GRAOVAC CONTINUES GROWTH, SAYS TEAM ON THE RISE
Dec 24, 2014By Tom Witosky
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On one level, Tyler Graovac’s top priority this season is to get a shot playing for the Minnesota Wild in the National Hockey League.
But on another level, the 21-year-old Iowa Wild center is striving to achieve more than that.
“It’s about being the best professional athlete I can be,” the Brampton, Ont. native said last week. “It takes discipline. For me, it means always aiming for perfection in everything I do.”
While no one can be perfect, Graovac has illustrated this season just how far determination and perseverance can take an athlete when he makes the decision to go beyond obtaining success by striving to achieve excellence.
“He probably has been our most consistent player night in and night out,” said Head Coach John Torchetti in describing Graovac’s play in the first 29 games of the season. “He has done great job of getting ready for the season. He got bigger and stronger and is more confident because of it.”
On paper, Graovac’s improvement is clear. In his first AHL season last year, he impressed fans and club officials with 13 goals and 12 assists in 64 games. The rangy 6-foot, 4-inch, 203-pound center developed a reputation for consistent digging in corners as well as using his size well to disrupt opponents trying to get out of their zone.
So far this year, Graovac leads the Wild in total points with 22 ( 10 goals and 12 assists) in 29 games and an even rating. Graovac has been the mainstay on Iowa’s best scoring line and also has been a pivotal member of the power play and penalty kill units.
Those who watched Graovac last season and again this season noticed his commitment when he arrived in Des Moines for training camp. `
“Grao seems to have learned a lot about how to listen to his body,” Jody Green, the Wild’s team trainer, said. “He learned that you are going to get out of it what you put in. He has been more diligent about his preparation and his approach to each day whether it is practice or games.”
Graovac agreed, saying that he spent much of his summer working not only to get bigger and stronger, but to become mentally tougher. He spent each morning working out with other players from the Toronto area also on the cusp of making it to the NHL. Among those players were Frank Corrado, a fifth round draft choice for Vancouver in 2011 and now with the Utica Comets, and Scott Wilson, recently called up by the Pittsburgh Penguins from Wilkes Barre/Scranton.
“You want to be a shark, you have to train with the sharks,” Graovac said with a smile adding the group pushed each other hard throughout the summer. “I didn’t just train physically, but mentally to try to be the go-to guy and having the mindset of being the best out there. When you are on the ice, you are giving 100 percent, after practice you are doing your stretches 100 percent. ”
In 2011, Graovac was entering his second season with the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League, but thought the chances of being drafted were remote. Two major injuries -- a broken jaw sustained while going down incorrectly to block a puck in his first season and a broken wrist in his third season – and mononucleosis in his second year had kept him from making a big impression on the ice.
“I thought I might have a chance to get drafted because of my size, but it didn’t really look to too good,” he said.
As a result, Graovac skipped going to the 2011 draft to spend the weekend with friends attending his high school prom as well as various after prom parties. But, he also carried his father’s laptop to watch the draft results.
“When the fifth round came around and the sixth, I just figured it wasn’t going to happen,” Graovac said. “All my friends were in the same room and we were watching it when my name came up. It was the most exciting feeling, I’ve ever had.”
Graovac signed a three-year entry-level contract prior to last season. He has one year left on his contract after this season.
He said that his success last year on the team provided him with the momentum to make him work harder in the offseason.
“I kept the momentum and gained weight and got stronger. I came into training camp with the mindset of making the team and being the best player that I can be,” he said.
As part of that effort, Graovac also has focused on how to remain fit and healthy as the season progresses. He said he has often lost as much as 10 pounds during a season and that has caused him problems with fatigue.
“But this year my weight has been spot on,” he said. “That’s because whether it means having a protein shake in the morning to sleeping eight to 10 hour, you have to do everything to be the best you can be. That is what has gotten me to where I am right now. That is what has given me such a great season so far.”
When he wasn’t working out, Graovac said he spent his time with his family – something that he hasn’t been able to do much since he left home at age 15. “I usually spend eight to 10 months away from my family because of hockey whether it was here or in the juniors,” he said. “So I spend a lot of time with them during the summer.”
He also credited his immediate family as well as a host of relatives with providing the support he needed to make it to the AHL. “I hear from someone in the family almost every day and they deserve a lot of credit for helping me,” he said.
The two-year AHL veteran said that he and other members of the Iowa Wild still expect to make a strong run to make it to this year’s playoffs despite the difficult start to the season.
“It’s been a roller-coaster, but we will make a playoff push,” he said. “I really believe this is a playoff team. I say it with confidence. Once we get that momentum and start playing with consistency, I really feel we will be successful.”
He also credited Torchetti, the Wild’s head coach since mid-November, with providing a spark to the team by bringing “an atmosphere to the room of a winning attitude. “
“I have been on a lot of teams where you get the feeling that the coach is against the players and it is a battle every day,” Graovac said. “With us and Torch, we are all one.”
As for his own future, Graovac said he understands that it may take a while to get a call up to Minnesota, but he is ready for it.
“Minnesota is a solid team and it’s tough to break in, which I understand,” Graovac said. “But, I will be ready for whenever they need me. I am ready for a shot, but I understand where I am at.”