Ryan Straschnitzki visits Don Campbell elementary school

His hockey past had quite a few doors in it. The first team he tried out for was Bantam AA (U15) in Airdrie. After not making the cut, he questioned what he did wrong compared to the other players, but didn’t quit. “I was always a stubborn kid,” he said.

He eventually tried out at 16 for Airdrie’s CFR Bisons. While he was told that his skills were sufficient for the team, he was one year too young. Expanding his search, he got accepted by the Midget (U18) AAA team in Leduc, Alberta, and made the move in his pursuit of the sport.

“In uncomfortable situations, push through.”

Moving to a new city is hard for most, especially for a young 16 year old like Straschnitzki moving to Leduc and a new school by himself. It didn’t take long for the hockey player to want to turn back home.

However, his father advised him to wait it out a little longer. “Uncomfortable situations help people to grow,” he said.

“Make opportunity; Find a way around a closed door.”

Straschnitzki was then traded to Saskatchewan’s Humboldt Broncos.

In April of 2018, a coach bus carrying the hockey team crashed into a semi-trailer truck and killed 16 people, injuring 13 others. Straschnitzki was left paralyzed from a Thoracic Nerves (or T level) spinal cord injury, from the chest down.

In the hospital bed, he was faced with the news he wouldn’t be able to play hockey again.

“I asked myself, ‘What can I do to get back on the ice?’” he recounted as he picked up his hockey sticks and sled to show to the class. After just four months of recovery, he got back on the ice to learn sledge hockey, an adaptation of the sport designed for those with physical disabilities.

“Everything is a cycle: you succeed or learn, but never fail.”

Although doctors told Straschnitzki he wouldn’t walk again, that attitude was not acceptable for the athlete. Two years ago, he underwent a surgery in Thailand, implanting an epidural stimulator in his spine that would send electrical currents to the nerves impacting physical movement. He took his first steps a few months ago with a walker, and hopes to someday walk independently again.

Finally, for Straschnitzki, the most important lesson of all that he expressed to the students was: “be a good person”.

He told the students to be hard working, resilient, and a good teammate, whether in a sport or in life.

“People care more about the person you were than the hockey player you were. Hockey is just a game”

That mindset is what led him to sponsorship opportunities with companies like Adidas, travelling around the world to share his story, and meeting NHL stars like Connor McDavid.

And behind all the success, Straschnitzki is still your everyday 22-year-old man. He drives his car to the golf range, reads funny books like Seth Rogan’s Yearbook, writes in his journal, plays rock music on his guitar with a tattooed right sleeve and spends time with his family.

“I try learning new things every day and understanding that it’s for the greater good for yourself,” he said.

In times of negativity, Straschnitzki’s strategy is to take small steps every day until reaching your goal.

That stubborn positivity continues even after his goals are accomplished. “I’m already looking at what I want to achieve next,” he said.

For now, that goal is to bring home a gold medal for Canada’s Olympic Sledge hockey team.

Straschnitzki ended his speech with a quote on the wall from David Rossi, a character from the hit-TV show Criminal Minds, “Scars remind us where we’ve been. They don’t have to dictate where we’re going.”

Where Ryan Straschnitzki is going, that is to be continued….

by Alessia Proietti

Ryan Straschnitzki visits Don Campbell elementary school

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