By Grant Warkentin
Campbell River’s Dylan Garand made his NHL debut last night, in net for the New York Rangers.
He stopped 35 of 37 shots – the Rangers lost 3-2 to the Winnipeg Jets in an overtime shootout, but Garand was still honoured with the top star ranking for the game.
“It was pretty surreal,” Garand said in interviews after the game, published by the NHL. “Really, just try to be present and then take it all in. It was everything you could ever hope and dream of, and you know it (stinks) to not get the win for the guys. But it was a dream come true.”
Garand started playing junior hockey with the Campbell River Storm during the 2017–18 season. At just 15 years old, he made four playoff appearances, posting a 3-1-0 record with a 2.01 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage.
Garand was a major factor that season helping the Storm win the Brent Patterson Memorial Trophy, the team’s 10th league championship in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL). It cemented the Storm as the most successful team in VIJHL history. His performance that season also helped the team win the Andy Hebenton Trophy, awarded each year to the league’s best regular season team.
Garand went on to play with the Kamloops Blazers in the Western Hockey League (WHL) and in 2020 he was drafted in the fourth round, 103rd overall, by the New York Rangers. He’s spent the last several seasons with the Rangers’ American Hockey League farm team, the Hartford Wolf Pack, and was called up for his NHL debut this past weekend.
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