Raiders rookie Macias making waves from Prince Albert to Poland

Nowy Targ, Poland- For as long as he can remember, Krzysztof Macias was spellbound by hockey.

His obsession grew from when he was five years old, going to the local hockey rink to watch the stars of Podhale Nowy Targ battle for supremacy in the Polska Hokej Liga.

There was one player in particular whose reputation garnered a steady buzz around the city in 2004.

Marcin Kolousz, from nearby Limanowa, had recently returned to play in his native Poland’s top league after traveling to Canada to play for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants.

Not only had he successfully crossed over to North America to become the league’s top-scoring player from Poland with 18 points in 64 games, but he was also selected by the Minnesota Wild in the fifth round, 157th overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

“I was watching almost every game of my hometown team and he was playing there,” Macias recalled. “Everybody knew about him, that he was the last Polish player drafted and that he’s a very, very good hockey player. He also can play everywhere. He can play defenseman, he can play forward. So it was impressive to me that he can play anywhere. I was watching him play, I was checking the stats when he moved from our town to play somewhere else.”

Their paths would cross more than a decade later with Macias on the cusp of moving to Prince Albert, Sask. after being selected by the Raiders with the 15th pick in the 2023 CHL Import Draft.

Macias didn’t just find himself following in his former local idol’s footsteps, he was sitting down across from Kolousz himself, getting advice on how to adjust to hockey and life in Canada.

“It was like two, two and a half hours long,” Macias’ mom, Agnieszka Macias-Paprocka said. “He (Kolousz) said what usually coaches expect from players, how he should behave, so he was prepared. We were really shocked that everything is so professional.”

Macias and his older brother, Kacper, had already left home to toil in the Czech leagues in their early teens, but this time, Krzysztof would truly be on his own for the first time to pursue his dream at the highest junior level.

With a big smile and open personality, Macias fell in easily with his new teammates while adjusting to life on the prairies and all that comes with it.

Golf? Not a fan.

Curling? A big hit (and roll).

On the non-pebbled ice, Macias struck against Moose Jaw for his first goal in his first WHL game, adding his first hat trick two weeks later.

But the 5-foot-11, 196-pound centreman found there were still finer points of the game to tinker with as he cooled off in the dog days of November and December.

“He’s got an elite shot,” Head Coach Jeff Truitt said. “He’s learning the physical side of the game, knowing that he’s got strength and power to do that type of thing. He’s reading plays a lot better than what he did. And that was just the adjustment of the systems and whatnot. But he’s adjusted real well, and his impact has been felt. He’s been on our power play and things like that, he’s penalty killed a little bit. But his five-on-five play has steadily gotten better, you know, which is great. We hope his best is yet to come here in the final run.”

In early February, Macias’ parents, Agnieszka and Marcin, came to Hockeytown North to join the Raiders on a road trip across the prairies.

On their final night at the Art Hauser Centre, Macias scored twice and added an assist to lead a comeback victory against the Brandon Wheat Kings, earned first-star honours and tossed a stick to his beaming mother in the crowd.

“I felt special and I think every mom would like to have something like this,” Agnieszka, who has played defence for Nowy Targ’s women’s squad for the past 14 years, said. “Everything was incredible. It turns out that boys play even faster than we see it on TV. I would like everyone here in Poland who is interested in hockey to be able to come to Canada and see how the boys play.”

“One of the most special feelings in Canada so far,” Macias added. “I really missed them. I saw them during Christmas, but it was like, eight days maybe, so it wasn’t long enough. I told them they were going to be like celebrities here because everybody’s gonna be curious about them. They loved the time here spent here.”

Macias has been on a tear ever since, putting up four goals and eight helpers in the following seven games- including a career-high four-assist night against Brandon.

The 19-year-old is second on the Raiders in points with 22 goals and 19 assists in 57 games- passing his old hero Kolousz as the highest-scoring Polish player in WHL history.

He’s one of only seven rookies league-wide to eclipse 20 goals and sits sixth in the rookie goals race, but Macias is more concerned with wins and losses than his own statistics.

“I’m not focusing on my on my future right now,” Macias said. “I want to end the season strongly as a team, I want us to make the playoffs and make a really good run in playoffs because it’s going to be last year in junior hockey for some of our players. It would be nice to achieve something for them.”

A continent away, Macias’ success is having a ripple effect in his hometown, just as Marcin Kolousz did in the early 2000s, with friends, colleagues and complete strangers flooding the family’s social media channels with messages of support and new interest in the sport.

“Thanks to the fact that Krzysztof plays in Canada, the situation with Polish hockey is changing a bit,” Agnieszka said. “I can see that around me that people, my colleagues or my friends started following it. Some of them started going to hockey matches. So it’s also a big success for Polish hockey. We really appreciate everything that was done for our son and for Polish hockey.”