Nash Serves Up Community Outreach, High-Quality Hockey
WENATCHEE, Wash. – With more than 200 Western Hockey League games to his name, forward Ty Nash knows what it takes to make an impact for his team on and off the ice. On the ice, Nash posted a career scoring high in helping the Winnipeg ICE reach last year’s WHL Final, coming up just three wins shy of an Ed Chynoweth Cup. Off the ice, he made a name for himself with his first WHL team in Lethbridge, Alberta, by way of his work ethic and his work in the community. Now, as the 2023-24 season draws closer, Nash is hoping to wrap up his junior career by returning to the United States and making an impact in a whole different community.
The Scottsdale, Arizona native knows the hockey scene quite well – he grew up in it, in fact, as the son of longtime St. Louis Blue and Phoenix Coyote Tyson Nash. The elder Nash played more than 700 games in professional hockey, including 374 in the National Hockey League, after leading the Kamloops Blazers to three Memorial Cup championships during their dynasty in the early 1990s.
“I’d like to say we play similar, a bit of a disturbance on the ice,” said Ty Nash. “He says I’m a little more skilled than him at this age, but obviously, he had a great career, so I look up to him and try to focus my playing style after him. If he made it, he must have been doing something right. We’re a little bit different, but honestly, not too much.”
Ty Nash gained the Hurricanes’ attention with his play in the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes and Arizona Bobcats programs, landing Lethbridge’s ninth-round pick in the 2018 WHL bantam draft. He spent his 2018-19 season scoring better than a point a game for the Jr. Coyotes, leading them to the USA Hockey 15-only national tournament quarterfinals.
His junior career got off to an outstanding start in 2019-20, with 15 points in 59 games for the Hurricanes – his first goal came against the Prince Albert Raiders just six games into that opening campaign, with another one coming just two nights later at the Regina Pats. A late start to a truncated 2020-21 season forced Nash to head back to the Jr. Coyotes for some early-season playing time, but after picking up 36 points in a return to the Copper State, he wrapped up a 13-point WHL season on a tear with goals in three of his last four outings and points in seven of his last eight.
Nash’s 2021-22 season would be his last in a Lethbridge uniform, but was a memorable one nonetheless, with 38 points. He did notch one final game with the Hurricanes at the start of 2022-23, but he never looked back after scoring points in three of his first four games with the ICE.
Some of his most important contributions with the Hurricanes weren’t made on the ice, but off of it – his pledge of $10 per goal during the 2021-22 campaign helped to resurrect the dormant Goals for KidSport program originally started by former Hurricanes captain Tyler Wong, and netted $170 for the program by season’s end. That contribution helped him earn the team’s Herman Elfring Community Relations Award, and his play on the ice landed him back-to-back ENMAX Corporation Hardest Working Awards from the Hurricanes organization.
“It’s always been an important thing for me,” said Nash. “The fans support us so much – they were so good to me in Lethbridge and in Winnipeg, and I’m sure they will be in Wenatchee. They come to our games and they support us, so it’s only right that we give back. Being given that award is very special to me, and it’s something that I’m trying to do my best with.”
He has turned his focus outdoors to get ready for the season, spending most of the first part of the offseason running and biking before turning the routine away from mobility and toward cardio training down the home stretch. Though the race for 20-year-old roster spots will be competitive – there are only three such roster spots on each team in the WHL – Ty Nash certainly has more than an outside shot to land one of those roster spots and make a final mark on junior hockey as a member of the Wenatchee Wild.