OHL Profile: Kerby Rychel

The past few months have been pretty good for OHL left winger Kerby Rychel: graduating high school, finishing up his second season with the Windsor Spitfires, and not worrying about the NHL draft (he’s not eligible until next year!) Truth is, Rychel – who has hockey in his blood, by the way – has a solid hockey history and a bright future ahead.

The 17-year-old Tecumseh native is one of three players on the Spits’ roster this past season who is not of draft eligibility age yet, but that’s just proof that sometimes, the old saying that ‘age doesn’t matter’ is entirely true.

He began his OHL career in 2010 with the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors, where he had two goals and six assists in thirty games before being traded halfway through the season to the Spitfires. There, he saw a slight increase in production – five goals and eight assists in 32 games.

Although that was good start in the league, his breakout season was this past year, where with the Spitfires, Rychel had 41 goals and 33 assists in 68 games. He also ended the season with a plus-3 rating and 54 penalty minutes, and tallied two goals in the postseason.

Looking statistically at his season, Rychel had a solid, productive year with each month coming just as impressively as the last. Nine points (5-4) in five games in October would provide a strong start to the season with Windsor; he’d follow it up in November, with 7 points in 13 games. November and December would be nearly equal, as Rychel earned 14 points in eleven games each month.

The new year would also start off on a good foot – nine points in nine games in the month of January. The 1.00 points per game average would continue into February, when Rychel had eleven points (8-3) in eleven games. Finally, March would be another productive month to end the regular season: 10 points in eight games.

His best game of the season was a four-point night against the Sarnia Sting on March 11. Rychel had two goals and two assists and was named third star as Windsor defeated Sarnia, 7-5.

He ended up 21st in scoring in the league and won the Spitfires’ team awards for MVP, leading goal scorer and leading point scorer.

Rychel also represented Team Canada in this year’s IIHF U-18 world championships, tallying five goals, three assists and a plus-4 in seven games. He earned a bronze medal in the tournament. In other international play, he had 2 points (1-1) in the 2001 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and also competed in the 2011 World U-17 hockey challenge.

By the way – hockey’s nothing new for Rychel. His father Warren wasn’t drafted in the NHL, but played eight seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Avalanche and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. In 406 NHL games, he had 38 goals and 39 assists.

Prior to the big league, Warren also dealt his hand in the OHL, playing in Sudbury, Guelph and Ottawa in the ’80s. He had 47 goals and 46 assists in 180 games in the league, a point record that his son is just six shy of breaking. (Now, Warren is part-owner of the Spits!)

Kerby will return this fall for another season with the Spitfires before entering the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, where it seems likely he’ll go high in the first round… maybe even to his proclaimed ‘favorite team,’ the Chicago Blackhawks? We’ll see, but that’s still under a year away, and Rychel has another year of OHL hockey coming up to focus on.

Windsor kicks off its season on September 20 as the team faces off against the Owen Sound Attack.

Want to learn even more about this up-and-coming OHLer who seems bound for NHL stardom in the near future? Check him out on Twitter at @Krychs.