Ryan Strome cherishes junior hockey development with IceDogs
- Brandon Caputo
- Mar 15
- 9 min read
Brandon Caputo
@BCaputo_AGM
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Ryan Strome has carved out a strong 13-year professional hockey career in the National Hockey League with four different teams, accumulating over 800 games played and just under 600 points, but the now 31-year-old alternate captain for the Anaheim Ducks still believes his years in Niagara with the IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League were pivotal for his development and growth as both a man and a player.
“It’s what molded me as a player,” Strome said. “You look back to those times and it feels like you would do anything to kind of go through it again because it goes by so fast and it feels like a long time ago. I still keep in touch with a bunch of my buddies that were there and they're still some of my best friends today and still talk to my billet parents and stuff which is great and see them in the summertime.”
“It was such a fun time in our lives back then and we had a great group of guys but it goes by super quick so those are fond memories that molded me as a person and as a player; just amazing thoughts and feelings looking back.”
Strome is still one of the most accomplished players in IceDogs franchise history during his time there from 2009-2013, sitting second in all-time points for the franchise with 281 in 191 games played, while also sitting second and sixth for the highest single point totals with 106 points in only 65 games as a 17-year-old in 2010-11; just six points shy of Luca Caputi’s all-time record of 111 in 2007-08. Strome’s 19-year-old season was equally as impressive with 94 points in an injury-shortened 53 games during the 2012-13 season, a higher point-per-game trajectory than he had during his previous 106-point season.
STAYING PRESENT IN THE MOMENTS
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Strome played the better part of four seasons in Niagara and wishes that he would have soaked in the experience more instead of looking ahead to the National Hockey League, which he encourages the younger players to do before looking too far ahead as important years during your journey.
“Looking back on it you have some time to reflect and realize what a great honor it is and not only that I think what how exciting it is when you're such a young kid,” Strome said. “You want to get to the NHL so bad and you're such a hurry to get there and sometimes I wish I would have just kind of slowed down just enjoyed a little bit more because it was great times and something you look back on that you wish you could do it again.”
Strome was able to represent Canada twice at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships, accumulating 15 points in 12 games over that time and taking home a bronze medal. Strome was one of three IceDogs chosen for the same World Junior team alongside Dougie Hamilton and Brett Ritchie, which has not been duplicated again since with three representatives of Niagara on the same Canada World Junior team.
“Obviously anytime you get to represent your country is a huge honor, which I’ve done in the past with Canada at the World Juniors.” Strome said.
FOND MEMORIES OF “THE JACK”
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Strome played during a time that the old Jack Gatecliff Arena was a staple for St. Catharines and more specifically the IceDogs, which Strome is thankful that he was able to experience playing in, looking back on it at this point in his career. The IceDogs called the arena formerly known to as “The Jack” home from their inaugural season in 2007 to 2014 before the state-of-the-art Meridian Centre opened down the road.
“A lot of good times there,” Strome said. “I just remember that it was so small and intimate that I could get out there for warm-ups and pick out my billet parents and my mom and dad right away. There was a small rink that I could judge my dad's reaction to see how I was playing and I could get I can get his visual feedback based on look on his face immediately, which is rare nowadays, especially in big NHL buildings now.”
Strome experienced playoff hockey every year he played in Niagara, but the 2011-12 season was definitely one they remember fondly, winning the Bobby Orr Trophy as Eastern Conference champions, appearing in 20 playoff games, amassing 23 points on route to a date with the eventual winners in the London Knights.
Strome remembers how much buzz and excitement went along with those deep runs in St. Catharines.
“I remember having the band in the crowd in playoffs, just trying to make that place as rowdy as possible and just a lot of good times at the arena,” Strome said. “We had a lot of great rivalries when we were there with Oshawa and Ottawa and a bunch of these team in some competitive playoff series.”
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“The thing that sticks out for me the most because I grew up in Mississauga and going to a place like St. Catharines I felt like I was right at home when I got there; it was just great to have that small-town feel, something I kind of wish I grew up with as Mississauga is kind of like a big city now.”
Although the Jack Gatecliff Arena was demolished in 2023, the nostaligia of the building lives on through generations of IceDogs like Strome who had the opportunity to call it home during their junior hockey career, engraved in the St. Catharines community.
“In St. Catharines the recognition we’d get from our great fans and tons of great people that just loved the game and would come out and support, we had a lot of great times,” Strome said.
“It is an underrated place to play. They've done a good job of recruiting players and showing people why it's such a great place to live and to play as a young guy. I was certainly lucky to have the opportunity, my fondest memories my closest friends are from there and still talk to them today, that's all you can ask for really.”
COMING FULL CIRCLE WITH A MENTOR
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Marty Williamson was the head coach of the Barrie Colts from 2004-2009, in which time he had Ryan Strome for a short time as a rookie, selected eighth overall in the 2009 OHL Priority Selection by Barrie, before the tough decision was made to include him as part of a massive blockbuster trade that sent fellow star Alex Pietrangelo to the Colts for a package including Strome, defenceman Simon Gronvaldt, and four future draft picks.
