Lennox Brings Elevated Confidence to Rookie Camp 

Tending goal in his third Islanders Rookie Camp, Tristan Lennox is leveraging the confidence he gained after a dominant season between the pipes for the Saginaw Spirit, along with his first career OHL playoff run. 

“I had confidence years prior, but just going in [the OHL] as my last year and not being scared of anything,” Lennox said. “I was just going in there, having fun and doing my thing.”

The 20-year-old netminder finished his final season in the OHL with a regular season record of 25-15-2 along with three shutouts. Lennox’s 25 wins were a career-high and upped his OHL win total to 59 through four seasons with Saginaw, which rank fifth most in franchise history. Lennox started in 11 postseason games where he sported a 2.64 GAA and a .908 SV% before the Spirit were eliminated in the second round. Lennox, a third-round pick (93rd overall) in the 2021 NHL Draft, also inked a three-year entry-level contract with the Islanders on March 1.

With his junior career in the rearview mirror, Lennox has his sights set on turning pro this season. With Cory Schneider moving on, there is an open spot in Bridgeport and Lennox is one of several goalies, including Henrik Tikkanen and Ken Appleby, who are fighting for it. 

“I think that’s healthy competition,” Bridgeport Head Coach Rick Kowalsky said. “I’m going to look at it and make evaluations based on what I see. It’s going to be up for grabs.”

The first step in that process is Rookie Camp and the Cambridge, Ontario native pointed out that the shots he’s facing at camp, from a group that includes guys with NHL, AHL and European pro experience is at a whole new level.

“The shots are way harder,” Lennox said. “The guys change angles a lot more so it's a lot harder for me. Practicing with pro guys in the summer helped me out a lot, but it's been a little bit of adjustment.”

Evidently from the first few days of camp, Lennox isn’t shy about participating in new drills.

“We worked on our edges today and power skating,” Lennox said on Saturday. “I’m trying to make the most out of it as a goalie doing power skating and the goalie session was good as well.”

Though Kowalsky doesn’t evaluate Lennox the same way as the Islanders goalie coaches, he’s impressed by the 20-year-old netminder’s work ethic in camp.

“I love that he’s not afraid to jump into skating drills with forwards as a goaltender,” Kowalsky said. “I’ve been impressed by Lennox this year. Just by his compete level and the way he communicates, I can tell he’s a real competitive guy.”

At Rookie Camp, Lennox is mingling with other Islanders prospects – some of which he faced in the OHL – including Matthew Maggio, who admits to facing a stiff challenge when he’s in net.

“Every time you go to Saginaw, you know that you got to play Lennox, he’s one of the best goalies in the league,” Maggio said. “Every time you got to go against him, you know you're in for a tough night, and you got to just shoot as much as you can.”

“I think we had some good battles this year, he might have got the better end of it, but had some fun games against each other,” he added. 

Isaiah George, who spent his junior career with the London Knights, is another former foe for Lennox.  

“When we came to camp, we connected pretty quick,” George said. “He's really good goalie, he made some big saves on me. The way that Saginaw played, they put a lot of trust in him to make big saves.” 

Armed with more experience and more confidence, Lennox is settling into rookie camp expanding his social circle and learning as much as he can ahead of his first professional season.

“I’ve had a conversation with pretty much every guy here, especially bonding with the guys my age, or the guys I’ve played against or with,” Lennox said. “I’m just trying to get better every day and work on my craft as much as I can. It's been a good adjustment for me, and I've been having fun.”