Bio - Westwood

[Sullvino 289]

Biography: Zyn Westwood, RW

 

Early Life

Zyn Westwood was born in Monte Carlo, Monaco shortly after his parents moved there for work related reasons. The Westwood family was a hardworking and humble bunch. Three older brothers would provide Zyn with a lot of competitive juices growing up whether that be at home, in the classroom or on the playing field. Zyn was into many sports growing up including tennis, golf and soccer. His hometown in Monaco, not exactly the hockey hot bed of the world, did not have a hockey rink within 100 miles. It was not until he was in middle school when he first discovered the sport while watching highlights of VHL stars on YouTube. It was shortly thereafter that he asked his parents to drive him to that far away hockey rink and he bought his first pair of ice hockey skates. That day, he skated all day and night. He immediately fell in love with the game of hockey. Lucky for Zyn, his parents had plans to move back to the United States once he was old enough to enroll in high School.

 

High School

The family moved back to the United States in Minnesota the summer before Zyn was slated to begin his freshman year in high school. At this point, he had been improving steadily with his ice skating and hockey skills but still had not played any sort of competitive hockey game. Despite this, he decided to try out for the freshman hockey team where he would be one of the final cuts. This gave Zyn all the motivation he needed. He spent the entire next year at the ice rink every day after school working on his game. He took a part time job on the weekends to pay for his new equipment and hockey lessons and was ready to roll for sophomore year tryouts. All the work paid off for young Zyn as he was able to make the Junior Varsity hockey team his sophomore season. He played Top 6 minutes on offense this season and scored 12 goals in 20 regular season games. This was good enough for second on the team in goals

 

He continued his hard offseason work with a goal set out to make the Varsity team as a junior. He followed the same offseason workout and training regimen as the previous year and the hard work paid off again. Not only did he make Varsity, but he was quoted as being one of the best players on the ice during tryouts by the head coach. The stage was set for a big jump in his hockey development. His junior year was a monster one: on 20 games played he scored 33 goals and added 29 assists for the team lead in points and a first team all-state forward. Zyn continued his impressive play as the captain of the team his senior season posting 45 goals which is a state record. The team went on to win the state championship and Westwood became one of the top hockey recruits in the country.

 

College

Fielding offers from many of the big-name schools such as Michigan, Quinnipiac and Providence, Zyn made the decision to accept an offer to play hockey in his home state at the University of Minnesota. A dream come true for the Westwood family. As one of the nation’s top recruits, the Gophers wasted little time getting him into some legit game action. He played most of his freshman season on the third line offensive unit with some powerplay time. In 35 games played, Westwood potted 9 goals and added 12 assists. While not gaudy, these were respectable numbers for a true freshman stepping into NCAA hockey for the first time. Throughout his next two years he continued to progress and pad the stat lines. He combined for 45 goals over these two seasons and totaled well over 100 points. He finished his junior year as a first team all-American and had garnered some legit interest from professional leagues around the world. It was a big decision for Zyn and his family, does he stay in college for another year to finish out his eligibility or accept an offer to play professionally?

 

VHLM

After long conversations with family and mentors, Zyn made the decision to forego his senior season at the University of Minnesota and accept an offer to join the Las Vegas Aces of the VHLM. He signed a 1 year deal worth $1,500,000 on April 7, 2023.

 

Quote

“It was not an easy decision. I want to thank all of my coaches, teammates and fans over at the University of Minnesota for all the support over these three years. At the end of the day, it was always a dream of mine since I was a little kid to play professional hockey and to one day play in the VHL. This opportunity presented itself to me recently and I could not pass it up. I will continue to work hard and prove that a kid from Monaco can make the big leagues.”

 

Zyn Westwood will be eligible for the S89 VHL Entry Draft, where his dream will be one step closer to coming true.

 

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