PALM DESERT, CA – Thursday was a good night for Coachella Valley teammates and housemates Luke Henman and Ty Nelson. In a thrilling 6-4 comeback home victory over rival Texas at Acrisure Arena, Henman notched three assists, including the tying- and game-winning goals. Nelson, just hours earlier, getting snaps and cheers in a team meeting when the video flashed the rookie defenseman’s blocked shot from a previous game, finished the night plus-2 with two shots on goal and a huge shot block when Texas was threatening to go up by two goals before intermission.
Keeping it to a one-goal deficit allowed the Firebirds the chance to score three goals (one empty-netter to finish off a Ben Meyers hat trick) for the comeback victory ahead of this weekend’s road series at San Jose. The Barracuda and Firebirds are currently tied at 25 points apiece in the American Hockey League Pacific Division standings.
Earlier in the game day, Nelson was reviewing penalty-kill video with assistant coach Stu Bickel, earning praise for the 20-year-old D-man’s positioning and especially the aforementioned shot block. The previous day, Bickel reviewed a 5-on-5 video with Nelson, pointing out a couple of small areas but overall giving Nelson high marks for his work on CVF’s second pairing with veteran AHL defenseman Ryan Jones.
Henman as the ‘Pro’s Pro’
Henman earned big kudos from head coach Derek Laxdal in his post-game media conference after Thursday’s clutch win.
“He’s like a Swiss army knife,” said Laxdal about Henman’s ability to contribute up and down the lineup plus join the power play units (two of his assists were on power play scores Thursday). “When we started the season, he wasn't in the lineup. He's just one of those guys when you put them in the lineup; he does everything you ask and everything that you want him to do. He hasn't come in since.
“Give him a lot of credit for the rewards that he's got – not just all based on hard work, but also being a good teammate, being a good citizen. It's funny; all those guys seem to get rewarded, so it's pretty tough to take him out right now because of what he does every night. You’ve got to have guys like that, who get you over the hump on the tough days and get over the hump in a playoff series.”
Henman and Nelson are rooming together in La Quinta, one of nine cities that make up Coachella Valley. Henman lived in the same house last season with Seattle defenseman Ryker Evans. They are fast friends, and they both ask after their former roommate when the opportunity arises. Henman, the first player the Kraken signed to a pro contract, and Nelson, a third-round 2022 draft choice, knew each other from Kraken development and training camps plus Nelson on hand for two Coachella Valley deep playoff runs, but have now clearly bonded as roommates with evidence provided during a sitdown with the pair this past Wednesday.
Sharing the Cost, Gaining More
"It's great to have a roommate," said Henman, 24, "especially a guy like Nelly, who's such a nice kid, and I feel like, for me as a guy who's my fourth year now [one season with AHL Charlotte when the Kraken shared the team roster with next Tuesday’s opponent, Florida] I can help him a little bit in areas that he needs.”
Nelson concurs: “As a first-year player to have someone like Henny to rely on when I’ve got questions. He knows what to wear [for road trips or team events], that sort of stuff. I can rely on him, and that makes me more comfortable.”
Henman was a favorite of Kraken coach Dan Bylsma too. The former Firebirds coach described Henman as a “pro’s pro” which young prospects noticed was a supreme hard work and, no doubt, motivated those newcomers to follow suit.
“I try to be a good teammate and compete,” said Henman “Those are the two things I tell myself to every day. If guys are able to follow that a little bit, I think it's a good thing; it's part of the reason why I'm here.”
Henman, who was a star center in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, said his first year in Charlotte was an adjustment after living with a billet family, the norm for juniors players. He empathizes with Nelson as a first-year player facing household chores.
“There’s an adjustment period coming from a billet family,” said Henman. “When you live with a billet family for four or five years, you're not accustomed to having to do all the little things around the house. It’s small things I try to help him out with. He's pretty clean, he's pretty organized, he knows what he's doing.”
Sounds like the adjustment period is going well, allowing the two skilled, hard-working hockey players to bypass those awkward questions of, say, one guy leaving his clothes in the dryer for several days.
Let’s Talk About It
Like all modern-day hockey players, they talk about music and shows they are streaming. Nelson introduced Henman to “Yellowstone,” which, by the way, proved the most common answer among inaugural-season Kraken players when asked about binge shows during the preseason media day.
“For myself, it is really good when we go home that we kind of leave our jobs at the rink,” said Nelson. “We talk about the NHL a lot, or maybe on the way, talk about what you are making for dinner. We have some good conversations, too, about what we thought about a game or play, how we’re feeling about the team, what we might need to do or change individually.”
For last Thursday night, there wasn’t much to change. Just pack their suitcases and get some rest for the pending divisional series at San Jose.
