The East Coast Hockey League has seen 517 of its former players go on to play in the NHL.
Some of the greatest ECHL’ers to crack the NHL include St. Louis Blues’ goalie Jaroslav Halak, Stanley Cup-winning Los Angeles Kings’ goalie Jonathon Quick, Dallas Stars’ forward Michael Ryder and New York Islanders’ defenseman Mark Streit.
Forward Tyler Pilmore, the all-time leading scorer in Ohio history, is attempting to join the list of players to make the jump.
Yet, the league’s history of producing NHL talent doesn’t intimidate him.
“I don’t really like to look at it that way,” Pilmore said. “You have to be prepared to come to the rink and bring your best game everyday. The good part about that is, if you do it, you continuously improve as a player. You’re not only playing against that caliber of player, you’re playing with them.”
Pilmore, who is currently playing for his hometown Toledo Walleye, an affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, began his ECHL career at the end of last season with the Wheeling Nailers, the affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens.
“It’s pretty incredible,” Pilmore said. “Definitely really cool being able to make a living and play the sport at the same time. I’m getting my feet wet in professional hockey and just seeing what happens with it.”
Pilmore’s first game for the Nailers was against the Walleye, which only put more pressure on the former Ohio star.
“The first game was really nerve wracking, which was made a lot worse because we were playing in my hometown,” Pilmore said. “Definitely something I’ll never forget.”
While he’s only had the opportunity to play less than a dozen ECHL games and is still in search of his first point, on Sept. 28 Pilmore had the chance to play in an American Hockey League exhibition game for the Grand Rapids Griffins, an affiliate of the Red Wings, against the Lake Erie Monsters, the affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche.
Pilmore has made it this far because of his work ethic, which stood out to former coach Dan Morris while he played at Ohio.
“Some come in, maybe they got all their skill-set, but he really came here and improved,” Morris said. “He’s the hardest working guy and it’s contagious.”
For Pilmore, bringing his hard-working mentality to the rink has been essential in both his previous hockey ventures as well as in the ECHL.
“You know you’re going to give 110 percent; you’re playing against and with phenomenal players and there is phenomenal coaching here too, so in order to get better, you have to bring it everyday,” Pilmore said. “I love hockey. It’s a passion of mine.”
Since the inception of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, the league OU’s Division I club hockey team is apart of, in 1991, only one other Bobcat, Jared Whidden, who played for the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the International Hockey League, has made it as far, Morris said.
“Prior to that, when they had graduate students who would come in and play for a year, it was basically the wild west of club hockey,” Morris said. “We had guys who played pro and then came to play at the school.”
Morris said the highest levels of hockey are starting to look outside the box for players like Pilmore.
“The game really, at the high level, has changed a lot, where the players that have always been the skilled players and things have come easy to them, maybe their work ethic isn’t as strong as someone like Tyler,” Morris said. “When you talk to scouts or recruiters, the number one thing they’re looking for is a competitor; give me someone who can compete. That’s where Tyler fits in.”
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