Ryder Korczak isn’t done playing hockey this season just yet.
Only a few days after the Moose Jaw Warriors were eliminated from the Western Hockey League playoffs by the Winnipeg Ice, the New York Rangers announced that the overage forward had been assigned to the AHL Hartford Wolfpack for the remainder of the season.
As a result, Korczak will play the remainder of his hockey career as a professional, having played his last game in the WHL on Monday night.
“It’s been fun, since I was 16 in Calgary,” Korczak said after the Warriors' loss to Winnipeg in Game 6 at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. “Everyone says that it goes by fast, but it truly does in your 20-year-old year and it did for me. The guys were awesome and the coaching staff was awesome, I can’t thank them enough and it’s been great.”
That Korczak played in Moose Jaw at all this season was fortuitous. As a signed 20-year-old, the Rangers could have kept the Yorkton product in the AHL or even sent him to the ECHL, but instead opted to return him to junior in mid-November.
Just like that, Korczak went from being a raw rookie to a hyper-experienced veteran, and he made the most of the change of scenery. All told, he’d finish the season with 28 goals and 69 points in 48 games, a pace that would have put him at 97 points and in the top five in WHL scoring had he played the full 68-game season.
Korczak then tacked on three goals and 11 points in 10 playoff games as the Warriors swept Lethbridge before throwing a scare into the WHL’s top regular-season team.
“I’m proud of our group, looking at the first series there and sweeping Lethbridge, we played really well,” Korczak said ot the Warriors’ post-season run. “Then in this series, too, we played really well, but they had more stuff go their way. So I’m extremely happy with our team and how we played.”
Of course, it’s never easy moving on from a team you grew up with. That’s no different for Korczak, especially with a crew as tight as the Warriors are.
“We’re all very close, we’ve known each other four or five years and those are my brothers in there,” he said. “So it’s sad to say goodbye, for sure.”
Korczak didn’t take long to become an impact player with the Warriors, as after joining the team in the off-season trade in 2019 that sent Jett Woo to Calgary, the then-17-year-old put up 18 goals and 67 points in 62 games.
The following season was played in the Regina Hub due to the pandemic and saw Korczak put up three goals and 16 points in 17 games. That summer, the NHL came calling, with the Rangers selecting Korczak in the third round, 75th overall.
He followed up with the best season of his WHL career, racking up 25 goals and 79 points while playing all 68 games.
All in all, a solid run, and one Korczak will look back on with fond memories.
“I’d say it was a rollercoaster, there were some ups and down, but a lot more ups than downs,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun so I’m going to remember the whole experience, for sure.”
