Catching up with the Cats: JM Piotrowski

This past week, voice of the Bobcats, Brandon Luisi, caught up with former Bobcat from the 2014-15 season, JM Piotrowski.  

Piotrowski appeared in 39 games for Bismarck where he tallied 13 goals and 8 assists for a total of 21 points. He cherished his time in Bismarck and remembered the town, the fans, and the organization very fondly. “There’s a lot of people I’m still in touch with to this day. That [Bismarck] was a place where I found a new level of my hockey career and my hockey advancement. I think I was put in a great opportunity, great coaches, obviously Garrett Roth is back there now as the Head Coach. He was the Assistant Coach at the time when I was playing there…I had great memories with my players, with my teammates, and we had a pretty good team too.” Piotrowski said.  

Piotrowski is a champion at many different levels. He won a Clark Cup with the Sioux Falls Stampede along with being a two-time Presidents Cup champion with the Peoria Rivermen. He mentioned what it takes to be a champion. “One of the things we have here in Peoria that’s really stuck with me, and we have it plastered all over our locker room is “Good people make Great Rivermen.” I think it’s totally true. When you’re trying to field a team or get people together that you want to do something special, it does take talent and the ability on the ice to be able to get the job done, but when you get into those playoff moments it’s really about how much do you care about the guy next to you. How much are you willing to sacrifice your individual wants and needs for the greater good of a team? It sounds cliché and I think a lot of people have that mentality, but maybe they don’t embody that mentality, and live it, and breathe it every day.” Piotrowski mentioned.  

Piotrowski finished out his interview with a message back to the fans of Bismarck. “Just over the last decade since my time in Bismarck, I’ve obviously lived a lot of places, played on a lot of teams, experienced a lot in life, but looking back it’s really cool for me to be able to say, “hey, I lived in the capital of North Dakota.” A lot of people I meet, I don’t think have even been to North Dakota, let alone have lived there. There’s a lot of parallels. The community of Bismarck was very supportive of the team, very supportive of the Bobcats, the individual players, no matter who it was. Guys coming in, guys coming out, it was always a great atmosphere in the games and that as a 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 year old kid, that’s the most exciting thing…I just want to say thank you to all the people that make that possible because I wouldn’t be here, 10 years later, as a professional without the opportunity I had in Bismarck.” Piotrowski said.

For the full interview between Brandon Luisi and JM Piotrowski, hit the play button below!