MERIDEN — Kimball Union Academy senior Tomas Mazura, all of 19 years of age, has seen more of America than most Americans do.
His KUA boys hockey team travels all over the Northeast, but Mazura’s road-trip experiences predate even that. For instance, there’s the drive he and his father once took following a Minnesota hockey camp, going from the Midwest to San Francisco, with scenic stops along the way.
“I love Yellowstone,” Mazura said following a Tuesday practice at Akerstrom Arena. “I’ve been there twice, and I think it’s amazing.”
Not bad for someone whose home is closer to Prague than, say, Pittsburgh.
A native of the Czech Republic, Mazura has a playing future in hockey. He’s an eye-catching focal point for the Wildcats when on the ice, as much for his 6-foot-4 frame as his quick hands, fluid skating and passing ability. Providence College coach Nate Leaman will get Mazura’s services as a freshman next season; the Edmonton Oilers were impressed enough to make Mazura a sixth-round NHL draft pick last summer.
It’s an understatement, but it’s true: Mazura took the long way here.
“We know we’ll have kids from New England, but also various states,” KUA coach Tim Whitehead said. “Definitely our share of Canadians; five, six, seven, depending on the year. The Europeans are a bonus, and they’ve been a great bonus. They bring a fun dynamic to the team. Our locker room’s always an interesting locker room for that reason.”
Geographically as well as developmentally, Mazura has covered a lot of miles. Reaching this point has also required a level of projection from the people who’ve seen him play.
Home is the Czech district of Pardubice, located about an hour east of Prague. If Warroad, Minn., is America’s original Hockeytown, Pardubice is the equivalent back home, Mazura said. Kids have plenty of avenues to play the game there, but they don’t always have access to ice or adults who think beyond the present moment.
“What I wanted to do is hockey, and I wanted to combine it with education, and it wasn’t as easy back home,” said Mazura, who betrays very little of a Czech accent. “I went to a really good school, but it was very challenging because the school wasn’t connected to hockey. I had to have an individual plan and plan my tests and stuff, which was just a problem. And the hockey part, I didn’t like the route of going pro back home. There’s different things people focus on; it’s not always necessarily about developing people. It’s more about, ‘We want him to be the best player now.’ ”
That led to Mazura and his father, also named Tomas, to investigate options in the United States. And that led to meeting Whitehead at a summer Berkshire School training camp four years ago.
“I noticed him right away; he was a tall drink of water with really good skill and poise with the puck,” Whitehead recalled. “He was very thin, and he needed to work on his skating a little bit. … I felt he had a lot of potential, but who knows? I obviously wasn’t thinking NHL prospect at that point. I was just thinking, ‘This could be a nice kid to bring into Kimball Union Academy.’ ”
Mazura checked in at around 5-9 and 145 pounds as a freshman, but his father was tall and muscular. That gave Whitehead an idea of what the younger Mazura could be.
He was too small to play varsity as a KUA freshman, and Mazura missed most of his sophomore season with a broken collarbone. Dedicating himself to hard work and rehabilitation, combined with a significant growth spurt, Mazura came back and exploded.
Whitehead pins the breakout moment to the Wildcats’ win at the Nichols School tournament in Buffalo, N.Y., during Mazura’s junior year. KUA swept four games to win the championship, and Mazura played well enough that he’d have been named most valuable player if such an honor were handed out, Whitehead said.
“That was the point,” Whitehead added, “where he really established himself as a legitimate college and pro prospect.”
Mazura — who finished last year with 14 goals and 54 points in 37 games — committed to Providence within the month and heard his name called by the Oilers six months after that. He’s continued to make use of his opportunities since then, joining an Edmonton prospects camp shortly after the draft and taking on captain’s duties with this year’s Wildcats.
It’s possible to see the traits of one former NHL great from the Czech Republic when Mazura has the puck on his stick. Against Deerfield Academy on Wednesday, he occasionally weaved through multiple foes’ outreached sticks with ease and deftly dished the biscuit to linemates, looking much like a younger, trimmer and shorter-haired Jaromir Jagr. (Pardubice’s most famous pro hockey product is actually goaltender Dominik Hasek, Mazura noted.)
He could have gone the junior hockey route, but Mazura wanted to get a good education when he came to the States. He’s been able to dabble in juniors around KUA’s schedule, however, having spent Thanksgiving break skating for the USHL’s Omaha Lancers for four games. He’ll do it again in March, when the Wildcats’ campaign ends and the school takes a three-week break from studies.
Meanwhile, KUA is riding a three-year NEPSAC Elite Eight championship run, and Mazura is scoring at an even higher clip, nearly two points per game, than he did last winter. There’s still work for him and his teammates to do.
“It’s important for our older guys and myself to encourage the other players,” Mazura said. “We’re a little bit shorthanded right now, so we need to be the ones who are always positive and encouraging our teammates and help them out. … Other than that, I’m working on my defensive play. I like to play center, but it’s challenging every step you move up.”
Be it with a road map or a hockey team, Mazura seems to know his way around.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.