“Well, it was an interesting time because I was a little bit against the trade,” Williamson said. “I didn't want to give up Ryan and I thought our blue line was really good. As much as Alex (Pietrangelo) is an unbelievable defenceman, I just didn't know if that was the move we needed to make but the rest of our group was kind of all for it and to bring in Pietrangelo and it would kind of push us over the top a little bit.”
“Of course, it's funny how it works out as a year later I'm in Niagara coaching Ryan again, a player that I didn't want to trade. It was a tough trade at the time, we knew Ryan was going to be a star player but to get a guy like Alex you’ve got to give up something special and that's what we did.”
Big shoes to fill for Strome given that Pietrangelo was one of the most accomplished IceDogs and highly touted NHL prospects, having competed in 155 career regular season games registering 134 points over three seasons. Pietrangelo also skated in 22 career playoff games for the IceDogs, and added six goals and 15 points. He was the captain of the club in his final season in Niagara.
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Williamson was hired as head coach of the IceDogs during the 2010-11 season and spent six great seasons as their bench boss, coming across many special talents that would develop and move onto become NHL players but Williamson still calls Strome one of his favourites, even now being back with the Colts organization as their head coach since the 2021 season.
“He's one of my favorites and I've been lucky to have a great group of guys,’ Williamson said. “Brian Little was one of my first stars and I put Ryan Strome in that kind of a category, he just wanted to get better. He wanted to be a pro. It was a great group we had, there was (Alex) Friesen and Strome just fit in perfectly with the Hamilton’s."
Williamson referred to that group embracing “The Jack” for what it was an playing in a special environment every night with an old-school hockey feel and Ryan’s work ethic to bring his daily best.
“Playing in the old Jack Gatecliff Arena, that's what I liked about those guys, they never complained about the rink or anything, they loved it,” Williamson said. “We thought it gave us an advantage that they bought into it and they were just a great group to coach. Ryan was that kind of one of the guys who served the rink there.”
“Ryan had that ability to score big goals for us and in big games and just how consistent he was you know he came to play every night not the biggest guy in the world took a pounding some nights but he had a real inner toughness that I really respected.”
A LASTING LEGACY
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Thanks to a strong junior hockey career with Niagara, Strome was selected as the fifth overall pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders, eventually making the team during the 2013-14 season. The 6’1 forward, now on his fifth earned NHL contract, says that he wishes he would have stayed in the moment as a younger player as those are moments you do not get back once you graduate to pro hockey as a young adult.
“Just try to have fun,” Strome said. “I keep mentioning how fast it goes by, but those are very important developmental years in your life, whether it's on the ice or off the ice. If you can use the resources when I was there the team did a great job of giving us everything we needed to be successful and whether it was off ice training or the on ice.”
“Everyone's in a rush to get to the next level, I was the same way, I wanted to be an NHL player so bad but if you just slow down and realize how important those years are to mold you into who you're going to be as a player and as a person and how much fun you get to have.”
Strome says that it is a different experience once you get to the NHL as the age gaps, along with family and/or life priorities are different than when you’re a 16-21-year old in junior hockey.
“The NHL is a lot of fun, we have a great time here but we don't have 23 guys living away from home in billet houses hanging out every day, going to school,” Strome said. “It's just different now because guys have different things going on in their lives, families and due to the age gap so it's just a very unique experience and very intimate in junior hockey.”
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Williamson added that it is a natural reaction to want to look for what’s next and to climb the next step of the ladder for your NHL career, especially when you’re a high draft pick that’s eager to make an impact like Strome was.
“It's such a natural thing because it's tough when you're a high-end talent like that and you're a first round NHL pick, you know you're going to get an opportunity,” Williamson said. “That's why I love having players come back and talk to the teams because one of the things they always say is that, enjoy this because it goes by so fast and I think that's where Ryan's talking about that. Possibly he didn't enjoy that year as much as he could have, you know, because it does go by so fast and the pro games a different game.”
“It's a business, he was a great leader for us and he did a really good job but I understand that his mind might not have been in it as much that he was really excited about what was ahead. He was really excited about what was ahead of him instead of living day to day."
Williamson described his final thoughts looking back on Strome’s time in the OHL about how he’s always reminded of the fond memories when he looks up to the rafters at Meridian Centre to see the 2012 Eastern Conference Championship banner, reminded of just how special those times were in the development of so many great young players.
“When I go back to Niagara and I look at the banners there, Ryan’s one of the first guys that I think of, he really stirred everything for us a little bit,” Williamson said. “Standing on the powerplay, his toughness and his inner strength to play our systems. Yes, he had a 106-point season but never ever would you think he's a selfish player, never you would you think it wasn't team first and that’s the character which made him special and help us get so close.”
“It was a wonderful London team that won in 2012 but we had some great players too and Ryan Strome was definitely one of the best we ever had in Niagara.”
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