“Playing,” he wrote.
The 21-year-old forward was going to make his NHL debut in about 9½ hours, skating for the Seattle Kraken against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round at Ball Arena.
He had gone from an undrafted free agent to the American Hockey League rookie scoring leader in the regular season, and now he was going to leap into the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the defending Stanley Cup champions.
“Omg,” his mother responded. “Ok. Get us tickets.”
Each of Kartye’s parents was at work in Kingston, Ontario. His mother, Richelle, is the clinical nurse educator in the cardiac program at Kingston Health Sciences Centre. His father, Todd, is a chemistry teacher at Bayridge Secondary School.
[RELATED: Complete Avalanche vs. Kraken series coverage]
They were more than 1,600 miles away, but there was no way they were going to miss this.
“I was talking to Tye all morning,” his mother said. “I’m like, ‘Tye, are you (getting called) up? Let me know as soon as you hear.’ I said, ‘If you’re going to dress, we’re coming.’ And he’s like, ‘How?’ And I’m like, ‘I’ll find a way.'”
They did, and they got to see their son score his first NHL goal in a 3-2 win that gave Seattle a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series. The Kraken can eliminate the defending champs in Game 6 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Friday (10 p.m. ET; TNT, SN, TVAS, ROOT-NW, ALT).
Kartye is an underdog story within an underdog story. The journey — his and his parents’ — will put a lump in your throat.
“A year ago, a year and a half ago, this was my wildest dream,” Kartye said, “so this day’s been pretty special.”
* * * * *
The Kraken invited Kartye to training camp before their inaugural season of 2021-22 and signed him to a three-year entry level contract March 1, 2022.
He had 79 points (45 goals, 34 assists) in 63 games for the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League in 2021-22, plus nine points (seven goals, two assists) in 10 playoff games.
After another training camp with the Kraken, he had 57 points (28 goals, 29 assists) in 72 games for the Coachella Valley Firebirds this season to lead AHL rookies in scoring. He has two goals in three playoff games for them.
It just so happened that he traveled with the Firebirds to Colorado Springs on Tuesday, because they were playing the Colorado Eagles, the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, on Wednesday.
He ended up in Denver instead Wednesday because Kraken forward Jared McCann had been injured in Game 4 on Monday. He took…
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