The cold, harsh winters of central Minnesota can be tough for even the most seasoned Midwesterner, yet it hasn’t seemed to deter California native Tyler Dysart. In fairness, he hails from Sunnvale, CA, which is in the San Jose area, and is colder than most people think when they think of California. In his first season in the NAHL Dysart already scored six goals and 11 points, which makes the ‘04 born forward just one of three guys in the top ten in scoring that was born after 2002.
When asked about the adjustment to playing in the NAHL, and the cold of St. Cloud, MN winters, Dysart explains it has been a pretty smooth ride. “Not too much of an adjustment,” Dysart shrugs it off with a sly grin. “I think being in the NCDC last year showed me what juniors is about. It’s (the NAHL) a tough league though, our division’s tight. You can easily fall behind two or three games if you’re not playing your game during the weekend. We try to get any type of momentum we can starting Monday through Thursday and just try to keep working and pushing through the weekend.”
Dysart has been pretty consistently in the lineup and hasn’t been a healthy scratch all season. He missed the first four games of October and the first two games in November with a couple injuries but otherwise has dressed in the other 27 games for the Norsemen. Dysart addresses it can be frustrating when you are out of the lineup. “It’s always tough when you’re out watching the other guys. You wanna be out there and you wanna do everything you can to help the team,” admits Dysart. “I think from the first day you’re out you’re kinda just thinking ‘When can I be back?’ Coming back stronger, coming back more physical, whatever it may be, that’s kind of what I try to focus on when I’m out.”
St. Cloud Norsemen Head Coach Corey Millen knows he’s got a great player in Tyler this season, but since Dysart has two more years of eligibility in junior hockey after this season wraps up, perhaps for the future as well. “Tyler’s a kid that comes with a real nice skill set, he skates well, so there’s a lot of great attributes there,” Millen compliments. “He’s a lot like some of these other younger kids, they gotta learn to have a little more consistenty and compete and when he does that he’s a nice little hockey player. He has had moments when he’s doing that, you can see it, and when he does that, he’s effective.”
One thing that’s helped Dysart make the adjustment to a new team and league this year is a familiar face in teammate and Parker, CO native Evan Pahos. Dysart and Pahos both played all of last season for the New Jersey Rockets in the NCDC. Dysart, who primarily plays as wing, scored 9-19-28 in 49 games while Pahos got 5-19-24 in 41 games from the blue line. Tyler feels having his buddy Evan on the team certainly made the transition easier. “Anytime you can bond with somebody and me and him being so close and living together last year helps,” confides Dysart. “We have so much chemistry together, anytime you have that it’s a lot easier to play with somebody. Both of us were lucky to come here this year and I think we’re moving forward with that confidence and that chemistry.”
The Norsemen will try to create some more chemistry this Friday when they host the Austin Bruins for the first half of a home-and-home series. The puck drops at 7:00 pm and you can buy your tickets online at tickets.stcloudnorsemen.com.
