Juan de Fuca minor hockey grad Tyson Barrie and the Colorado Avalanche are peaking at the right time.
Barrie, 22 and in his first full season on the blueline with the NHL team, has 12 goals and 25 assists and is plus-18 in 62 games, helping the club stay in the hunt for top spot in the Western Conference.
Barrie scored once and set up another goal Tuesday in a 4-1 win over Edmonton and has 18 points in last 22 games. He'll no doubt have some friends and family in the crowd tonight as his team plays the Canucks in Vancouver.
A third-round draft choice in 2009 from the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League, Barrie is the second-high scoring defenceman on the team behind Eric Johnson (38), who has played 15 more games.
Heading into the game Colorado trailed Central Division leading St. Louis by just two points and conference leading Anaheim by three with three games remaining.
The skinny on Tyson Barrie's 2013-14 season (courtesy nhl.com):
- Has three overtime goals this year, tying the single-season franchise record set by David Jones in 2010-11.
- Is the first NHL defenceman to score three OT goals in one season since Atlanta’s Dustin Byfuglien in 2010-11.
- Has four career OT winners, the most by a defenceman in franchise history.
- Leads all Avalanche defenders with 12 goals, the first Avs blueliner to reach double-digits since 2008-09 (Liles 12).
- Ranks third on the club in plus/minus (+18).
- Has four GWG, the most by an Avs D since 2002-03 (Derek Morris 7).
- Scored on his first career shootout attempt on April 3 vs. NY Rangers.
- Appeared in his 100th NHL game on April 1 at Columbus.
- Recorded a career-high three points (0g/3a) on Feb. 8 at NY Islanders.
- Had a career-long five-game point streak (2g/4a) from Jan. 25 to Feb. 3.