, the NHL or whatever it is, prove to them why they made such a great decision.”
That decision wasn’t made at the draft table either.
Originally selected by the Canucks in the third round of last year’s NHL Draft, Brzustewicz’s rights transferred to Calgary in late January, when he was (a big) part of the package acquired from Vancouver in the Elias Lindholm deal.
“It’s really exciting just for a team to trade for you, it just means that they want you; I was really excited that it was the Flames," he said.
Brzustewicz’s hockey journey isn’t a common one - a top-tier U.S. prospect choosing to come north and play major junior puck in the CHL.
Rarer still to be led by a European head coach, as is the case in Kitchener under Jussi Ahokas, who led Finland to a gold medal (against the U.S.A., no less) at the 2019 World Juniors in Vancouver.
But Brzustewicz is happy to be under Ahokas’ watchful eye, ahead of what’s likely to be his final few months of OHL hockey before turning pro.
“I can’t thank my coaches enough, they came in and did an unbelievable job with not only me, but my team,” he said. “They’re super-personable, that’s all I can ask for, they treat us just like one big family and every day, it’s super-fun to go to the rink.
“We just have such a good group, we all just play for each other; it’s been a really fun year and hopefully we can go as far as we can.”
