Each birthday, Nathan Oystrick received the same thing: a shoe box with the latest version of Don Cherry’s Rock‘em Sock‘em Hockey, and a stack of two dollar bills underneath.
That was until his birthday in the fifth grade, when he received something extra.
“Underneath the money was paperwork – and it was my adoption papers.”
Growing up, Oystrick said his parents were quite open about his adoption, frequently using the word around him, but he said it wasn’t until that birthday that he realized what they meant.
Oystrick was born to a 16-year-old single parent, and given the first name Jordan. At two months old, he was adopted by Elsie and Dan Oystrick and lived with them and his adoptive older sister, Dana.
For the man who would become the Humboldt Broncos’ newest head coach, hockey was a big part of his youth. That culminated in a stint with the Regina Pat Canadians, before moving away to continue his hockey career.
Even when he was not on the ice, Oystrick said he and father Dan used to spend countless hours a week in the rinks around Regina watching midget AAA hockey, junior A hockey, or even youth and beer leagues. The family even had Pats season tickets for a time.
In 2000, Oystrick started a two-season stint with the British Columbia Hockey League’s South Surrey Eagles before playing with Northern Michigan University for four seasons. He played three seasons with the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves before starting his first stint in the NHL, with the Atlanta Thrashers, in 2008.
It was while playing for Atlanta that he met his biological mom.
Though he wanted to start the process of finding her in college, between balancing a social life, hockey, and school, coupled with the stacks of paperwork, Oystrick said he decided to put it on the back burner.
At around 25 or 26 years old, he would get the call that they had found his biological mom, Kandace Lawson-Aspelieter. After some back-and-forth the pair agreed to meet weeks later at his Atlanta home.
“There was never, ever any animosity towards mom and dad or to Kandace, who’s my biological mom,” Oystrick said. “I kind of said she was a young mother and the father wasn’t really in the picture so she was 16 and she did the right thing in my eyes.”
Since that first meeting, the pair have met many times, including last year when Kandace made the trip to Colorado.
Having that experience and getting the opportunity to meet his biological mother and form a relationship has been “really cool,” said Oystrick, who added it has been an eye-opening experience.
With Oystrick set to make a return to Saskatchewan, he is moving closer to his family with his parents still residing in Regina Beach and sister Dana living in Meadow Lake.
His father was particularly happy when he heard he had been hired as the new Broncos head coach.
“The first thing my dad said was, ‘Christmas at our house,’ because I haven’t been home for Christmas in 10, 15 years.”
Oystrick married his wife Lindsay in 2009, following his first season in Atlanta and the family will be moving to Humboldt along with their six-year-old Alaskan Klee Kai Wiley.
“He’s my child so I think he’s a beauty. He’s got a ton of energy and he’s crazy. Lindsay will take him for a two hour walk in the mornings and he’ll come home and sit on the couch for five minutes and then he’s like ‘okay, what are we doing, what are we doing?’”
Although Lindsay is moving to Canada for the first time, she did grow up in Iron River, Mich. where she was used to both the cold and the small-town feel.
Prior to being named new Broncos head coach, Oystrick admits to not knowing a lot about the city, having not been to Humboldt since 1999 when he played for Notre Dame.
“It’s small town Saskatchewan. I think a lot of them are all the same. They’re a close-knit group, people look out for each other, not saying everyone knows each other but you’re well known in the community because it’s a smaller place so that’s kind of what I knew,” he said.
Oystrick is looking forward to meeting the residents of Humboldt, as well as the surrounding communities.
“I think it’s important for me to get to know people and... helping whenever I can,” he said. “We’ll be heavily involved as a team and as an organization.
“I personally think it’s important for the organization and players and myself to get out in the community and show our faces so it’s not just, ‘oh there’s coach Oystrick,’ or, ‘there’s number 18.’ Hockey’s a fast game, it’s tough to sometimes put the face to the name and the more we’re out in the community the easier it is for people to root for us and stand behind us.”
