How St. Petersburg’s Kyle Konin made his NHL dream come true

TAMPA – Kyle Konin was just getting off the ice after his weekly morning skating with the Lightning alumni on Thursday when he saw he had three missed calls from General Manager Julien BriseBois.

“I was like, ‘Oh boy, I’ve either done something really bad or something really good,'” said Konin, a St. Petersburg resident and former college goalkeeper who makes a living in goalkeeper masks.

About seven hours later, Konin, 23, was eligible for the game against the Lightning at Amalie Arena for the St. Louis Blues. Despite not taking part in the game, Konin led the team onto the ice to warm up before the game and sat on the guest bench.

“I didn’t expect that,” said Konin. “I would say everything exceeded my expectations. I think my expectation was that I would get a jersey and sit on the bench. “

It might be the rarest – and most interesting – opportunity in professional sport when a normal person can go from spectator to participant, if only for a day.

Konin is the Lightning’s emergency backup goalkeeper. Each NHL team must have someone available for home games who can dress in case one of the teams needs a goalkeeper in the 11th hour. Most of the time it never comes to fruition.

St. Louis Blues emergency goalkeeper Kyle Konin warms up before Thursday’s game against the Lightning at Amalie Arena [ CHRIS O’MEARA | AP ]

But when Blues starter Jordan Binnington entered the COVID log on Thursday morning and the team couldn’t get a backup of their AHL subsidiary due to issues with the salary cap, Konin was called on to the service.

The boys lead

For Konin – who spent most of his childhood in Clearwater, first skating at a Lightning youth camp in Brandon, and who was then on the St. Pete Times Forum as the Thunder Kid before a Lightning game – it was a come true Dream.

His parents, Jeff and Gina, are Clearwater residents and Lightning season ticket holders, but Thursday’s game wasn’t on their schedule. So Jeff jumped online to buy seats behind the visitor bench in the Amalie Arena, close enough to have a good view of the stool the substitute goalkeeper is sitting on and far enough away so that the family wouldn’t be distracted. Kyle’s wife, Hannah, and her family were also present.

St. Louis Blues defender Scott Perunovich (48) and emergency backup goalkeeper Kyle Konin (31) watch from the bench during the first half of Thursday’s game against the Lightning. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

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Hours earlier, Konin walked into a locker room full of strangers who became his teammates for the night. The Blues gave him a jersey, but the rest of the gear came from the gear bag he lugs to every home game, including the pants he wore with lightning bolts on the side.

For the pre-game warm-ups, Konin was asked by Captain Ryan O’Reilly to do his rookie lap, an unofficial indoctrination before a player’s first NHL game. Vladimir Terasenko tapped him with his stick and sent him out. Brayden Schenn shouted: “Let’s lead the boys, Konzy. No bucket (helmet). “

“I was kind of against it for a while,” said Konin. “I just thought, ‘I don’t know if it’s something you have to earn or whatever. I just thought I don’t know if I should. But all the boys were like, ‘Oh no, you go, you go. At that point, it was like they decided that for me.

“It was a good time and it’s pretty cool to get the full NHL experience.”

A few rows over the bench, Konin’s parents watched with pride. Like his son, who skates without a helmet, Jeff told himself not to record videos on his phone because he wanted to record the moment in its entirety.

A 9-year-old Kyle Konin plays street hockey with younger brother Chris while he dons a Lightning Camp jersey and cap. [ Courtesy of Kyle Konin ]

“That was the coolest thing ever,” said Konin’s father. “Everyone dreams of having this opportunity. Just seeing with my own eyes was just like, when you are a dad you want to see success for your children right? It was a moment for him to soak up. And he knew when he got out there, built on it, during that, after that, that we were all there and supported him. “

Part-time goalie, full-time entrepreneur

As a local emergency backup goalkeeper, Kyle participates in every Lightning home game. He sits behind the home bench in section 130, ready to grab his gear bag and give immediate assistance if one of the teams loses a goalkeeper to an injury during the game.

But the timing of that opportunity – the Blues knew they’d need Konin’s help early on in the day – gave him the rare chance to be an NHL player for a full day.

Kyle Konin (left) and his brother Chris (21) play together for Proformance Therapy in the advanced beer league Tuesday night at the TGH Ice Plex in Brandon. Chris is a Division I player for Army. [ Courtesy of Kyle Konin ]

“I have full experience for that,” said Konin. “Usually you go to the game and just try to stay mentally ready, but you can’t physically do anything until something happens.”

Konin’s path to the game was as winding as the one that took him from Tampa Bay and back. His hockey ambitions and those of his younger brother Chris led him north to a prep school in New Hampshire. After a stint with the juniors, he played college hockey in Grand Valley State.

He also became an entrepreneur on the side.

After he started painting his own mask, his parents gave him an airbrush set as a Christmas present. At the age of 12 he started his own painting business. During prep school, Konin painted about 20-30 masks for college programs. He now runs his own airbrush and goalie mask design business, Nujax Airbrush, from his St. Pete home. He painted about 50 masks this year.

“I’ve always been a goalkeeper and I’ve always loved art,” he said, “so those were two things that kind of went together.”

Kyle Konin’s passion for the arts led him to start his custom airbrush and mask design company, Nujax Airbrush. [ Courtesy of Nujax Airbrush ]

Konin currently plays for the Proformance Therapy A-League team in the Tuesday Night Beer League at the Brandon Ice Plex. But his commitment to the Lightning has forced him to miss a few games, including the league’s championship game last Tuesday. He also trains goalie at Xtra Ice in Tampa and plays in local roller hockey leagues.

When Lightning players returned to Tampa to start training and skating in the off-season, starting goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy was still in Russia and the team had not yet finalized their deal with backup Brian Elliott. A couple of Lightning alumni, Mathieu Garon and Dwayne Roloson, told the team about Konin, and it started filling the net for the team during informal training sessions.

That opportunity resulted in an invitation from BriseBois to serve as the Lightning’s emergency backup goalkeeper this season.

And a possible NHL call from an opposing team.

“It’s an interesting scenario in sport,” said Konin. “I don’t think there’s really any other sport that someone can just jump into.”

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The post How St. Petersburg’s Kyle Konin made his NHL dream come true first appeared on Daily Florida Press.

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