Skip to content

Wranglers’ veteran on pace to post his highest point in league

Bryce Boguski wouldn’t describe himself as a high-scoring hockey player, but so far this season he is sure playing like one.
65004lacombeexpressBryce-Boguski
STEADY HAND - Although he doesn’t consider himself a prolific scorer

Bryce Boguski wouldn’t describe himself as a high-scoring hockey player, but so far this season he is sure playing like one.

Although the season is still young, the four-year Blackfalds Wranglers’ veteran is currently on pace to post his highest point totals in his Heritage Junior Hockey League career.

“I’ve had a good start to this season so I’m hoping to continue that,” said the 20-year-old Eckville native.

Boguski grew up on a farm about 45 minutes west of Red Deer and from a very early age, he knew he wanted to be a hockey player.

“I’ve been interested in hockey since I was little,” he remembered.

Growing up, Boguski said hockey was just part of his life. There was just ‘something about it’ that drew him in.

Whether he was competing at the highest level or just playing on the outdoor rink that his family built in the pasture at their farm, Boguski just loved to be on the ice.

“I started competitive when I was four so from when I could skate I was right in the mix,” he said.

Boguski played minor hockey in Eckville from Tyke all the way up to his first year of Bantam, when he headed east to Sylvan Lake to join their Bantam AA team.

From there it was on wards and upwards for the young farm kid. When he was 15 he made the Minor Midget AAA team in Red Deer before finishing off his minor hockey career with the Sylvan Lake Midget AA Lakers. But Boguski was determined not to let his hockey career end there.

“I wanted to push myself as far as my skill level would let me go and I was lucky enough to land a spot in a competitive league,” he explained.

After coming up short of a roster spot on the Grande Prairie Storm Junior A team, the young forward was asked to come play for the Blackfalds Wranglers Junior B team and the rest, as they say, is history.

“Brian (Lenz, former coach and current president of the Wranglers,) really wanted me to come so I made my way there and had a blast.”

Since coming into the league in 2012, Boguski has morphed into a solid point per game player, though it hasn’t always been that way.

“I’ve changed as a player. In minor hockey I was a scorer. Then in Midget AAA, I got smaller and no one else did so I just turned into a bit of an aggressor,” he laughed.

Now, he said after pausing to think for a bit, he considers himself more of a high-energy defensive forward.

But that defensive style of play hasn’t stopped him from making waves offensively this season.

In eight games, number 21 has scored a total of eight goals and added three assists for a team-leading 11 points on the season.

Only time will tel if he can continue that kind of production throughout the season but you can be sure that event if he stops scoring, the veteran forward from Eckville will continue to contribute to the Wranglers’ success both on and off the ice.

zcormier@lacombeexpress.com