Mcgrath brings patience, confidence to tryout with Growlers

Without having ever seen him play, the coaches of the Newfoundland Growlers will know this much about Kyle Mcgrath.

He is patient. Nevertheless, Mcgrath admits that patience was subject to some erosion over the past year as he awaited an opportunity denied him by something out of his and the Growlers’ control. (There are few who wouldn’t surmise that “something” was the COVID-19 pandemic.)

The 22-year-old forward from St. John’s has been invited to participate in the ECHL team’s training camp next month on a tryout, something that’s been in the works for over a year.

“I was pretty much supposed to go to their camp last year, but obviously, that didn’t amount to anything,” said Mcgrath on Wednesday, shortly after his tryout contract was filed with, and approved by, the ECHL.

“So I’ve skated four times a week since then in preparation, but that’s gotten a little bit old. I’m ready to get going I think.”

This will be the first pro experience for Mcgrath, who starred with the three-time provincial champion St. John’s Maple Leafs major midgets (he led the provincial U18 league in scoring in 2015-16) and Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2015 Canada Games entry before seeing some time in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

He returned to Newfoundland in 2018 and began studies at Memorial University while playing for the St. John’s Caps in the SJJHL junior B circuit. But he was on the go again later that season, hooking up with fellow Newfoundlander Alex Newhook with the Victoria Grizzlies of the British Columbia junior league, helping the Grizzlies to a BCHL championship.

It was then back to Newfoundland to continue at Memorial, all while absolutely ripping up the St. John’s junior and East Coast senior circuits with Caps teams, totalling 43 goals and 86 points in 34 games overall, and earning SJJHL MVP honours in a season cut short by the pandemic.

He’s been on the ice plenty since then, for “little shinny” sessions with some other top local senior players; in offseason skates with some of Newfoundland’s most prominent hockey names, including Newhook, Dawson Mercer and Luke Adam; and most recently for workouts with Nathan Noel, Marcus Power and Zach O’brien, fellow Newfoundlanders who he will likely see at the Growlers’ camp, which begins Oct. 13 at Mile One Centre in St. John’s.

He’s also done a lot of oneon-one work with Vision Hockey’s Andrew Pearcey, who has become a key advocate for his career, and has already had a get-to-know-you lunch with new Growlers coach Eric Wellwood.

It all has him feeling prepared for what’s coming, but Mcgrath feels the time with Power and O’brien, who starred with the Growlers for their first two seasons, and Noel, who has split time between the ECHL and AHL, was particularly telling.

“You are talking about some guys who have been tops in that league,” he said. “To be able to measure myself against them has been huge and honestly, as the summer went on, I felt more comfortable, more confident.

“There would be growing pains, I’m sure, but I truly believe I could be a good player in that league.”

He is still pursuing his education but had to make an adjustment that amounts to a sacrifice.

A business student at Memorial, Mcgrath was accepted into the school’s highly regarded commerce program, but after taking five related courses over the summer, was unable to find a work term that would allow him to pursue his hockey aspirations.

So he has changed to a business administration program that allows more flexibility as he works to finish his degree.

“It was disappointing. I had been hoping some kind of arrangement could be made, especially since I worked so hard to get into the commerce program, but it was a personal decision… it was my decision because I felt this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” he said.

“The idea that I might have a chance to play professional hockey in my hometown was something I couldn’t really imagine was possible growing up.

“I could dream it, but I don’t know if I could really believe it. But now, I have that chance and there’s no way I can’t take it.”