One of the on-ice architects of the resurrection of Northeastern hockey returned to the Hub on Feb. 12 for the Chicago Blackhawks’ game at TD Garden against the Boston Bruins. While Aurora, Ont., native Dylan Sikura didn’t dent the scoresheet in that 6-3 Boston win, it was a welcome return to his second home and came just in time to see the Huskies dispatch Boston College to repeat as Beanpot champions.
Sikura was a Hockey East first-team All-Star as a senior, as well as a Hobey Baker finalist, graduating with 146 points in 140 games as one-third of the potent trio that also featured Adam Gaudette (Braintree, Mass.) and Nolan Stevens. In 22 career NHL games, he has nine assists and is a plus-3, while still in search of goal No. 1 with Chicago. New England Hockey Journal’s Billy Jaffe caught up with Sikura during that February stopover.
Billy Jaffe: It’s your first full year as a pro. You’ve had a lot of great experiences, I’m sure, both at the NHL and at the American League level. Is there one, though, defining moment that you have experienced this year that says, “I’m a pro.”
Dylan Sikura: This year, luckily enough, the Winter Classic was something that I was a part of. That was pretty cool. Whenever I see friends and family, they always talk about that. First year pro is an adjustment. A lot of things are different than college. You don’t have the bus travel anymore — you’re hopping on a plane and you’re going all over the place. Being in different cities on different nights and playing in front of awesome crowds — it’s been an awesome experience.
