Sward Says “So Long” to Junior Hockey
WENATCHEE, Wash. – For Wenatchee Wild defenseman Graham Sward, the process of learning the sport of hockey – and learning how to excel in it – has come from watching and listening. Experience has been one of his best teachers, and often, it’s been the experience of others that has taught him the most valuable lessons.
The journey to – and beyond – the Western Hockey League started early. Sward was born in Langley, British Columbia, not far from the home rink for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants. However, you’ll never hear him call Langley his hometown – for Sward, “home” is Abbotsford, a half-hour east. It’s where he first fell in love with the sport, though he admits he doesn’t recall exactly how it happened, other than a few pictures from years ago with a raincoat and a plastic hockey stick, and memories of playing mini-sticks in hotel hallways with his teammates while on the road for tournaments. Other than Wenatchee’s brief stay in Langley on an early-season road trip, his longest stay in the Vancouver suburb was likely a single night, more than 20 years ago.
“On my passport it says I’m from Langley, B.C., but the Abbotsford hospital was under renovation, so there wasn’t enough room. My mom had to drive to the Langley hospital, so that’s where I was born,” said Sward.
He saw plenty of rink time growing up, but not all of that time was spent on blades carving through ice – a love for hockey in the winter was often shared with a love for indoor lacrosse, or “box lacrosse,” during the spring and summer. He also gave basketball and rugby a whirl in middle and high school, but hockey eventually won out.
His success on the way to the WHL likely made that decision a bit easier – he played two strong years in the Under-15 program at Yale Hockey Academy in British Columbia, developing his game in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League and earning a first-round selection by the Spokane Chiefs in the 2018 Western Hockey League draft. After an all-star season with the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds in the British Columbia Elite Hockey League, it was time to move on to juniors.
He was ready when he got there – Sward scored his first junior goal in his first WHL game, burying a third-period chance on January 5, 2019 in an 8-4 win at the Kootenay ICE. He credits one family member in particular for helping him find his way in the WHL – cousin Dalton Sward played 294 games in the WHL for Vancouver, the third-most in team history, before embarking on a five-year university career at the University of Lethbridge.
“It was kind of cool to see him go through the journey,” said Sward. “He’s been able to give me advice through mine, and now we’re kind of in the same spot as it’s coming to an end.”
Sward doesn’t pinpoint one player that he’s found himself modeling his game after. Instead, developing his style of play has come from a steady building process – a piece of a fellow defenseman’s game here, a tip or tidbit from a coach there. That process certainly paid off along the way – he became a regular in the WHL at just 16 years old, playing in at least 55 games in all four of his full seasons in the league. By his 18-year-old season in 2021-22, he was the highest-scoring defenseman on the Spokane roster, earning the team’s Defenseman of the Year honor.
While showing plenty of upside on offense and an assertive style on defense, he also showed a heart for the community off the ice – Sward led a “Movember” campaign during the month of November in each of the last three years, raising money for men’s health screenings and cancer research, in honor of his grandfather, who passed in 2021. He raised more than $3,100 in his first year with the Chiefs, and nearly equaled that total during the following two years as well. He also teamed up with fellow Abbotsford native and current Fort Wayne Komet Jake Chiasson on hosting an Abbotsford blood drive in 2021, landing the U.S. Division’s Humanitarian of the Year award that season.
The Nashville Predators took notice of Sward’s efforts, using a fifth-round draft pick on him in the summer of 2022. A trade to the Winnipeg ICE that October brought him into the company of another record-setting defenseman – Ben Zloty had just come off of a 2021-22 campaign with 64 points, the most by an ICE defenseman in more than a decade. In 2022-23, Zloty cruised past both his previous career-best and Brayden McNabb’s historic 2010-11 campaign, putting up a team-record 81 points in Winnipeg’s run to the WHL Final. Sward isn’t shy to say he picked up a few lessons from Zloty along the way as well.
“He was probably one of the most skilled guys I’ve seen,” said Sward. “Watching his calmness and poise on the ice, and his ability to make plays, I think that’s something I took from him. Last year, he was my (defensive) partner for some of the season, and I was lucky enough this year to have a lot of help around me. Someone’s got to put the puck in the net, so it was awesome to play around those high-end guys.”
The offseason saw another move for Sward, this time joining the team in its relocation from Winnipeg to Wenatchee. However, most of September was spent with the Predators at preseason camp – he was reassigned to the Wild at the end of the month, and appeared in all 66 games for Wenatchee after his return from Nashville.
“Coming into junior hockey is an adjustment, and going (to NHL training camp) is an adjustment, too,” said Sward. “Here, you’ve got 20-year-old guys, and up there, you’ve got actual men. You get to watch some of the best players in the world, and I thought that was really cool. Sharing the ice with the Forsbergs and the Josis, they have very decorated NHL careers. They’ve played at the international level, they’ve played in the NHL for 10-plus years. That’s the biggest thing, is to look at those guys and see what they do on a day-to-day basis, how they take care of their body. You find out what it’s like to be a pro.”
When he did settle into Wenatchee, he returned to a fan base that was excited to see him play, and he gladly returned the favor. He opened the season with points in 15 straight games, while ending the season by tying Zloty’s record with 81 points of his own, and notching his 250th WHL appearance in the team’s regular-season finale against the Everett Silvertips.
Sward’s final goal in a Wild uniform was to go out on a high note – in many ways, he and the other two 20-year-olds on the Wild roster were able to do that this season, taking fourth-place in a tight Western Conference race and earning home-ice advantage in the first round of the WHL postseason.
Another high note came last week, when Sward and fellow Wild overager Briley Wood signed Amateur Tryout contracts with the American Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles. Sward’s NHL rights shifted to the Colorado Avalanche, the Eagles’ parent club, as part of a deadline deal with Nashville in early March. As he moves toward seeing his dream of playing pro hockey come true, he continues to heed the advice of his older cousin upon coming into the WHL six years ago.
“‘Shut up and listen.’ My first camp, that was one of the things he told me,” said Sward. “‘Go in there, and don’t sit there and chat away. Go in there and be ready to learn, and watch what the other guys do, and you’ll be successful.’ I think that’s something that all young guys can look at – some guys come in, and they already have their own little routine that they do, and they don’t want to change that up. Watching what (older players) do, all their habits, all the things they do on and off the ice, that’s something that you can really grow from, and it doesn’t take any work at all. I’ve been lucky enough to play with some really good players in my career, so getting to watch what they did and how they carried themselves was really good for me.”