There have been close to 8,000 players who have suited up for a National Hockey League game. According to NHL.com, only 396 have played in 1,000 games or more in their career.
That’s around five per cent, so the odds are stacked against you when it comes to reaching that milestone.
So when Luke Schenn of the Nashville Predators and Tyler Myers of the Vancouver Canucks accomplished the feat this past week, people took notice.
What makes it even more of a statistical anomaly is that the two have been friends since they first met as members of the Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets at the tail end of the 2005-06 season.
“Tyler was playing with the Notre Dame Hounds when we called him up and he actually lived with me and my billets. I was the first guy that he lived with in Kelowna, so right then and there I knew he was going to be a heck of a player. He was this 6’ 8”, 16-year-old coming in and I remember watching him skate around. I thought this guy is going to be really good,” recalled Schenn, who actually took Myers under his wing to start.
Close to 20 years later, the two remain close friends. To join the elite 1,000 game club within days of one another just adds to how special the accomplishment is for each of them.
“It’s a crazy thing when you start thinking about it. For us to hit it two days apart after starting together with the Rockets is pretty amazing. We were texting each other back and forth all last week. It's really cool to see. Coming up together as 16-year-olds and getting drafted together, it seemed like we were always connected even though we were on different teams. Then we were able to link up for a couple years,” said Myers, referring to a two-year stint where both played for the Canucks.
Both live in Kelowna during the off-season and train together. Their families are close as well and spend time with one another.
It was during a night out this past summer that the pair did the math and realized that they’d be hitting the 1,000-game milestone within days of each other – Schenn on Oct. 17 against Edmonton, Myers against Philadelphia on Oct. 19.
“We were at Schenner’s number one spot in Kelowna – Cedar Creek Winery – where they have unbelievable food. We started talking about it then and realized we were potentially only two days apart,” remembered Myers.
“I didn't know how it came up but I was like I need four games. And he's like, well, I need five games. That was actually kind of hard to believe when we started thinking about it. It's crazy how this happened,” said Schenn.
It’s quite the accomplishment for a pair of 16-year-olds who showed up in Kelowna nearly 20 years ago. The owner of the Rockets – Bruce Hamilton – remembers both of their arrivals.
“Tyler was a big gangly guy that you knew was going to be special when he first came here. He kind of had crazy legs but he grew into his body. He could always skate, which is a great trait for a big guy. He would make mistakes but he could still get back to cover them. And that wingspan…between having him and Luke…those two guys made it uncomfortable for anyone that played against them,” recalled Hamilton.
Schenn came from Saskatoon, which happened to be Hamilton’s home town.
“I knew his dad Jeff; he was a fireman in Saskatoon. That meant a lot. Luke came here as a 16-year-old, expecting to step right in and play regularly but he worked his way on. And what a lot of people didn't know about Luke at the start was how tough he was. He stood up for his teammates as well as anyone, and he's still doing it,” said Hamilton.
Both were selected in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Schenn was taken by Toronto with the 5th pick while Buffalo chose Myers with the 12th pick.
The road to 1,000 games, however, was different for the pair.
Myers won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year in 2010 and would play six seasons in Buffalo before being traded to Winnipeg in February of 2015. He would suit up for the Jets for another four seasons before leaving as an UFA after the 2018-19 season and signing with Vancouver.
Schenn had difficulty meeting expectations in Toronto and was traded to Philadelphia in 2012. Following Philadelphia, there were stops in Los Angeles, Arizona and Anaheim, where his NHL career appeared to be over after being demoted to San Diego of the AHL in 2018. Schenn persevered, driving two hours from his home in Newport Beach to San Diego to play for the Gulls. With the help of San Diego head coach Dallas Eakins, he re-calibrated his game.
He returned to the NHL with the Canucks in 2018-19 and then signed as an UFA with Tampa Bay in 2019. He won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Lightning before returning to Vancouver for two seasons. The Canucks moved him to Toronto in the spring of 2023, where he played out his contract and subsequently signed with Nashville.
“The thing I’m most proud of is being able to find a way to get through some challenging times in my career where some people wrote me off. I was just able to find a way to keep pushing through and find a way to improve and not take no for an answer. I kept believing in it,” explained Schenn.
