Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – With his four-year Western Hockey League career over, Tyler Mrkonjic packed up his gear from the Calgary Hitmen locker-room last spring and headed back home.
The St. Albert product enrolled in MacEwan University with the end goal of becoming a teacher. Continuing in hockey wasn't in the plans.
"At first, I wasn't going to play hockey this year," said Mrkonjic, who logged 289 games of Major Junior split between Prince George and Calgary. "I was just ready to focus on school and kind of move on from playing in the Western Hockey League – just get ready for the next part of my life and what I want to do, where I want to go.
"Mike (Ringrose, Griffins interim head coach) called me and we had a good conversation and talked about things. My two best friends were playing here on the team. I kind of wanted to play again."
That would be Brett Smythe and Jacob Kohlhauser – guys he first started playing hockey with in novice – who had previously committed to joining the Griffins men's hockey team this season.
He also had a history with Ringrose, whom he played eight games for with the Spruce Grove Saints of the Alberta Junior Hockey League as a 16-year-old call-up from Midget AAA.
"I was quite familiar with him through minor hockey and I knew what kind of character he had and what kind of person he is," said Ringrose. "We fortunately had already recruited a couple of his good friends. It was a phone call from me to see if he was interested in playing at MacEwan and he was, so it was a good fit from there."
Mrkonjic has fit in nicely with the defending ACAC champions and is already logging solid minutes. He has the distinction of scoring MacEwan's first goal of the 2017-18 season when he tallied in the second period against SAIT last Saturday.
"Right out of the gate, he's a leader for us, plays in all situations and always wants to be on the ice," said Ringrose. "He's got a very high hockey IQ. He thinks his way around the rink very well.
"I'm able to trust him and use him in many different situations," he added. "He's been as advertised and through the first two games of the season, he's been one of our best forwards up front."
Mrkonjic, who racked up 33 goals and 57 assists over his WHL career – including 29 points in 72 regular season games and two more assists in four playoff games with the Hitmen last season – instantly becomes the Griffins player with the most Major Junior experience.
Looking back on his career is special for the Griffins freshman. He remembers where it all began in 2013 when he and his Prince George Cougars teammates were first up on the docket for the defending champion Portland Winterhawks.
"I remember my very first game – you go from playing in front of 50 people in the Midget rink and my very first game was Portland's banner night, so I played in front of 10,000," he said. "It was pretty special. It's just a cool experience. You learn a lot from it. I think it helps you grow up a little bit, being away from home and all the bus activities and all the players you get to meet. Now I see guys playing in the NHL, so it's pretty cool."
Former Hitmen teammate Travis Sanheim is with the Philadelphia Flyers, while Jake Bean was a late cut from the Carolina Hurricanes and is back in junior.
"It's pretty cool seeing those guys grow up and move into the higher rankings."
For Mrkonjic, he's had an adjustment, as well.
"It's definitely different playing in the Western Hockey League with 16-20 year olds and now you're coming in to a league where it's all older guys," he said. "So, you've got to take that next step to figure out how to play against these older guys – they're bigger, stronger."
After opening the season with two losses to SAIT, the Griffins will look to get back on track against Portage College (0-1-1) on Friday in Lac La Biche and Saturday at the Downtown Community Arena (6 p.m.).
"I think it was a bit of a wakeup call for us," said Ringrose of 4-0 and 4-3 losses to SAIT, the latter coming on the night MacEwan unveiled the Griffins' 2016-17 championship banner. "It's never easy to win a championship and it's even harder to defend one because you're going to get the other team's best games every single night. That was certainly the case this weekend. We played a very hungry SAIT team and we weren't ready.
"It's not just going to happen for our group. We're going to have to remember how difficult it was to have that kind of success and be willing to go back to that place and do the things that are necessary to achieve that."
