Although he admits to mild culture shock and to just a touch of homesickness living in a huge American metropolis like Chicago, Cochrane's Tyler Wong says he's doing his best to fit into a new city and playing in a new professional league.

After five seasons with the Western Hockey League's Lethbridge Hurricanes, Wong is now playing in the American Hockey League with the Chicago Wolves, the farm team of the NHL's St. Louis Blues.

Wong says playing with the Wolves has been a good experience.  "The coaching staff here is awesome.  They're very fair and understanding.  They know I'm a younger player and I've got a lot to learn so they've helped me a lot with developing my game and becoming a more well-rounded player.  We've got some good guys on the team that have been able to make the transition into living by myself and moving to a different country a lot easier, so it's been good."

Wong says the change from the WHL to the AHL has been dramatic.   "Yeah, everyone is a lot bigger and stronger and faster and you definitely have a lot less time and space to make plays.  I'm just trying to figure out the different speed.   I've been playing with some good players that have made it a lot easier on me.  I think myself, I've always been a guy that puts up points and so far it's been a lot more difficult to do that.  It's just getting my confidence and getting into a rhythm to put the puck in the net."

Playing in eight of the Wolves nine games to date, Wong has only scored once, in a 6 - 5 overtime loss to Texas.  He's also picked up eight penalty minutes and is a minus-five on the season. 

The Wolves are currently sporting a record of 4 - 4 and 1.   Wong believes, so far, the team has been under-performing.  

"We have a good team this year, a lot of talent,  We haven't fully played to our potential yet, which is exciting I guess.   One way you can look at it is we're around .500 now and we haven't even grasped the level that we can get to, so I think that it's going to be a good year for us."

A highlight of Wong's hockey career came earlier this fall when he attended NHL training camp with the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.  Wong calls the experience incredible.

"There's so much excitement in that city for the expansion team.  Everyone that they hired to build the team, they're all awesome people who have a really great mind for hockey.  George McPhee (General Manager), their player development guys, their coaches were all awesome at helping us younger players to adapt to an NHL training camp, the bigger players, the less time and space.  It was awesome to be a part of something that special, in the first season,  To be able to play in some exhibition games was a huge honour."

The team's first exhibition game is one Wong, and Vegas hockey fans will remember forever.  Wong scored the team's first ever goal and went on to score two more, collecting a hattrick in a 9 - 4 win over the Vancouver Canucks.  Wong says the experience of playing with an expansion team in its first-ever game was nerve-wracking but thrilling.  

"Going into that, it was their first official game.  Obviously, it wasn't regular season but their first game as a real team in an organized setting.  It was a huge honour going into that,   You know, I was pretty nervous but I was playing with two really good players.  I got some bounces and the puck was finding me so it was a really fun game to be a part of."

He says having the distinction of scoring the franchise's first goal is something he'll treasure for the rest of his life.  "Yeah, that was pretty cool.  I think after the game that my phone kind of blew up.  It was a big honour."

After his NHL training camp experience, Wong went back to the Wolves, whom he signed with in May.  He says that living in a city with nearly three million residents has been tough after growing up just outside of Cochrane and playing his entire junior career in Lethbridge.

"I think it's been a big change for me.  I'm definitely a little homesick missing being able to go outside and not be in the city, to go out in the country.  You know I grew up with horses on kind of a smaller horse farm outside of Cochrane.  I've always been an outdoors type.  It's been good though to kind of move out and try to take care of myself, handle all the bills and everything so that's been a cool experience but I definitely miss home."

Wong will get a taste of home soon.  He says his mom is coming for a visit in a few weeks.

During his time in junior hockey with Lethbridge, Wong endeared himself to Hurricanes fans and was named Fan Favourite in each of his five seasons.  His work in the community also led to him being named the Canadian Hockey League's Humanitarian of the Year during his final season of junior.  Wong says he's starting to get involved in the Chicago community as well.

"We've done a few charity events so far and I'm hoping to be able to get into a few more as the year goes on.  I"m just trying to get a feel for how I can get involved so we're still kind of in the planning stages right now but we'll have a few things dialled up here soon."

Wong says despite trying to get used to a new country, a new city, a new lifestyle, a new level of hockey and a new team that he's adapting well. 

"I have confidence in myself to be able to know that I'll develop into a good player in this league and hopefully make it to the NHL.  I believe that if I keep working hard that I'll be able to get there one day and Chicago's giving me an amazing opportunity."