Montreal, Quebec (WGR 550) - When the Buffalo Sabres play in Montreal against the Canadiens on Monday, there’s a chance that Zach Metsa will be playing in his first NHL game.
Jacob Bryson left Saturday’s game and is in concussion protocol. Ryan Johnson had a good training camp, but only played a little over five minutes on Thursday against the Ottawa Senators and Lindy Ruff wanted to get him back to Rochester to get more ice-time. That opened the door for the Amerks captain to be called up. Zac Jones has also been recalled from Rochester, so it could be him in the lineup on Monday or Metsa.
Metsa’s story is one of a guy that has been counted out his whole hockey career. He’s been told he’s too small, he’s not good enough, but he always just waits for an opportunity that he takes full advantage of.
He started trying to play college hockey. He wasn’t heavily recruited and wound up at Quinnipiac University. He had to spend parts of four seasons in the USHL just to try to show someone that he deserves to play.
As a Freshman with the Bobcats, he was a healthy scratch and waited his turn. He played five seasons and by the time the 27-year-old was a senior, he was the captain of the team leading them to a NCAA Championship.
He wasn’t drafted by an NHL team so after winning the title, he signed an AHL contract with the Amerks. Rochester was in the playoffs and ran into some injuries so Seth Appert inserted hm in the lineup and Metsa did what he does, he plays so well that 13 games later, he’s still in the playoff lineup. He said he doesn’t want the journey to be easy,
“It’s alright, I don’t think you’d want it to be too easy and it makes you grind a little bit, it makes you appreciate everything that you get and it’s no different now, I appreciate the opportunity in being here.”
Seth Appert is an assistant coach on Lindy Ruff’s staff, but he was the head coach of the Amerks when Metsa arrived and he couldn’t have been more impressed with his new defenseman,
“He entered Game 2 against Syracuse down 1-0 in that series and we came back and won that and ended up in the Conference Final, but his presence, he has a swagger and confidence about him that’s been earned on every level that he’s ever been at and people have told him that he’s not good enough, he’s too small, doesn’t skate fast enough and he isn’t supposed to play at that level and he got cut from the USHL multiple times, he had to scrap and claw just to become a college player, he’s forgotten at Quinnipiac as a freshman and then became captain of their first National Championship team, so he’s just a player that has been used to people not believing in him, but through that he’s gained an incredible amount of belief in himself in what he can do despite the adversity that he’s gone through.”
It’s amazing how many times Metsa has heard no, but yet ignored it. He said it’s a mindset for him,
“I think it comes down to confidence in yourself, and part of it is just proving it to yourself that you can do it at the next level.
“For me at that time it was proving that I can do it in the American League and now it’s proving to myself that I can do it here and I’m pretty confident in myself and just prove it to the staff and everyone around.”
Once Metsa proves himself on the ice, all of a sudden his leadership skills start being noticed. He’s the captain in college, now the captain in Rochester. He said learning to lead comes from his upbringing,
“I think you take it from people you’ve been around, different captains that I’ve had the opportunity to play under, my Mom too, she’s a great leader, she’s someone I always looked up to and she’s always been someone that's led by example and has been a rock for those around her so I’ve strived to be like that too, so it’s like anything, it’s a skill and you take from other people and keep growing.”
When you don’t have five colleges offering you scholarships or NHL teams fighting to draft you it’s not always smooth sailing and it wasn’t for Metsa either,
“Across every league where I’ve been, whether its juniors, college, pro, the biggest hurdles have been when I’ve doubted myself and have a couple bad games, bad plays and maybe you lose a bit of that confidence that you normally have and it’s that grind to keep working and put your head down and get the confidence back and get back to a spot where you’re able to make plays because it sucks when you’re in your own head, no one wants to be there, but it also makes you stronger, the more you work through anything it becomes a skill.”
What I liked talking to Metsa is he’s not afraid to give himself credit for this journey. He said,
“I’m incredibly proud, I think the biggest thing for me was sticking to what I need to do every day to get better. I wasn’t necessarily someone anyone was looking at in college and I was just working to get ice time, so it’s been one day at a time, get better and now we’re here.”
Metsa said he was pretty much speechless when current Amerks coach Mike Leone gave him the news.
“I was shocked a little, it’s a dream come true and something you think about as a kid and just excited to be here.”
Appert of course isn’t surprised at all that Metsa is here and may play in his first National Hockey League game,
“I’m not surprised at all, being around him every day and I had a head start on his character being good friends with his college coach (Rand Pecknold), so we had a pretty good background on who he was as a human and what kind of teammate he was, so it’s not a surprise that he earned this NHL contract, it’s not a surprise he was named the captain and now he’s earned his first callup and it’s a great story, but when you’re around him, you understand why.”
It’ll be interesting to see if another Sabre plays in his first NHL game on Monday in goalie Colten Ellis.
Jones was signed by the Sabres in July from the New York Rangers. The 25-year-old was a third round pick by the Blue Shirts in 2019 and played 115 games with New York scoring four goals and 24 assists for 28 points. In four games with the Amerks he had four assists.
Justin Danforth is out for over a month and has gone on injured reserve. Noah Ostlund has been called up. He has a goal and four assists for five points in four games in Rochester. The 21-year-old was the Sabres first round pick and 16th overall in 2022. Last season Ostlund got his first eight NHL games and had no points.