Calgary Kids - Gavin Garland

Walking into the Tri-City Americans locker-room felt like a reunion for Gavin Garland.

After spending parts of two seasons in the AJHL, the forward jumped over to the WHL and joined an Ams squad loaded with local talent and close friends from earlier playing days.

The familiar faces not only helped him get accustomed off the ice, but on it as well.

“Definitely a lot of fun to recalibrate with them, it made it a lot easier having them there,” Garland said. “Jordan Gavin and Merrek Arpin are two good buddies of mine that were there. (They) ended up getting traded but helped out with the experience and helped make me feel comfortable.

“Jackson Smith and Cash Koch as well, I played in peewee with them, so to be reunited with them is pretty cool, both great guys and to see the day-to-day process they go through is wicked.”

Prior to joining Tri-City, Garland captured the league title with the Calgary Canucks in 2024, and during their run to the Inter Pipeline Cup, he tied for first on the squad in playoff points with 18.

“A great group of guys and we had a great experience together,” he said “I think that playoff run was a big learning curve for us, especially in the first round. Going to Grand Prairie was big motivation for us, a lot of grit out of that series that we took into Drumheller and further on against Whitecourt.

“That was the first time for a lot of us in making that deep of a playoff run, pretty neat and a great learning experience.”

While there was a bit of an adjustment period for the winger to get accustomed to his new squad, he quickly found his footing and earned WHL rookie of the week honours on multiple occasions.

“First couple games trying to get my feet wet was big for me,” he said. “Trying to jump into the pace, the physicality side, I think playing in the AJHL helped quite a bit in that area. Took a bit to get going, but once I started to go, things went well and guys were motivating me to help and it was a really good fit for us as a team to have a good season together.

“I was pretty happy with all of it, I knew it was a bit of risky move instead of going NCAA to change it to Western League but I was very happy with the result. Unfortunate getting injured in the second half, but at the end of the day, I had a lot of fun and I think it paid off pretty well.”

Ranked 201st among North American skaters, the 19-year-old is ready for whatever comes his way and is busy honing his craft as he looks to build off an impressive rookie year where he posted 42 points (21G, 21A) in 54 skates.

“My biggest goal is to get that look to possible play at the next level,” Garland said. “Playing a two-way game was big for me. All the buzz in the draft, having the opportunity to possibly be a player to get drafted is a dream, it’s cool to see my name on those (NHL Central Scouting) lists.

“We have six guys on our team going through it (the draft process), we didn’t think about it too much but it created good competition in practice. We have guys who are extremely skilled and work hard for their to reach their goals.

"It’s a great group to have.”