By paNOW

Saskatchewan in Sochi: Regina’s Ryan Getzlaf shooting for gold again

Feb 3, 2014 | 9:55 AM

He’s having one of his best seasons in the NHL and now Ryan Getzlaf from Regina will compete in his second Olympics.

Getzlaf will compete with Team Canada at the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia after winning gold at 2010 Vancouver games.

Growing up in Saskatchewan, Getzlaf learned to skate when he was three years old at an outdoor rink in Avonlea.

“We’d go out there and the kids would play hockey for eight hours,” said his father Steve Getzlaf.

Ryan’s dad explained his son never really had a favourite team growing up and never really watched NHL on the TV. That’s because he was constantly playing street hockey on the street with friends. Although hockey was his passion, Getzlaf played other sports, including football alongside his brother Chris who now plays for the Roughriders.

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“You only get the opportunity to see your brother play in the Olympics so many times,” said Chris who will join the Getzlaf family in Russia.

Ryan didn’t always play the position of forward on the ice. His father said he tried playing defence and had an early passion for goalie.

“We went to a tournament in Vancouver called a Super Series and he won most valuable forward there. We came home and he said, ‘I’m playing goal next year.’”

His father wasn’t too fond of the idea because he could see his goal-scoring son getting better as he advanced from the Pee Wee level to Bantam with the Regina Rangers and onto the Midget Regina Pat Canadians. When Ryan was 16, he moved to Calgary after making it to the WHL.

“Even when he was with Calgary with the Hitmen he dressed in net for a few practices,” said Steve.

Ryan stayed as a forward which his father said is his natural position. He explained how Ryan could read the ice better than anyone else.

“He could pass the puck like unbelievable right…and I could never understand why other kids couldn’t do it,” said Steve.

Steve stopped giving Ryan coaching tips after the Pee Wee level because his son started to understand the game better than he did. However, he did pass on an important lesson that being a professional hockey player takes more than just talent.

“I basically just talked to him about attitude and stuff like that.”

Ryan Getzlaf is leading his team in points and in the dressing room, now in his fourth year as Captain of the Anaheim Ducks. His father said it takes the right kind of attitude to be a captain to players like Teemu Selanne, who is 15 years older than Getzlaf.

“It looks like he’s shooting the puck more which is nice to see and I think he’s getting rewarded with a lot more goals that way,” said his brother Chris.

Getzlaf passed his own record of most goals scored in a season at 25 with another 30 or so games remaining in the 2013-2014 season.

The Regina native is heading to Sochi at the top of his game. His father said to play in the Olympics with little preparation time you have to be able to gel with other players quickly. Ryan can play with anybody according to his father.

Getzlaf has three gold medals under his belt; at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, the 2005 World Junior Championships and in 2003 at the Under 18 Championships in Yaroslavl, Russia. Getzlaf is hoping to bring home another gold medal from Russia in 2014, this time from Sochi.

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