1-On-1 With Tyson Empey
Last week on the Tucson Roadrunners Insider Podcast, “Voice of the Roadrunners” Adrian Denny and TucsonRoadrunners.com’s Jimmy checked in with Roadrunners forward Tyson Empey from the PHPA Meetings in Florida. The full episode, which released early for the holiday weekend, can be found on the iHeartRadio App or by listening below.
Listen to “Tyson Empey Takes Us Into The Holiday” on Spreaker.
Q: You’re on a business trip representing the Roadrunners at the PHPA Meetings. Tell us about that.
A: I guess you could call it a business trip. It’s a nice spot that [the PHPA] has us at, it’s the Disney Resort in Orlando. We have a few meetings every day, then it’s just hanging out with other players. We had a golf tournament earlier this week, and we’re learning what the PHPA Union has planned for the next year. I’ve learned some things that I can hopefully pass on to the other players.
Q: Before heading to Florida, you made it home to Saskatchewan from Tucson. How was the trip?
A: I left Tucson a couple of weeks ago, and I have a few buddies from college that live in Denver, so I stopped for a few days there to play golf with them. As for the drive, the first half wasn’t great, it was storming pretty bad. After Denver, it was smooth sailing. I was home for a week, and now I’m back on the road for a week. It’s a good opportunity down here [in Florida] to see other players and learn about the PHPA.
Q: What are your plans for the summer once you’re back home from the meetings?
A: I’ll get back into training, and my sister is actually getting married this summer. That’ll be exciting, she’s the first one in the family so it’ll be a big couple of weeks preparing for that. I’m sure we’ll be busy there.
Q: Can you describe your second season in the desert with us? You were a part of some memorable games.
A: It was another great season. Tucson is one of the best spots to play, you can’t beat the weather and the fans and the Tucson Arena atmosphere. We had a really good group this year, we had a lot of fun, and it was awesome we got to make the playoffs. I think we put up a pretty good fight against Coachella Valley.
Q: You had our very first game-winning goal of the season this year in our first game against Henderson.
A: That was an exciting weekend for me. I got a nice pass from [Travis Barron] and ripped a one-timer and it went in the net. I remember the boys were all chirping me afterwards that I was on pace for a goal per-game. *laughs*
Q: This was our first season with Zack Stortini as an Assistant Coach. He had a similar play style to yours when he played, what were you able to learn from him?
A: Having “Storts” come in was great, I remember watching him when I was younger. He had a lot of great advice for me, and I got a lot of good one-on-one time with him working on things at the rink. It was really good having him around the rink with us.
Q: Do you have any favorite Swift Current Broncos players from growing up there?
A: There were some good players that went through Swift Current. Joe Sakic was there, Zack Smith a little more recently. I used to go to the games all the time as a kid. It was pretty awesome getting to grow up in a town with a WHL team to cheer for.
Q: Are you able to see any Roadrunners teammates when you’re back home in the Swift Current area?
A: Nobody is too close, Cam Hebig is in Saskatoon, Ben McCartney is in Brandon and Reece Vitelli is over in the Winnipeg Area. Hudson Elynuik is Calgary, and I usually get to see him the most. We were pretty tight living together the last two years, so we always try to make something work over the summer.
Q: You dropped the gloves for three fights with us this season, do you have a favorite?
A: That line brawl in San Jose sticks out, that was a pretty memorable one. It sucks we didn’t get to play a shift that game, we all went up to the press box we had at San Jose’s arena, and it was pretty full. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that game.
