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For Soo Greyhounds defenceman Ryan O’Rourke, the uncertainty of the 2020-21 Ontario Hockey League season was still a positive.
As the Greyhounds open training camp this week, the 19-year-old is returning to Sault Ste. Marie with some pro experience under his belt.
Uncertainty was what made the 2020-21 season so tough for players around the OHL and O’Rourke was no different.
“Definitely uncertain,” O’Rourke said when asked when the year-plus of the pandemic had been like as a player. “Everything that I’ve got the opportunity to do is, I wouldn’t say last minute, but spontaneous. That’s just how it has been, whether it’s rinks closing that could be open one day and the next day they’re closed. Same with the gyms and with anything. Everything was a mystery and it just seems amplified when it was put in front of you. It was either a short amount of time or it was something you had to prepare for in a week or two. That way, it was hard trying to stay on top of things, but just things pop up left, right, and centre.”
Drafted by the Minnesota Wild, O’Rourke spent the 2020-21 season with Minnesota’s American Hockey League farm team, the Iowa Wild, playing in 33 games with the team.
“I’m grateful for it,” O’Rourke said of playing in the AHL. “The opportunity to go there really helped me developmentally as a player and a person, having to be independent and living on my own. It taught me a lot that way even off the ice. On the ice, developmentally, it was huge for me. It really benefited me to get that experience in.”
Playing in the AHL with Iowa meant improvements in his game as well.
“My skating,” O’Rourke said when asked what about his game improved most during his time in Iowa. “Obviously at that level, the skating is a lot more important. The guys are a lot faster. Being a defenceman in that league, you have to be a really good skater to keep up and your skating can really help you defend some bigger guys and even faster guys.”
O’Rourke added that the improvement came from the opportunity to get experience.
“Ryan is somebody that is going to take huge experience from that,” Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis said. “He’s a player that always played a little lighter with us. When he was in his draft year, he was physical, he was pushing guys around, he went from the Ivan Hlinka (tournament) to playing a ton of minutes with us at 17, which, whether it was fair or not fair, that’s where we were at with our team, and he was ready to take that step. He played the Canada/Russia series, there was really no time off for him. Just getting that little bit of an extended break, being able to be in the gym and work on his skating and push himself with that, he’s going to come in with so much confidence this year.”
“We talk about it internally that, before guys take that step to pro, a lot of times you want to see them be the man, be in that spot of being the guy you look to in every situation, playing with a ton of confidence and that’s something you’re going to see in Ryan,” Raftis added. “He’s a confident kid, no doubt, but sometimes confidence at 17 and confidence at 19 is completely different in the moment.”
With the break during the summer prior to training camp with the Greyhounds, O’Rourke said he used the time to continue working on his skating in addition to his overall skill and defensive skills.
“I wouldn’t say a lot has changed that way,” O’Rourke said when asked about his summer training leading up to camp, “but what I’m doing each session is changing.”
O’Rourke said the summer news of the OHL setting dates for training camps and the regular season was a good feeling.
“One of the main things with all of the news is, every time we see something new, whether that be the schedule or home opener, or even exhibition games, it makes it more anxious and it seeing everything come out, it makes you want to start and just do it,” O’Rourke said. “Every time you see something come out, it’s a little pump to the tires and it’s motivating.”