Flin Flon Bomber forward Tristan Lemyre has been arguably the SJHL’s top rookie this season. Now, the prolific scorer has charted his next step – a scholarship deal with one of the NCAA’s top programs.
Lemyre committed to join the University of Denver Pioneers Jan. 26, becoming the first Bomber to join the team in almost six decades. Lemyre’s scholarship does not have a firm attendance date with the school, but puts him in Colorado either for the 2021-22 or 2022-23 season.
The 19-year-old Mirabel, Que. native missed time with injuries earlier this year, but still holds top spot in the SJHL’s rookie scoring leaderboard with 42 points in 30 games – good enough to put him sixth in the SJHL in points-per-game. Lemyre sits two points ahead of La Ronge’s Kyle Ford in rookie scoring – despite playing 15 fewer games than Ford. If Lemyre stayed healthy for all 58 games this season and continued scoring at his current pace, he would finish the year with a whopping 81 points.
In his past 10 games with the Bombers, Lemyre has 10 goals and 18 points. He added four more points in two games during last week’s SJHL-MJHL Showcase, finishing second in overall scoring.
“We're extremely proud and happy for Tristan. He is very deserving of this opportunity through his hard work and commitment to the game. Denver is getting not only a great hockey player but a tremendous person,” said Bomber head coach and general manager Mike Reagan in a statement released by the team.
In recent years, the Pioneers have become one of the United States’ biggest college programs. The team won a national title in 2017 and were ranked number five in the U.S. for NCAA hockey clubs last week.
This year’s Denver roster includes NHL prospects like defenceman Slava Demin, a Vegas Golden Knights draft pick, Calgary Flames prospect Mathias Emilio Pettersen, Chicago Blackhawk second-round choice and former Canadian World Junior player Ian Mitchell and Bobby Brink, a second-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in last summer’s NHL draft.
Current NHL players like Paul Stastny, Tyler Bozak, Jason Zucker, Will Butcher and others have played for the Pioneers program.
A former Bomber and Flin Flonner is ranked as one of the Pioneers’ greatest alums – George Konik. Konik, who was on the Bombers’ 1957 Memorial Cup winning team, was part of two national championship winning teams in Denver in 1960 and 1961. Konik, who passed away in 2016, would go on to play in the NHL and WHA before starting an engineering firm after retiring from hockey. Another ex-Bomber, Len Sedgwick, suited up for the Pioneers in 1963.
Lemyre also joins one-time Bomber prospect Owen Ozar and likely 2020 first-round pick Carter Savoie as commits to the club.
Lemyre is the second Bomber to commit to an NCAA program this season. Donavan Houle-Villeneuve signed up to play next season with the University of Maine Black Bears earlier in the season.
