Sydor cherishes WHL career

By Lethbridge Herald on April 12, 2024.

Herald FILE photo Lethbridge Hurricanes Dylan Sydor attempts to break to the net as he is checked by Luke Shipley of the Brandon Wheat Kings during WHL action at the Enmax Centre during this March 2024 game.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Over age forward Dylan Sydor cherished his time in the Western Hockey league with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and his hometown Kamloops Blazers.

“It was awesome,” said Sydor.

“And thanks to all my coaches and the teammates I played with throughout the years, it’s been a great time and just seeing how far I’ve come personally, it’s really nice to see kind of how I progressed through the years.”

Sydor was acquired by the Hurricanes from the Blazers a couple of days before this year’s trade deadline in January.

“Like I said it was obviously shorter, getting traded just before the deadline, but yeah I mean it was awesome,” said Sydor.

“It was kind of a different play style than what I was used to in Kamloops but I loved it a lot. The guys I was playing with were great players, and we had great goalies,  Arny’s (Joe Arntsen)  a great captain.”

Sydor looked up to Arntsen.

“And kind of try to mimic how he carries himself around the community and around the rink and he’s a good role model for me and a lot of guys. So I know the guys here will miss him but being able to spend that time with him was awesome.”

Coming to Canes was Sydor’s first experience living away from home.

“It was a little bit different but when I came here it was obviously a quick turnaround,” said Sydor.

“You kind of hear a day or two before you’re already on the flight. But yeah I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity here to be in a playoff spot and to be able to fight for that my last year in this league.”

Sydor spoke about being on the flip side of playing for a team other than his hometown team.

“It’s fun being  one of those hometown kids,” he said.

“But then kind of get a different perspective in coming here and not many people knowing you and you kind of just do your work quietly. It’s different but in a good way. So I really enjoyed it.”

Sydor hopes to land a pro contract.

“Everybody talks about wanting to go pro and I think I had a pretty good year this year and I kind of shown that I (am) still progressing and getting better,” said Sydor.

“So obviously want to get a contract, whether that happens now or the beginning of next year. I’m obviously going to have a good off season,  going to work by bag off and I want to keep playing hockey.”

Sydor scored 52 goals and added 48 assists  for 100 points in 202 regular season games split between the Blazers and Canes.

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