During her childhood, Tuyet Morris-Yurczyszyn grew up loving hockey, eventually leading to her discovering para ice hockey as an adult.
Morris-Yurczyszyn, was born in Vietnam and then adopted by John and Dorothy Morris of Brantford, when she was nine-years-old.
“I remember watching hockey when I was a child [and] getting hooked. The Edmonton Oilers was my team back in the 1980s because Wayne Gretzky was my favorite player, “ she said. “Because I was born with polio, I have had to wear a long brace so I limp when I walk…so, I just didn’t have the coordination to join a regular rep team or house league team for sports when I was growing up.”
Fast forward to 2012, and Morris-Yurczyszyn would get an opportunity to compete on the ice.
“I was taking my son to a football practice…as it was nearly lunchtime [I ended up] stopping by a charity barbecue. It was held by the Brant Crushers [para ice hockey team.] I started to ask questions about the sport and talking with the players there…I have always loved hockey, so para ice hockey appealed to me,” she recalled. “One of the coaches said they would be having hockey practice and asked me if I wanted to come out to Paris and try out for the team.”
Morris-Yurczyszyn would end up making the Crushers team in September that year, an experience she enjoyed thoroughly. Her dedication and performance were noted by Jessie Gregory, a teammate and friend, who suggested that she should try out for Team Canada.
“At first, I thought that I wasn’t good enough to try out for Team Canada. Because in my mind only an elite athlete could try out for the team… At that point, I was just starting out, I was still learning. But I did go to the tryouts and ended up making it to the team in 2014,” noted Morris-Yurczyszyn. “That same year, the team participated in the IPC sledge hockey [now para ice hockey] Women’s International. I remember scoring my first goal against one of the Alberta teams…although we lost…it was just so exciting.”
For Morris-Yurczyszyn, who would go on to notch four assists in the tournament, it was also a special time in her career.
“I remember when I first saw my name on the back of the Team Canada jersey, I got really emotional. I started to cry, and I made the whole team cry as well…to simply get the chance to represent Canada was emotional and thrilling. It was a very special moment,” she recalled.
While Morris-Yurczyszyn usually played defense for her house league team, she would switch to right wing for the Canadian team, and eventually, she decided to try a more challenging position.
“When I was playing for the Hamilton Sledgehammers, they didn’t have a backup goalie, so I asked my coach if I could fill in….and that’s how I became a goalie. Jessie [Gregory] helped me tremendously on how to adjust and do well at my new position,” she said.
However, even before finding her passion for playing on the ice, Morris-Yurczyszyn’s life story resonated with a local writer, Marsha Skrypuch, who wanted to tell her story of how she came to Canada and adapted to growing up in Brantford.
“Marsha called me one day [and] asked me about Vietnam as well as how it felt being in an orphanage there…she also asked me about growing up in a Canadian family [and] adjusting to the different cultures…It made me think about my childhood…when I first drove up to [our] house here…I thought the family who adopted me did so in order for me to take care of their kids because in Vietnam, we always took care of the younger kids at the orphanage, but my adoptive mother said that wasn’t the case, that was her job,” she recalled. ” Another memory was when it was my first birthday party here in Canada, I didn’t know what the cake and the candles were for. My two sisters helped me blow out the candles and helped me understand the occasion. Marsha did a great job telling my story in the two books she wrote. The first one is the ‘Last Airlift’ [Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue from War] and the second one is ‘One Step at a Time’ [A Vietnamese Child Finds Her Way].”
Throughout the years, Morris-Yurczyszyn would continue to play off and on for Team Canada because of the personal expenses needed to travel as well as raising a family, but it wasn’t until 2022 that she would solidify another opportunity to play on the ice for Canada.
“Tara Chisholm, [the Head Coach of Team Canada Women’s Para Hockey] called me and asked me if I could join the team for the 2022 Women’s World Challenge. The goalie at the time…Jessie [Gregory] just had a newborn baby, so she couldn’t join the team,” she said. “Although we ended up winning silver, I was just honored and proud to be wearing that Team Canada jersey again.”
In 2023, Morris-Yurczyszyn was part of the same tournament, however, playing for Team World.
“I was asked to be on the international team…so that was really fun [getting to play] with ladies from countries like Sweden, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Norway. We came in third, so we won bronze…but we almost beat Canada in the preliminary round there,” said Morris-Yurczyszyn.
While Morris-Yurczyszyn continues to support her children in various sports including coaching her daughter on the Brantford CYO girls’ team, she is looking forward to having fun on the ice.
“I’m going to keep playing house league because I love the game so much,” stated Morris-Yurczyszyn. “But, if Team Canada invited me to future tryouts [and] they feel that I can still compete, I’m going to take the chance to play for my country again.”
