Rowan Guest has come a long way

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He didn’t have any equipment.

“So we ran down to the local store, and this was like an hour and 15 minutes beforehand,” Guest said. “We’re just scurrying through the discount bins, and he’s just throwing stuff at me. Pick it all up.”

Guest picked up the equipment and headed to the rink.

“I was like Bambi out there to start.”

That was the beginning.

A move to Saskatoon would take Guest’s hockey career to another level.

He grew up in a city where hockey is everywhere and played with and against some pretty good players, including Roger McQueen.

McQueen, a former teammate of Guest’s, was selected in the first round, 10th overall, by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2025 NHL Draft.

The two played together for four years, with McQueen’s dad coaching them.

And McQueen’s dad also had something to do with Guest eventually becoming a defenseman.

Guest started as a forward.

“Then his dad changed me back to D,” Guest said. “He’s like, ‘You’re too big.’”

It turned out to be pretty good advice.

Guest was always one of the taller kids in his class, although he had some competition.

“Of course, Roger was always the tallest.”

That changed when Guest hit a growth spurt heading into his second year of Bantam.

“I grew to like six feet.”

He kept growing, eventually becoming the big, 6’5 mobile defenseman the Rockets have relied on.

But getting bigger also meant Guest had to learn something else.

How to keep weight on.

At 20 years old, he is still figuring out exactly what his body needs, especially during a long hockey season.

“I’m finding now this year, I’m kind of staying at a good range for weight, whereas last year I would fluctuate quite a bit,” he said. “I dipped down quite a bit in the year and then gained more for the Memorial Cup. So I’m trying my best this year to eat more and get more protein and stuff.”

Food has become a much bigger part of hockey preparation.

The days of eating whatever you want and heading to the rink are gone.

Guest knows exactly what he wants before a game.

Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken.

“I have the fettuccine Alfredo with a little Alfredo sauce and chicken,” he said. “I throw a little bit more Alfredo sauce on my pasta.”

Apparently, there can also be too much Alfredo.

“I’d just be slower.”

Chipotle is still part of the routine when the Rockets are in the United States, but Guest prefers it for lunch rather than before a game.

And then there is water.

Guest has learned that feeling good on the ice can have more to do with what happened earlier in the day than what happens once the puck drops.

“Sometimes I’ll come out of the gates kind of feeling not great in games,” he said. “I’m like, well, what’s the problem? I eat enough and stuff, but I know it’s because I didn’t drink enough water during the day.”

It’s one of those things you probably don’t think much about when you’re younger.

Guest does now.

“It’s funny. When I was younger, you could just have a Tim Hortons donut and go have a game. Now you’re getting older and it’s like, oh God, you just need all this energy.”

The same kind of maturity has started showing up in his game.

There are nights when a defenseman simply doesn’t have it.

The passes aren’t as crisp. The decisions aren’t as good. The puck seems to be fighting you.

Guest has learned not to make things worse by trying to do too much.

“When I’m not having a good game, I try and just go, OK, let’s get to simple,” he said. “Five-foot pass, make that pass, try not to have the puck on your stick as much, try and get it in other people’s hands who are going and get them going.”

Then he starts building again.

“You try and build up these little wins and stack up these little wins, and it gets your confidence back a bit, because confidence is so big.”

Guest has also started working with a mental coach, something he began this summer.

Visualization is part of it.

He writes down what he does when he’s playing well and what happens when he’s struggling, then goes back over it during the week.

The goal isn’t necessarily to become laser-focused.

In fact, Guest has discovered the opposite works better for him.

“When I’m loose, when I’m relaxed, I feel my best.”

And maybe that is one of the biggest changes that comes with getting older.

You start to figure out what actually works for you.

That includes hockey.

It even includes where you sit in the dressing room.

Guest’s stall is now in the middle of the Rockets dressing room. He wanted to get out of the corner and have a better view of what was happening around him.

“It’s the better seat because you can see everyone,” he said. “You’re not tucked away in the corner.”

There are other factors involved in choosing a stall, too.

“If you’re messy and you’re beside someone messy, you don’t want to be there anymore,” Guest said.

And how about stinky?

“That too,” he said with a chuckle.

Guest learned that the hard way after sitting beside rookie Tomas Poletin last season, who apparently had a habit of leaving three hockey sticks in Guest’s stall.

“What I didn’t like about ‘Poly’ was that, for some reason, he had three sticks every single day in my stall,” Guest chuckling as he tells the story. “I’m like, holy, one, why are you taping your sticks every day? You only use one probably, and two, just put them in your stall, man.”

It’s a long way from that three-year-old kid in Yorkton, wearing whatever hockey equipment could be found in a discount bin.

Guest is now 20, entering his final season in the WHL and trying to take everything he’s learned along the way into one more season with the Rockets.

The kid who once looked like Bambi on the ice has grown into one of the older players in the room.

“I’m excited about the season. Good group, and I’m ready to take it to another level again.”