Color of Hockey: Sparks hoping extensive travel leads to NHL Draft selection

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles Tyus Sparks, an 18-year-old forward with Spokane of the Western Hockey League, who's ranked No. 37 among North American Skaters by NHL Central Scouting ahead of the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

For Tyus Sparks, even home games were road games.

The 18-year-old forward with Spokane of the Western Hockey League is from Meridian, Idaho, where elite-level competition was sparse.

Before the WHL, Sparks played AAA hockey with the Los Angeles Jr. Kings and flew from Boise to LAX for games on weekends from 2021 to 2024, a regular commute that earned him gold and platinum miles status and frequent free upgrades to first class.

“It was sick,” he said. “I was just there sitting in the front of the plane, they're bringing me orange juice before we take off, and I was getting free food. Yeah, I was living the life.”

Sparks now hopes to live the life of an NHL player. He’s No. 37 on NHL Central Scouting's final rankings of North American Skaters ahead of the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

The first round is June 26 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS) with rounds 2-7 on June 27 (10 a.m. ET; NHLN, ESPN+, SN).

Last season, Sparks had 65 points (28 goals, 37 assists) in 69 games with Vancouver and Spokane of the WHL. Spokane acquired him in a trade that sent forward Mathis Preston, No. 32 in Central Scouting’s ranking of North American skaters, to Vancouver on Jan. 5.

Sparks finished the regular season with more points than any other Spokane skater and was second in assists and power-play goals (eight), and had three points (two goals, one assist) in five WHL playoff games.

“He's a shooter,” said John Williams, NHL Central Scouting’s senior western scout. “He's got really good hands, and he is one of the best one-time shooters I've seen this year. He has the ability in the offensive zone to find space and get good spots, kind of like a Brett Hull. He's a guy that just kind of finds spots, gets in good shooting positions and can really fire it and can beat goalies clean.”

Spokane coach Brad Lauer said the key for Sparks is the exceptionally quick release of his shot.

“It’s a skill that he’s developed for himself that he doesn’t need the big shot, the big wind-up to get velocity,” said Lauer, who played nine NHL seasons as a forward from 1986-96. “He’s got very good balance, very centered over the puck. When he does receive it, he can shoot it off the pass or he can catch and release it. He has exceptional timing, hand-eye coordination, where he can get the puck away fairly quick.”

When Sparks was 3 years old, he and his family were visiting relatives in Minnesota. Cousins took Sparks and his older brother, Makhai, skating at an outdoor rink.

“That was my first time ever skating,” Tyus Sparks said. “And ever since then, I loved it.”

The boys begged their parents, Nate and Debbie Sparks, for skates and hockey lessons when they returned to Idaho.

The state isn’t known as a hockey hotbed. Only two NHL players were born there -- Guyle Fielder, who was born in Potlatch and raised in Saskatchewan, and Pat Shea, another Potlatch native.

Fielder played 15 regular-season and playoff games with the Chicago Black Hawks (1950-51), Detroit Red Wings (1952-53 and 1957-58) and Boston Bruins (1953-54) and didn’t register a point.

But the forward had a stellar minor league career and ranks among professional hockey’s all-time points leaders after playing 27 seasons, including 21 seasons in the old WHL. Fielder died on Feb. 21, 2026, at the age of 95.

Shea, a defenseman, had one assist in 10 games with the Black Hawks in 1931-32.

Sparks’ parents knew little about the sport their sons were so hyped to play, though both have athletic backgrounds. Nate Sparks, a Bakersfield, California, native, was a quarterback with British Columbia of the Canadian Football League in 2000 and with Boise State University in 1997 and 1998.

Debbie Sparks, a Minnesotan of Chinese, Swedish and Norwegian descent, was a gymnast at Boise State.

The couple found a local hockey program, enrolled their boys, then proceeded to educate themselves about the sport.

“The first thing I did when my kids started playing was that I bought the rule book," Nate Sparks said, "so I could learn what was going on when the referee kept blowing the whistle because I didn’t know what was happening. Then after that, it was trying to learn how to skate myself.”

He also became the boys’ trainer, relying on his football expertise and hockey workout tips he would pick up from Google searches.

“Oh, yeah, we did a lot of parachute training where the kids would skate up and down the street with parachutes attached whether it was windy or not, probably 100 or 200 yards,” Nate Sparks said. “I would make them flip tires, old football workouts that I had to do, a lot of hurdle jumps, plyometrics. All the off-ice stuff that I knew to do to help me be stronger, I incorporated into their off-ice workouts.”

Tyus Sparks played minor hockey with the Idaho Jr. Steelheads. As his skills progressed, his family had to decide what to do for him to keep improving.

“My skill level at that time was above all the other kids, so we kind of had to branch off and go to other places to play,” Tyus Sparks said.

He played spring hockey in western Canada, which required his parents to load up the family car and drive 10 hours each way for games near Vancouver. 

“It’s unbelievable what my parents did, I love them so much,” Tyus Sparks said. “They care for me so much and they care about my career. They did a whole lot for me and still do.”

The elder Sparks said he and his wife initially had trepidations about their son flying solo when Tyus joined the Jr. Kings, but felt it was the best option to continue his hockey growth.

“It was an interesting decision for us to make," Sparks' father said, "but I don't think we had another choice just due to the fact he was so much more advanced than the kids that were playing here. He began flying out to LA at age 11 and by 13 he was flying by himself. By that time, he had a routine down and pretty much knew the airport.”

Still, Tyus Sparks said it was challenging in the beginning not being able to practice regularly with his Jr. Kings teammates and flying in for games.

“I had to show up to the games and just get the systems right on,” he said. “It was a little bit hard at first, but as time went on, I started to get it, but it was a little difficult, absolutely.”

Despite all the travel, his game didn't suffer; he had 174 points (96 goals, 78 assists) in 103 games with the Jr. Kings U13, U14 and U15 AAA teams from 2021-24. He also traveled to Illinois, where he had 53 points (33 goals, 20 assists) in 37 games with Chicago’s Windy City Storm’s U15 AAA team in 2023-24.

All the commuting paid off when Vancouver selected him with the eighth pick in the 2023 WHL U.S. Prospects draft. Three years later, Tyus Sparks is looking forward to taking another flight.

To Buffalo.