The Colorado Academy Mustangs finally won their first game of their first season late in the year.

The victory came against a team from Colorado Springs, as the Mustangs exploded for five goals in the first period and their goalie stood on his head, Nathan Oystrick said.

“The excitement on the bench was ... it was crazy. It was electric,” Oystrick said.

“But even from the first game of the new season, we lost 5-3 or something but it was a home game. We were playing against Aspen and our student section came out, and I don’t know if a lot of these kids knew a lot about hockey but they were loud and they were crazy and it felt like a college hockey game.”

Oystrick was hired by the school last fall to help restart the school’s hockey team, which hadn’t operated since 2002. He was introduced Tuesday as the new head coach and general manager of the Humboldt Broncos.

He did fantastic work at the academy, athletics director Bill Hall said. It was a big job - while the school takes academics seriously, athletics are also a critical part of students’ education.

Oystrick knew that balance, navigated the schedules of the kids and really put the school on the map, Hall said. The school’s loss is the Humboldt Broncos’ gain, he said.

“He’s a fantastic guy. He teaches more than hockey. He cares about the kids as more than hockey players and he’s going to do a great job rebuilding that program and community and be a great face for everybody as you guys move forward.”

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Oystrick’s father put him in skates when he was five years old - and he hated it. But once his dad gave him a hockey stick, he wouldn’t get off the ice.

Oystrick spent entire days at the rink, through winter and summer, and would eventually play in 65 NHL games for the Atlanta Thrashers, Anaheim Ducks and St. Louis Blues, and 338 games in the American Hockey League.

“I just love the game. I bleed the game. I don’t know anything else. Without hockey I’m not sure what I would do. I always want to be involved in the game one way or another. Obviously my goal is to eventually get to the NHL but it’s just ingrained in me.”

After his playing career, Oystrick turned to coaching and was an assistant coach with the Atlanta Gladiators and Elmira Jackets of the ECHL.

Oystrick and his wife, Lindsay, moved to Colorado in 2011 and fell in love with the town. Last summer Oystrick found himself sending out resumes after a potential gig back in Atlanta fell through, and he had breakfast with one of his old coaches - Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar.

Bednar said he had something in mind, and a couple days later texted him Hall’s number. They clicked and Hall offered him the job.

It was a great experience - but it meant starting the program from scratch, Oystrick said. Only four players on the roster were current hockey players. Another four or five had played in the past few years, while rest hadn’t skated for years, if ever.

“We were ordering sock tape and pylons and pucks and everything. But it was great. It’s a really high-class school with really, really, really smart kids and they came to the rink for every practice that we had  ready to work and ready to learn and it was great.”

By the end of the year they had won three games.

“I’m not sure a lot of people expected that. But I was happy and obviously the kids were ecstatic.”

Hall said Oystrick sees hockey as a great opportunity for everybody to learn. He expects Oystrick to focus on fundamentals with the Broncos and work his players hard, and let winning take care of itself.

Humboldt is getting a passionate leader with a great sense of humour, Hall said.

“Nathan truly wears his passion and feelings on his sleeve and they’re wide open for everybody to see, and I think the kids really thrived on that. They saw that on the bench, they saw that in the locker room, they saw that in the community. And everybody really gravitated towards him because he was all about the kids.”

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Oystrick believes the lessons he learned in Colorado will carry on to Humboldt.

“The learning experience I had was having to start over. I think this year we’re starting over again. So I can use that to bring in some new ideas and go from there.”

Former coach Darcy Haugan’s core covenant will remain on the wall outside the Broncos dressing room. Like Haugan, Oystrick sees a hockey organization as a family, he said.

“I think hockey will take care of itself. It starts with the dressing room, building that culture, and that obviously comes from me. If there’s a bad culture, it’s probably on me and I’m going to have to fix it.

“But I’m a positive guy and I bring a lot of energy and I like to have fun, so hopefully that rubs off on the players.”