‘Lake Nipissing, when it was frozen in the wintertime, was an awesome place to play and learn the game, and just go out and have fun and play against my brother, sister, dad, mom, and Uncle, you know, the whole family’
It was a hot and sunny Saturday in August on the shores of Trout Lake in North Bay at the family cottage.
Chuck Johnston, who grew up in North Bay, reminisced with his son Wyatt Johnston, a young star forward with the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League.
Wyatt Johnston was in his dad’s home turf, so he respectfully acknowledged that his dad is still a better hockey player than he is.
“I don’t know if I am there yet,” said the humble Wyatt, mincing his words with Chuck in the background.
Chuck appreciated that response.
“He is an honest fellow, honest to the core,” retorted Chuck.
Back when Chuck was growing up in North Bay, he was the high school president, and some West Ferris Trojans alumni say he was a key player on the Trojans hockey team.
Chuck says in jest that he was “kind of a big deal.”
Wyatt says he’s heard similar stories, too.
“He says the same thing to us that he was a really big deal, half joking, half serious,” said Wyatt.
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Wyatt, who continued to take some playful verbal jabs at his dad, was pleased to hear the stories from someone other than Chuck.
“We don’t always believe him, but it is nice to hear from someone from North Bay that some of this stuff is true,” said Wyatt.
“He would say that he was a good player, but it is hard for me to understand how good he was. I can see him on the ice and see that he knows how to play.
“He tells me and my family how good he was back in the day and how he led the team to a championship, all that great stuff.”
Chuck interjected.
“To be clear, I never said that! I don’t think I led them to anything,” Chuck stated while downplaying his hockey successes.
“That’s his famous story; he had a hat trick in the finals,” said Wyatt.
On the Lake Nipissing Ice
While father and son teased each other about their hockey exploits, they certainly both have no arguments that Wyatt’s love for hockey began on the shores of Lake Nipissing, well before the Windsor Spitfires star won an OHL scoring championship over North Bay Battalion forward Brandon Coe in the 2021-22 season; his last season of junior hockey before joining the Dallas Stars full-time time in 2022-23.
Wyatt is the youngest of three and grew up playing minor hockey in Toronto has nothing but great memories of skating on a frozen Lake Nipissing.
“I’m speaking for myself, but I think a lot of young Canadian hockey players really enjoy skating on outdoor rinks,” said Wyatt.
“Lake Nipissing, when it was frozen in the wintertime, was an awesome place to play and learn the game, and just go out and have fun and play against my brother, sister, dad, mom, and Uncle, you know, the whole family.
“So it was just a lot of amazing memories and fun memories of growing up. It is still one of my favourite things to do.
“Obviously, we don’t get as many opportunities nowadays, but nothing beats being out on a frozen lake or outdoor rink, going out and having fun.
“You don’t have to be doing anything specific, you are just going out there and having fun, playing little games, sticks in the middle, just really enjoying the game you love.”
The proud dad shared a photo, rich with ‘Canadiana’, showing a young Wyatt skating on a foggy winter day on the North Bay area waterway.
“With Wyatt, we would either shovel off a rink on the lake or even build one,” he recalled.
“We have a photo of Wyatt, it was a little foggy with the sun setting on Lake Nipissing when he was playing hockey. He was only three, but he was pushing a stick around.”
Team Canada calling
Wyatt Johnston’s vacation time has been cut short this summer as he is one of the 42 NHL players invited to Team Canada’s National Team evaluation camp Aug 26 to 28 in Calgary.
Johnston did not make Team Canada’s Four Nations team in 2025, but the Dallas Stars forward is hoping to catch the eye and make Team Canada’s Olympic hockey team, which travels to Turin, Italy in February 2026.
Wyatt says making the Olympic team would be a dream come true.
“It would be awesome,” he said.
“That’s something you grow up watching, like Sidney Crosby scoring the golden goal. Those moments watching best on best, and that would be really cool,” he admitted.
“Growing up, you want to be the best player in the world, and as you get older, you realize how hard it is to take that next step and keep improving, but making it would be an amazing thing.”
Wyatt’s dreams of putting on a Team Canada jersey originated in North Bay, too.
Chuck Johnston says the World Juniors were like a seed that created his love for the game.
“Our focus during the Christmas holidays was the World Juniors, and it was always on the TV when we were always up in the Bay, and I think Wyatt, and all of us became fascinated by watching the World Juniors and Canada play. I think he was particularly fascinated by it,” recalled Chuck.
“Was that the seed that sparked him to want to become an NHL hockey player? I don’t know, but I certainly remember he was fixated on watching the game on TV.”
After that, he wanted his parents to buy him a hockey stick, which Chuck says he carried around everywhere, and something they still have in their Toronto area basement to this day.
Johnston has only worn Team Canada colours at the U17s in 2019 and in 2021 with the U18 team.
The 2003-born forward won gold with Team Canada’s Under 18 team in Texas back in 2021 with Corbeil’s Ben Gaudreau as his goaltender.
Chuck, whose family ran Johnston Dairy in North Bay, which opened in the early 1900s, is hoping Wyatt can relive those dreams in 2026 with Team Canada.
“It would be an extraordinary honour and we would be incredibly proud of that,” he said.
Starry optimism
Once the National Team camp it completed Johnston will be getting ready to head back to Dallas to join the Stars.
His team has been ousted in the Western Conference Finals three years in a row, and he believes that despite some roster moves and a coaching change, he believes the Stars are poised to take another step forward in 2025-26.
“I think change is part of the game, whether that’s losing guys, adding guys, or new coaches,” Wyatt stated.
“It’s just kind of the way it is within the NHL. There are a lot of turnovers throughout the league, so our expectations are high. I think everyone within the organization believes we’re a team that can win the Stanley Cup, and we have a nice window to do that. It’s a long road to get there, but I think we believe we can do it.”
But when asked if a Stanley Cup victory would mean a trip with the cup to North Bay, he would not answer that – not yet, at least.
Right now, he wants to keep those Stanley Cup victory dreams and plans to himself.