Bozak can’t wait to share the Stanley Cup with Regina

Tyler Bozak will be showing a new friend around Regina this weekend.

The St. Louis Blues forward will have the Stanley Cup in tow when he and teammate Jaden Schwartz are front and centre during an event Saturday at the Legislative Building.

Bozak is from Regina and Schwartz hails from Wilcox, so they agreed to share their day with the Cup with folks in the Queen City. Their teammate, Saskatoon’s Brayden Schenn, is to have the NHL’s iconic chalice in the Bridge City on Friday.

“None of us would be where we are right now without the people from Saskatchewan and the community and what we did growing up and all the people that we crossed paths with,” Bozak said during a conversation with The Green Zone’s Jamie Nye. “To be able to share (the Stanley Cup) with a lot of those people is pretty special.”

The Blues claimed the Cup on June 12, when they beat the host Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 7 of the NHL final.

The Blues returned to St. Louis for a celebration/parade before heading to Las Vegas – with the trophy – for a day and a half before heading back to Missouri after that. The players dispersed from there and soon started the annual process of taking the Stanley Cup to their hometowns.

The festivities Saturday, which are to begin at 11:30 a.m., will mark the first time that Bozak and Schwartz have had the trophy all to themselves.

“I’m excited to just kind of have it back home with family and friends and really enjoy that special time,” said Bozak, a 10-year NHL veteran who won the Cup for the first time in his career.

“When you’re with the boys and everything, (having the trophy) is great, but to have that just to us and to be back home is going to be pretty cool.”

Bozak spent the first nine seasons of his NHL career with the Toronto Maple Leafs before signing with the Blues this off-season.

The 33-year-old admitted it was tough to leave Toronto – in addition to playing nearly a decade there, he also started his family while living in the city – but he jumped at the chance to sign with the Blues when they offered him a contract.

“From playing against them over the years, I knew how good they were and how tough they were to play against,” Bozak said. “I thought that I would fit in well there — and it worked out really well. Hopefully there are more memories to be made and better years to come as well.”

The Blues got off to a slow start to the 2018-19 regular season and, in fact, were in last place in the overall standings at the start of January.

St. Louis turned around its season, made the playoffs and started picking off teams.

“Even when we were in last place, it’s funny but we didn’t even really think about it,” Bozak said. “We knew we were still a good team and we still believed in ourselves and I think that adversity actually helped us throughout the playoffs.

“We got in some tough situations there, obviously, and that’s going to happen throughout the playoffs. We always found a way to bounce back and we probably played our best hockey coming off a loss or something that happened that gave us some adversity.”

The Blues played 26 of a possible 28 games through four best-of-seven playoff series. After failing to finish off the Bruins in Game 6 of the final in St. Louis, the Blues won the title in Game 7 on the road.

That allowed Bozak – like many of his teammates who also hadn’t won a Stanley Cup – to accomplish a lifelong goal that had started on outdoor rinks in his hometown.

“We were fortunate enough to build a little rink in our backyard and every time you’re out there, you’re playing for the Stanley Cup,” Bozak said. “It’s Game 7 and you have that opportunity to actually live it out and achieve your dream that you’ve dreamed about your whole life.

“It has been a surreal experience.”

Bozak said he and Schenn and Schwartz had heard that Saskatchewan had adopted the Blues because that trio was on the roster. The three men talked daily about it and garnered extra motivation from that support, eager to live up to the expectations of their fellow Saskatchewanians.

“We knew the province was behind us and that was no surprise with how tight of a community it is and having us three on the team,” Bozak said. “We can’t wait to get back to Saskatchewan with the Cup and let everyone see it and spend some time with it.”