ALUMNI PROFILE: LANCE MONYCH
(Courtesy of Perry Bergson, Brandon Sun) — Nobody has played more regular-season and playoff games as a Brandon Wheat King than Lance Monych.
Now 32, Monych played 319 regular-season and 77 playoff games in a career that spanned five full seasons from 2000 to 2005. He enjoyed every minute of it, with Tim Konsorada there for the entire ride.
“Timmy and I played about 80-or-so playoff games in our five-year career,” Monych said. “That’s a lot of good memories and a lot of good winning as well.”
Monych is the team’s career playoff scoring leader, with 33 goals and 19 assists in a team record 77 games.
He was taken with Brandon’s second pick in the 1999 draft, 39th overall, 26 selections after Konsorada. Growing up in Winnipeg, Monych admits that he knew more about the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, which still had three city teams in the league at that time.
But he learned about the Wheat Kings because their playoff games would end up in Winnipeg during Winter Fair week.
“Not having a Dub team, I didn’t know a lot about it other than watching the Wheat Kings when they came into Winnipeg Arena at playoff time,” Monych said. “I always thought that was pretty cool. I always went to those games with my dad and thought it would be pretty cool to be in a situation like that.”
After playing three games with the team as a 15-year-old callup, he had his first chance to earn a full-time spot in the fall of 2000.
“I think it was about two weeks after my 16th birthday,” Monych said. “I remember the drive. My mom brought me down the road and it was kind of a surreal thing. I didn’t really know what was going to hit me but looking back on it now, it’s kind of weird getting dropped off at my billet family’s house and I’m supposed to go into their fridge and help myself to their food and make myself at home. It’s kind of a weird concept.”
Monych’s jump to the WHL was bigger than that of some players because he never actually played midget before he came to Brandon. But thankfully for him, a prominent Wheat King quickly stepped in to lend a hand on and off the ice.
“I was a deer in the headlights basically, trying to figure it all out on the fly,” Monych said. “We had a pretty intense coach in Bobby Lowes and he liked things a certain way.
“One of the things that stands out is Jordin Tootoo. He took me under his wing when I first got there just because our dads knew each other from growing up. I don’t know if it was a favour between our dads for him to look out for me, but I remember him showing me the ropes and explaining different things to me. He was always there if I had questions.”
After putting up 14 goals and 22 points in 53 games in his rookie season, Monych’s point totals rose to 48, 45 and 55 in the next three seasons.
He wasn’t expected to return for his 20-year-old season, but the National Hockey League lockout year changed all that. With more players than spots in the Phoenix Coyotes organization, the fourth-round pick in the 2002 NHL draft was sent back to the WHL.
The Wheat Kings had just settled on their overage situation with Steven Later, Andre Blanchette and Konsorada after trading Tyler Boldt to the Saskatoon Blades to get down to three.
“All of a sudden they had four overage guys again,” Monych said, noting Blanchette was the odd man out. “It was a little bit of a tough situation just because I had played with Andre for so many years as well.”
Monych proved the team made the right decision by posting the best offensive numbers of his career, 30 goals and 36 assists in 64 games.
He looks back at those last couple of seasons with players such as Konsorada, Eric Fehr, Ryan Stone and Jonathan Webb fondly.
“It’s the core group of guys from my last couple of years that I will always remember,” Monych said. “I always tell people that was the funnest hockey that I ever played. Once you turn pro things kind of change. When you’re playing junior, you’re playing for each other.”
After graduating from the Wheat Kings, Monych spent three seasons in the North American minors before heading to Europe for six seasons.
His first season in Europe was his best, when he put up 43 goals and 57 assists in 40 games with the Destil Trappers in the Netherlands in the top Dutch league.
“In my pro career, I have more fond memories of playing overseas than I do of playing in the States,” Monych said. “I was bouncing around from team to team (in the U.S.) and guys getting called up and you have 60-man rosters and guys are in and out. It’s less of a team.”
Monych spent his final season in Denmark with the Esbjerg Energy, a team that former Wheat Kings Andrew Clark and Mark Derlago also played for in later seasons.
During his last two seasons of pro hockey, Monych began working for Elite Safety Services in Brandon, which provides safety training and on-site services to the industrial, construction, manufacturing and oil and gas sectors.
“I started taking life after hockey more seriously because it was becoming more realistic that I couldn’t play hockey forever,” Monych said. “I needed a backup plan so my last two years overseas, particularly my year in Denmark, I took occupational health and safety from the University of New Brunswick.”
Monych liked the work, and when he was given an opportunity to work on a big project by Elite, decided to retire from hockey.
“It’s been a fairly smooth transition,” Monych said. “I’ve seen a lot of guys who I played hockey with, the first couple of years removed, if the only thing they know is hockey, they kind of get lost and don’t really know what to do. I was lucky to be given this opportunity by a Brandon company.”
Monych met his wife Lindsay (nee Durnin) during his 17-year-old season with the Wheat Kings. They don’t have any kids, but do have a small French bulldog named Stella.
“She been more places than most humans,” Monych joked.
Monych’s work as a construction safety officer often takes him out of the city, with recent stretches near Saskatoon, Vancouver and Dauphin. Lindsay is currently based out of the Kelowna airport with WestJet so they’re still trying to synchronize their work locations.
He said his Wheat King experience delivered a number of life lessons that remain with him, including being on time, discipline, maintaining an even keel and problem solving.
Monych still gets to Wheat King games when he can. He brought his nephew to the last Brandon game before Christmas, and chuckles about watching a member of Stone’s billet family, Tyler Coulter.
“It’s kind of funny seeing Ty out on the ice,” Monych said. “I still remember him when he was just a little guy running around the Coulter house whenever I went to visit Ryan.”
Does Monych ever think back to his own Wheat King days?
“Frequently actually,” Monych said. “Both on the ice and on the bus. You spend the majority of your time on the bus. I still remember everybody’s spot at the card table in the back of the bus.
“There are a lot of good, fond memories.”
