Dana Tyrell and Zach Boychuk have played a few games together and a few against each other.
But the stage was slightly larger than the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League or the WHL the last time they met.
The former Airdrie Xtreme Bantam AAA teammates first met at the NHL level on Dec. 20, when Tyrell’s Tampa Bay Lightning beat Boychuk’s Carolina Hurricanes 5-1 at the St. Pete Times Forum.
It was Boychuk’s second game after being called up from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. He played 10:06, while Tyrell played 15:07 and added an assist.
Carolina exacted revenge on Jan. 15 by beating the Lightning 6-4 on the RBC Center’s home ice. Tyrell had 11:05 of ice time, while Boychuk had 10:24.
“It was my second time playing against him this year and it was awesome,” Tyrell said. “It seems like he’s getting more ice time, so I’m happy for him. We got to go out there and play a couple shifts against each other. We didn’t get into too many battles or talk too much, but it was fun. It’s interesting how things work, as we grew up together, played together, and now we’re in the NHL playing against each other.”
Tyrell said the two Airdrie players, who have played against each other before as members of the Prince George Cougars and Lethbridge Hurricanes, wanted to remain ready for action, but also have a brief moment to enjoy grandeur of the situation.
“It’s competitive, but fun at the same time,” he said. “We were both the last guys from each of our teams on the ice for warm-ups and gave each a look and a smile. Every time he was out there, I watched him and I’m sure when I was out there, he was watching me play too. It was really cool.”
Boychuk has five points in 15 games with the Hurricanes this season, after amassing 32 points in 28 games in the AHL prior to his call up. Tyrell has 10 points in 43 games with the Lightning.
“I’ve been improving every game and I’m happy with the way things are going right now,” Tyrell said. “I’ve been getting opportunities playing with different guys and just the confidence level is huge. I want to get a few more points, but I think it will start coming.”
Tampa Bay’s record in the last 10 games is 5W-5L, but the hard-working, Airdrie-born forward said the team will pull out of the mini slump.
“We’ve kind of hit a cold patch here and over the last 10 games, we’re at .500,” Tyrell said. “That’s not where we want to be. We’re a top team and I think we’ll get back to the way we can play. It’s been tiring the last little while, as we’ve been on the road a lot, but we’ll figure it out. Those two divisional games against Atlanta and Florida (Jan. 20 and 21) are huge games for the standings and those teams can creep up on you pretty fast.”
Tampa Bay is currently third in the Eastern Conference and Carolina is ninth, so the possibility of the two teams facing each other in the first round of the playoffs is definitely on the radar.
“You don’t know how things are going to work out, but if we play each other in the playoffs, that would be pretty cool,” Tyrell said. “It could happen and that would be exciting. It would be both of our first times playing in the NHL playoffs, which is a completely different level of hockey.”
The division rivals will meet again on Feb. 12, as well as a home-and-home series on March 25 and 26, before playing each other for the sixth and final time of the regular season on April 9.
