For Houston native Tyler Myers, disaster hits close to home

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The punishing force of nature that pummeled much of southeast Texas with dozens of inches of rain, flooding and 130 mph winds is almost unfathomable for anyone living outside the area. Roadways and homes simply vanished in the tides, living rooms blended into sewer overflow and lives were turned completely inside out.

For NHL defenseman Tyler Myers, the destruction of towns and cities along Texas’ Gulf Coast at the hands of Hurricane Harvey fill him with a particular fright.

The hulking Winnipeg Jets blueliner is a native of Houston, a city that can be seen completely underwater on any news channel over the past week. His mother and half-brother are still residents in the city of nearly 2.5 million, which now needs to pick up the pieces and start rebuilding. 

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“I’m sure a lot of people are hearing a lot of the same things as me,” Myers told Sporting News when reached by phone last week. “The things I’ve heard from my mom is that they’re stuck in their house and everything is shut down. Outside of that, I’ve seen all the same pictures and videos that everyone else has seen and it’s a pretty scary situation.”

Winnipeg and Houston are at opposite ends of the North American continent. It would take nearly 23 hours, without a coffee or bathroom break, to drive from one to the other. That distance is especially felt during tragedy. 

“For me, I just hope that everything is OK with my family who’s still down there,” he said, noting that, fortunately, they are not directly impacted by floodwaters. “You see so much of the city that’s just underwater, it’s scary to think that could be someone in your family’s home and you just have to hope for the best.”

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There are still many ancillary concerns to living in or near a disaster zone. In the weeks after major hurricanes and fatal flooding, they include public health crises, gasoline and supply shortages, and lengthy power and utility outages. They leave the vulnerable even more vulnerable. 

The danger for residents is far from over and the total magnitude of destruction is far from realized. 

Myers moved north to Calgary at age 10, but you can tell there’s a lot of love in his heart for the city he called home for the first decade of his life. He can't recall much about the city’s rich culture and history, but he does have fond memories of playing hockey where temperatures reach triple digits in the summer, even as small as the game was at the time. 

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“When I was a kid, really starting to fall in love with hockey — in a city like Houston, hockey wasn’t a very popular sport the at the time — but I know it’s been growing and growing since I’ve been gone,” Myers said. 

“I remember with 3 million people, there were just two teams at my age,” he continued. “I was living in a culture and city that didn’t have much of a hockey culture, but it’s exciting for me to see that hockey is growing in that state, more and more kids are getting into it. It’s exciting when the sport that you play is gathering that much attention and popularity in a place where you don’t see much of that.”

The growth of hockey in the Lone Star State was never more apparent than earlier this year, when the major-junior Western Hockey League held its American prospects combine in Dallas during a weekend in May.

The combines are aimed at assisting high-level minor hockey players with their skill development. It gives them exposure to the WHL by having them participate in on- and off-ice testing. It would seemingly make no sense to hold the combine in an area without hockey talent.

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“Youth hockey in the western part of the United States has grown immensely over the last decade and we’ve witnessed firsthand here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that there is a great pool of talent to showcase,” said Jason Farris, chief operating officer for the Dallas Stars. 

The NHL currently boasts five players from the state, including Myers: Nicolas Kerdiles, Stefan Noesen, Blake Coleman and Seth Jones. 

It’s through that hockey community that Myers and others are able to make an impact when tragedy strikes. Myers counts himself fortunate to be part of a strong union like the NHLPA, which can leverage its large membership into financial relief for the afflicted. 

In partnership with the NHL, the players' association is donating $200,000 to be split between the American Red Cross for the distribution of supplies and Habitat for Humanity to assist in the rebuilding of homes as the floodwaters recede and the actual damage becomes apparent. Individually, NHL teams, from the Predators to the Panthers, are coordinating relief contributions of their own.

“It’s awesome,” Myers said. “This is just one of the examples of how the PA has helped different situations.”

The sports community as a whole has been a boon of support for the region. Myers referenced the $18.5 million and counting that Houston Texans star J.J. Watt raised for relief efforts and the telethon hosted by the Dallas Cowboys that raised more than $2 million.

“You just see the overwhelming support not only from our league but around the whole country,” Myers said. “I think that’s one of the big positives you can take from a situation like this. People are doing what they can and a lot of good to help.”

Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian and his wife, Bianca, are also raising money through a GoFundMe page and their charitable organization, Bogo’s Bunch. The money raised by the crowdsourcing effort will go directly to the Houston Food Bank and will be used to provide food, water and supplies to children, families and seniors in the Houston area who have been affected by the storm, according to the page. 

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“That’s just one example, but that’s a perfect opportunity for people to reach out through another NHL player and help in any way you can,” Myers said. 

Other cities ravaged by biblical storms and flooding know firsthand that the recovery process is long and arduous, despite all the help that comes from outside support pillars. Weeks turn into months and months turn into years, with homes still in shambles and piecemeal solution after piecemeal solution applied to infrastructure issues. 

But even with all that said, Myers offered the people of his native city a message of hope. 

“As tough as the situation is, there’s a lot of people behind you and there for you,” he said. “Like everyone does when a situation like this comes up, we’re going to come together and get through it."

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