Unmasking Tristan Lennox: Model of Resilience

This article was written by: Michael Fornabaio @fornabaioctp and published by: Bridgeport Islanders https://www.bridgeportislanders.com

Reading and Allentown are just about 40 miles apart in Pennsylvania. For Bridgeport Islanders goalie Tristan Lennox, the journey between them was a 14-month odyssey.

And even after that, he took another – fortunately briefer – detour.

Lennox played his first game in over a year on March 1 in Allentown against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms after an injury cost him most of both his rookie and second professional seasons.

“It’s been a long time I’ve been thinking about it, for as long as I’ve been out,” said Lennox, 22, soon after that first game back, “just wanting to get back in a game situation.”

Lennox was playing for the Worcester Railers, the Islanders’ ECHL affiliate, in a game at Reading on Dec. 15, 2023, his lucky 13th game as a pro.

“I went out behind the net to play a puck, and my leg kind of just, like, buckled on me,” Lennox said. Doctors told him that it’d happen again without a couple of procedures. Rehabilitating, Lennox said, “it was strict. It was hard. I was in the gym every day doing rehab and physical therapy.”

“So it’s been a long time. That’s why it kind of made it special to be back playing the other night.”

His AHL debut was maybe not the one you dream about, a 5-3 Phantoms win in which Lennox made 17 saves, but it was a big step in a young career that took a detour.

“We’ve all been so happy for him, because he has worked so hard and gone through a lot,” Bridgeport head coach Rick Kowalsky said. “He has had some ups and downs where he maybe thought he was close to returning and didn’t.”

Lennox’s second game back from limbo was four days later in Hartford, but another injury took him out of that game after two periods. It cost him another month, but at least it wasn’t directly related to his earlier injury.

“It was definitely frustrating,” he said this week after his second return, “but I had a bunch of great guys to help me stay positive.

“Some things to clean up, and look to clean up, but I felt good overall.”

The physical effort of that initial 14-month rehab was one thing, but then add in the mental challenge of missing over a year’s worth of games, a year’s worth of practice, a year’s worth of being part of a team’s daily routine while grinding through his own new routine.

“It was a long time and a lot of time by yourself,” Lennox said. “I’ve just got to thank the people around me, like my family, trainers and all those people, for keeping me busy.

“And because there is a lot of time by yourself, you start thinking like, ‘what if this?’ ‘What if that?’ It’s tough, for sure, but I was, I’m just thankful that I had all those people around me to help me get through.”

Kowalsky remembers going through injuries when he was playing, sometimes losing time to one malady after another.

It’s up to the individual to keep that even keel, he said, but he knows the frustration.

“I don’t think people realize the mental side of that,” Kowalsky said in early March. “We’ve obviously talked to him early on about being patient and not wanting to rush this, and don’t get frustrated. But again all the credit has to go to the kid. He’s been very focused and determined to get back. He’s been working his butt off. We’re really happy to see him come in and finally get into regular practices, but then get a game.”

The New York Islanders drafted Lennox out of the Ontario Hockey League in 2021. Lennox hadn’t played a game the season before that: The OHL went dark in 2020-21 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2020, he lost his grandfather, Charles Richard (Rick) Wall, to ALS. In his honor, Lennox and his parents put together Lenny’s House, an organization that gives to charities in Canada.”To kind of give back to charities that don’t get as much (attention),” Lennox said. “Last year we did boots on the ground, a support system for first responders and their families who suffer from PTSD… But the first year, we did ALS, for my grandfather. This year, we’re doing food4kids. We’re just trying to give back as much as we can.”

Wall, Lennox said, “was the brightest person in the room. He would walk in, and — he was owner of a company, and — walk in and talk to everybody the same way, whether they were a janitor, CEO, whatever they are. I think he treated everybody the same. So that’s what I’ve tried to be like.”

Bridgeport, into the last two weeks of its season, completes its home schedule this week. The Islanders are home Wednesday night at 7 p.m. to face the Hartford Wolf Pack, and college students can get in for $10 with student ID. Saturday against Hartford (7 p.m.) and Sunday afternoon against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (3 p.m.) mark Fan Appreciation Weekend with pregame fan fests, live music and food trucks.

It’s to be seen how many of those games Lennox gets. If nothing else, he produced one of the highlight-reel saves of the season this past Saturday. With the game scoreless almost 14 minutes in, he dove left seemingly out of nowhere to glove Wilmer Skoog’s backhander, drawing a trio of “attaboy” whacks on the back from teammate Brian Pinho.

“Shot from the point, broken play, kind of blocked it down,” Lennox said. “He had a wide-open net, so I just tried to get something in the way and just battle, like I was always taught when I was younger. Just tried to battle and got lucky.”

Battling, we know, he understands.