For a 17-year-old Ronald Petrovicky, coming to Canada to play hockey in the Western Hockey League wasn't a total shock to his system.
Three years earlier he made the choice to leave his parents behind in Zilina, Slovakia to play for a team in Trencin, 70 kilometres away. He was giving up the comforts of home for life in a hockey club dormitory to follow his dream of playing in the NHL.
Petrovicky's move to Canada was prompted by a disagreement over transfer fees between his club team in Zilina and the Trencin junior team he played for. Unable to work out the situation he talked to his agent and asked to be put on the list of available players for the 1994 CHL import draft and was chosen fifth overall by the Tri-City Americans.
He spent a month in Edmonton getting acclimated to North American life and went to the Americans' camp in Kennewick, Wash., where he started the 1994-95 WHL season.
After five months, Petrovicky joined the Cougars on Jan. 24, 1995 during their first season in Prince George, part of a 10-player trade orchestrated by Rick Brodsky, the Cougars owner and general manager. Defencemen Sheldon Souray and Kevin Bertram, centre Geoff Lynch and goaltender Mike Walker also came to Prince George in the deal that sent forwards Rob Butz and Dorian Anneck, defencemen Ryan Brown and Alexandre Boikov and goalie David Trofimenkoff to Tri-City.
At the time of the swap the Cougars were last in the West Division with a 13-33-3 record. Playing in the tight confines of the Prince George Coliseum under head coach Doug Hobson, the Cougars managed just one more win in their next 22 games that season and finished dead-last at 14-55-3. In 21 games Petrovicky collected four goals and 10 points. The Cats weren't much better the following season with Dale Marquette as the coach, finishing last again at 17-53-2, but as a sophomore WHL right winger Petrovicky averaged a point per game with 19 goals and 21 assists in 39 games.
"Once I came over here to North America I learned a different style of game, I was more on the offensive side as long as I could remember but I changed into that third- or fourth-line guy and you have to be aggressive and tough to play against," he said. "I never minded that kind of stuff. It was kind of cool that you drop your gloves and get five minutes and get back into the game. Back in Europe you get kicked out of the game and you're a bad guy."
His second full season, with Stan Butler at the helm, playing in the just-opened Prince George Multiplex, was a memorable one for Petrovicky. After an unspectacular 28-39-5-0 regular season, with 19-year-old Zdeno Chara on the blueline the Cats got hot at the right time and gave the city an irresistible dose of playoff fever as they advanced to the third round of playoffs.
"Every year was good here, the people were into hockey quite a bit and it was something new for the town," said Petrovicky. "I have nothing but great memories how great the fans were and how excited everybody was. Then we had that playoff run and the whole town was behind us. That was a great experience, on top of my list as a hockey player when you see four of five thousand people in the warmup and the building is full for the game.
"It was great to play here. People were sleeping in front of the Multiplex just to get ticket. That was before the computer era and people were calling Ontario just to get a ticket."
Petrovicky was the only European on the Cougars' roster his second season until they brought Chara over from Slovakia in the summer of 1996.
"I knew him from before because he's from Trencin so he played there and once he came over here we became good friends," said the 41-year-old Petrovicky. "We still talk to each other once in awhile. He's a hardworking guy and I can't believe he's still playing. It's amazing at his age and how physical everything is and how demanding. He's crying and whining all the time about how fast those guys are. It's getting faster and faster every year. It's amazing. There's less physical play but more speed and that's the way the game is going."
After a 19-goal 40-point season with the Cougars, Petrovicky was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the ninth round in 1996. His feisty style and above-average hockey skills made him a Cougar fan favourite and he was even more productive the following season, finishing with 32 goals, 69 points and 119 penalty minutes playing in all 72 regular season games. In 15 playoff games he had four goals and 13 points.
The rebuilding Cougars traded him to the Regina Pats in the summer of 1997 and he led the Pats in scoring that season with 64 goals and 113 points. He turned pro with the AHL Saint John Flames and after two seasons made his NHL debut in Calgary.
"The first day after I made the team I got hurt in practice," he said. "I still played the first game against Detroit but I went for an MRI the next day and I had tore ligaments in my wrist and needed surgery."
Petrovicky drew sporadic duty his two years in Calgary and the New York Rangers acquired him in the waiver draft. He played 66 games in 2002-03 for a star-studded New York team
"It was a great city to play in and a great team, that was before the salary cap so it was playing in the all-star game pretty much with all those big names - (Brian) Leetch, (Mike) Richter, (Pavel) Bure, (Petr) Nedved, (Eric) Lindros, it was unbelievable."
That summer, the Atlanta Thrashers picked up Petrovicky on waivers and he responded with his best NHL season, scoring 16 goals and 31 points in 78 games. During the NHL lockout he returned to Slovakia and played for pro teams in Zilina and Brynas, then came back to Atlanta for another season. He signed a one-year deal with Pittsburgh as a free agent in 2006. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were just arriving for the playoff-bound Penguins and in what he describes as his best hockey experience as a pro, playing home games in the Igloo. He played 31 games but was sidelined with a hip injury which required two surgeries.
"I had an offer to go to Chicago for a free-agent tryout and I kind of regret it to this day that I didn't end up going," he said. "I thought I'd just wait out the camp and somebody will call me and I'll sign somewhere but nobody did, so I went to Europe and European hockey wasn't for me anymore.
"My style of game, you couldn't do it over there. Plus, when you're an import they want you to score goals and get points and I wasn't doing that there, so it was tough for me and my family, moving around and not playing well."
After three seasons he returned to North America and was playing a pre-season game for the Vancouver Canucks in Anaheim when he strained his MCL and was released. He played four games in 2009 for the Springfield Indians, Edmonton's AHL affiliate, when he decided he'd had enough and moved back to Prince George.
In his six-year NHL career, Petrovicky played 342 regular season games and three playoff games and totaled 41 goals, 92 points and 429 penalty minutes.
His four-years-older brother Robert had a brief career as an NHL centre with Hartford, Dallas, St. Louis, Tampa Bay and the New York Islanders and played 25 pro seasons, mostly in Europe. He's now coaching in the KHL with Bratislava.
After he quit hockey, Ronald worked in housing construction for several years and he's now a project manager for Winmar, a Prince George property restoration contractor.
"My wife's from here and we always came back (for summers) - I like the town, it's a nice size and the people are good here," he said. "It's not too big, not too small. It's nicer than anywhere I know."
Petrovicky and his wife Ashley have a 19-year-old daughter, Riannon, a 16-year-old son Reif and a 13-year-old daughter Ella. Reif played minor hockey for a few years and switched to football and basketball. After a year in hockey, gymnastics was more appealing to Ella. Ronald coached Reif's peewee rep team but he's no longer involved in hockey and it's been a few years since he's played a game.
"I'm too old for that," he said. "Nobody wants a fourth-line grinder. I had enough and I'm stepping away from hockey and I'm taking it easy now. Maybe in the future I'll find the urge to coach or play."