When asked what they remember about their time with a team, athletes usually won’t talk about what happened in a certain game or season. They remember the relationships and the stories surrounding them. Myers, Schenn and Hamilton are no different.
“What I remember most is that Tyler wasn't doing well at school. His dad Paul told me ‘I'm taking his truck away, so if you're wondering why he’s walking, that’s why.” He asked me for my support and I backed him,” laughed Hamilton.
Myers chuckled when asked about the story.
“My dad flew to Kelowna and then drove my truck back to Calgary. Looking back at it now, and being a dad now, I completely understand where he was coming from, but at the time I was a young kid and not too happy about it,” said Myers, adding that it was a ‘decent amount of time’ before he got his 2002 GMC Jimmy back.
Myers and Schenn also remembered all the chaos it caused.
“I had a car and Tyler had a car. We had some other 16-year-olds on the team without a license and a couple guys who didn't have a ride. Tyler would get up in the morning and pick up a couple guys on the way to school and I would do the same. When his dad took away his car, all the rides in the morning got screwed up. We had to drive all over the city to pick up teammates on the way to school,” remembered Schenn.
“I was on my flip phone a lot, trying to get rides to and from the rink and to and from school. It threw some things off but I'm pretty sure my dad was well aware that was going to be the case,” said Myers.
Then there were the eating habits of the pair.
“I would say the one thing about Luke was every team meal, he was full-on. He made sure that he got his share. That's the part of being a good Ukrainian boy from Saskatchewan. I’d say that he knew how to work a buffet but he certainly learned when he left here that he couldn't continue that, and now he's a machine as an athlete,” recalled Hamilton.
Myers wasn’t exactly shy when it came to team meals either but Schenn was at a different level.
“I would say both of us were the biggest eaters on the team. But Schenner enjoys food more than I do and I enjoy food. So that's saying a lot,” Myers said with a smile.
The one thing that Hamilton is most proud of is the people that the two have become. Myers has matured from a shy 16-year-old to a savvy NHL veteran who is known for bringing the team together while Schenn’s work ethic and toughness is legendary.
Hamilton loves the fact that both remember where they came from.
“The thing I remember most about Tyler is when he won Rookie of the Year at the NHL Awards in Vegas. The first thing he did was acknowledge the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League for being a big part of his development. Most times guys forget about their junior team once they leave. That has always stuck with me. He's just a tremendous person. And Luke has been such a tremendous ambassador for us. I can tell you that anytime we need something, he steps up,” said Hamilton.
I wonder what type of odds you could have got back in 2002 if you were to say that a pair of 16-year-olds with the Rockets would each play 1,000 games each in the NHL and reach the milestone two days apart.
As Myers said, it’s crazy when you think about it.
OVERTIME
*The Canucks will honour Myers prior to their game Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers at Rogers Arena.
* Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet had the opportunity to coach both Myers and Schenn when he first arrived in Vancouver. “They both have the same kind of attributes. They’re tough defensemen who are tough to play against. They block shots, very rarely get hurt and they’ll fight for their teammates. To play 1,000 games and consistently do those things every night, I have a lot of respect for those two guys,” said Tocchet, who played in 1,144 NHL games himself.
* Barring injury, Brayden Schenn – Luke’s younger brother — is scheduled to join the 1,000-game club on Feb. 27 when his St. Louis Blues visit the Washington Capitals. The Schenns would become the first brother combo to reach the 1,000-game mark in the same season.
* There have been eight sets of brothers that have reached the 1,000-game milestone. The Courtnall brothers from Victoria where the first to do so (Geoff 1,048 and Russ, 1,029). Others include the Hatchers (Kevin 1,157 and Derian 1,045), the Koivus (Saku 1,124 and Mikko 1,035), the Niedermayers (Scott 1,263 and Rob 1,153) the Sedins (Henrik 1,330 and Daniel 1,306) and the Sutters (Brent 1,111 and Ron (1,093). The Staals — Marc (1,136), Jordan (1,258 and counting) and Eric (1,365) — are the only trio of brothers to reach the 1,000-game plateau.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob “the Moj” Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media.
