As Chris Harpur’s fifth and final season at Niagara University came to a close, he needed to decide what was coming next.
Where did he want to play? Did he still want to play?
Then Harpur’s agent reached out with interest from a couple teams from the East Coast Hockey League, a league spanning 21 states and Quebec. One of those teams was the Orlando Solar Bears.
Playing in Orlando for parts of three seasons eventually led to several opportunities with the Syracuse Crunch, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning. This summer, Harpur signed a one-year AHL contract with the Crunch after appearing in 17 games for Syracuse last season.
“The opportunity arose in Orlando and I took that, ran with it, and then just kept working, kept grinding, and got the opportunity with Syracuse,” he said.
Harpur isn’t the only former Purple Eagle with an AHL contract for this upcoming season. Connor Mylymok, who left the program at the end of last season to play for the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL, signed a one-year AHL deal with the Calgary Wranglers. For Mylymok, who came to NU to play with his brother Luke, signing with Calgary is a sign his hard work is paying off.
“I’m not going to lie, it feels nice,” he said “I’m obviously a little bit more motivated now to have an opportunity to play in Calgary. I’ve been doing the same thing every summer just to keep doing what I’m doing, so it’s kind of like that consistency is paying off.”
Impact of playing at NU
For both Harpur and Mylymok, their time at Niagara under coach Jason Lammers had a large impact on where they are now in the game. NU was an important stepping stone, Harpur said.
“They prepared me both on and off the ice to be a pro,” he said. “You never know how much work it actually is until you get there. They were always saying, ‘You’ve got a chance, stay dialed in, stay dedicated to it, keep the work ethic, but it’s only going to get harder.’ And they were right.”
Although he only played at Niagara for a year, Mylymok credits NU with giving him what he “needed” to turn pro.
“(Lammers) really cares about his players,” Mylymok said. “He cares about their development and he’s a coach that truly cares about not just winning but his players. It was overall a great experience.”
Recruiting future pros
When Lammers is scouting players for his program, one of the intangibles he looks for is a player’s desire to turn pro after his collegiate hockey career. It’s part of a three-part assessment for each player that he and his coaching staff key in on in the recruiting process: the person, the student and the player.
“We want to grow men,” he said. “We want to have great students, but we want guys that want to be pros and that want to play pro.”
If players are willing to follow the plan set out by Lammers and his hockey operations staff to not only succeed in college hockey, but go on to the pro game, there’s a good chance it’ll work out.
“If the guys will live the plan, we can meet them where they’re at,” he said. “I’ve had a chance to coach 34 NHLers. It works, but you have to do it consistently and constantly.”
Getting to a higher level starts with the person, Lammers said.
“It’s the scale principles that we have, the sacrifice, the ‘we over me,’ compete, second and third efforts, being a fountain, not a drain with your attitude, having self-discipline as a leader of yourself, and then the excellence piece, working to get better each and every day,” he said.
Upcoming season
Harpur spends the summers in Niagara-On-The-Lake training with his brother Ben, who currently plays for the Hartford Wolfpack of the AHL. They push each other hard, Harpur said, especially with Ben trying to get to the National Hockey League, and Chris trying to make his mark in Syracuse. There’s also a difference in play that Harpur has prepared for during the offseason. The jump in play from college hockey to the ECHL was noticeable, but the jump between the ECHL and AHL is pretty large.
“You’ve got really good guys there, guys on NHL one-way contracts that are sent down there and they’re working to prove that they should get back to the NHL,” he said. “Obviously each level you go to is just guys that are faster, stronger, smarter, just all of the above and you’ve got to work through that and you’ve got to push yourself to get to that level as well, to stay there.”
It’s a challenge, Harpur said, but one he’s up for.
Mylymok plans on doing what he’s always done in hockey: working as hard as he can and being an “energy guy.” He envisions himself playing a heavy, tough brand of the game, a role that not many players are taking on these days.
“You don’t see as many guys like myself sticking around anymore,” he said. “… I knew that’s how I was going to have the most impact from my game was playing the way I do. It’s a missing element especially as you get higher up in the pro ranks. But, in my opinion, it’s a needed element of the game. You’ve got to police the game somehow.”