LOUIS, MO – Greek-Canadian Jordan Kyrou, 23, is a rising star in the National Hockey League, playing for the St Louis Blues. He started the New Year with an impressive display in the NHL’s Winter Classic on January 1, the coldest outdoor game in NHL history, and was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week after recording seven points in two games.

Kyrou had two goals and two assists in a five-goal second period, and the Blues cruised to a 6-4 win over the Minnesota Wild with a face-off temperature of minus 5.7 degrees F on Saturday night.

“They’re a team that likes to make plays, and obviously the ice is not the best. We kind of tried to capitalize on their mistakes, and that’s how we got our chances,” Kyrou said.

With the game tied, Kyrou put St. Louis in front for good 27 seconds into the second period on yet another bad-bounce goal that glanced off the Wild’s Ryan Hartman. Kyrou’s four points are the most in 13 editions of the Winter Classic, the main outdoor event the NHL made for TV on New Year’s Day.

The Blues were naturally the sharper team, having beaten the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 on December 29 behind a goal and two assists from Kyrou in his return from a four-game absence due to an upper-body injury.

On January 5, Kyrou stayed hot with his 13th goal of the season, but the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied to beat the Blues 5-3 after Sidney Crosby and Evan Rodrigues scored 12 seconds apart in the third period.

The St. Louis Blues selected Kyrou, a Toronto native, in the second round (No. 35) of the 2016 NHL Draft after his second season with Sarnia of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). In 2018, he had made the OHL First All-Star Team and was the OHL Player of the Year. Kyrou also played for Canada’s Gold medal-winning team at the 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.

The Blues returned Kyrou to Sarnia, where he blossomed offensively, finishing with 94 points (34 goals, 60 assists) in 2016-17 and 109 points (39 goals, 70 assists) in 2017-18. He impressed the Blues during training camp in the fall of 2018 and was on the opening-night roster when the Blues lost 5-1 to the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 4. He scored his first NHL goal on Dec. 9, 2018. Kyrou had three points (one goal, two assists) with St. Louis and 43 points (16 goals, 27 assists) with San Antonio of the American Hockey League.

St. Louis sent him back to San Antonio to start the 2019-20 season, but he was recalled in early December.

Kyrou is the grandson of Greek immigrants. His paternal grandparents are Iordanis “John” and Maria “Mary” (née Broumas) Kyrou. His parents are Aki and Roula (née Economou) and he has two younger siblings, Christian and Matina.

During the pause in play due to COVID-19 in 2020, Kyrou competed in a league-wide Fortnite [an online video game] tournament for charity with teammates Robert Thomas and Vince Dunn. Together, they finished in second place and donated $50,000 to the St. Louis Children’s Hospital, $25,000 to the St. Louis Area Food Bank, and $25,000 to muscular dystrophy research.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.