Tyson Baillie’s rocky rookie season leads to WHL glory

It was a perfect storm when Tyson Baillie earned a roster spot with the Kelowna Rockets during the 2011-2012 season. At just 15 years old—turning 16 on November 16th—Baillie, from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, was thrown into the demanding grind of a Western Hockey League season. Despite his youth, he played in all 68 games that year, a rare accomplishment for a rookie.

“That first year, we had a lot of ups and downs,” Baillie recalled. “It was a rebuilding year. I think we finished .500. We had a lot of injuries that year, so I had to play and I didn’t sit one game. I was lucky not to be a healthy scratch.”

For Baillie, the transition from midget hockey to the WHL was a steep learning curve and a battle against stronger, older players. He remembered how physical the league could be and how it felt to face off against players sometimes five years his senior.

“They [older players] have old man strength, is what we called it back then,” Baillie said, reflecting on his rookie year. “I was pretty short my first year, and it was hard to adjust from midget hockey to the WHL, going from 16- and 17-year-olds to 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds.”

In his early games, Baillie struggled to find his scoring touch, and he vividly remembered the frustration of his first extended dry spell.

“I had quite a bit of luck right off the bat,” he said. “I remember scoring one goal in all of November and December my first year, and then not scoring for two months. I wasn’t used to that. It was depressing. You have to understand that you are 16, and you are not going to be scoring 50, 40, or even 30 goals. So it was tough not scoring like I wanted to because I wasn’t as skilled or as good as the other players on the ice.”

Despite finishing his rookie season with only 10 goals and 28 points, Baillie remained hopeful about both his personal growth and the team’s trajectory.

“We had a lot of injuries that year, but I knew even then that the team was on the upswing,” Baillie said. “And I knew that as I got older, my play would improve too.”

That improvement came quickly. In his second season, Baillie more than doubled his point total, scoring 26 goals and adding 30 assists for 56 points. As his confidence grew, so did his belief in the team’s potential.

“I remember Madison Bowey and I, our first day of school, we were looking at a hockey magazine,” Baillie recalled. “They had us winning the WHL championship that year and going to the Memorial Cup. We were pretty fired up about that because we had such a good pre-season. But it turned out that it wasn’t our year. It was our goal to win an Ed Chynoweth Cup before we were all finished junior, and I was glad we were able to accomplish that.”

By the time Baillie left the Rockets, he had helped lead the team to significant success, including a WHL championship—a long-sought achievement that became the pinnacle of his junior career.

“I liked Dan Lambert as a coach because he was so offensive-minded,” Baillie said when reflecting on his time under the three coaches he played for in Kelowna: Ryan Huska, Brad Ralph, and Dan Lambert. “Lambert was a great players’ coach. He had a good sense of humor and kept it light in the room, but he was serious when it was game time.”

For Baillie, the memories of his most significant moments with the Rockets still feel fresh. One particular goal stands out as a defining moment of his career.

“I think the biggest goal I scored was in Game 5 against Portland in the 2015 playoffs, in the Western Conference finals,” Baillie said. “Portland always knocked us out of the playoffs. They ended up beating us somehow, but that goal was huge for me.”

However, his favorite game may have come in the same playoff series, but in a much different way.

“My favorite game was probably Game 6 in Portland,” Baillie said, recalling every detail as though it was yesterday. “We came back from 3-0 and won 8-4. To hear the silence of that crowd, which is a crazy crowd, especially in the playoffs, I will never forget it.”

Baillie’s career with the Rockets cemented his place in team history. He now ranks as the third all-time leader in games played for Kelowna, with 329 appearances. Only Tyler Mosienko (338) and Jason Deleurme (341) have played more.

Through the highs and lows, Baillie’s time in Kelowna was defined by growth, perseverance, and a deep sense of pride in both his own development and the team’s eventual triumph.