Prospect Profile: Carter Kingerski
Carter Kingerski didn’t have to look far to discover his love for hockey.
Growing up in Headingley, Manitoba, just outside of Winnipeg, hockey was something that Kingerski was born into, even if none of his family members played it competitively.
“I’ve enjoyed it since I was really young,” he said. “I was kind of just brought up in a hockey family. No one in my family really played hockey at a high level, but we all enjoy the game whether that’s watching it or playing it. That’s kind of how my love for it started, through family.”
That love has stuck with Kingerski and has only grown as he himself has developed into a talented player.
Despite the individual success he’s enjoyed up to this point, it’s the camaraderie that comes with being on a team that fuels Kingerski’s passion.
“Having that team environment is unlike anything else,” he said on what he loves most about the game. “You can’t really find that in many things other than sports. I’ve found that hockey is something that can quiet everything else around you, and it’s just great to be with your teammates and have a good time with them.”
He says he also played soccer growing up, but focused solely on hockey when it became evident he was one of the top players in his 2008-born age group.
That talent was on full display in his WHL Draft year when he piled up 107 points (54-53-107) in just 34 games with the U15 Winnipeg Wild. It was more than double the number of points he scored the year before.
He attributed his success to those around him.
“I was familiar with the coaches and that was huge in my opinion,” he said. “They’re young and had a good view on the game after they all had successful junior careers. My line mates helped a lot, and we all had a good year, getting all the way to the finals against the Brandon Wheat Kings.”
As expected considering his offensive production, Kingerski was a popular guy among WHL teams throughout the 2022-23 season.
He said his agent helped him stay focused whenever it started to get overwhelming.
“He always told me to just focus on what I can do out on the ice and the rest will take care of itself,” Kingerski said. “That was really my motto throughout the year, I didn’t really focus too much on the draft or anything like that. I knew I was going to get drafted at some point, so I just stuck to my game and let the rest happen.”
After tacking on an additional 29 points (12-17-29) in 12 playoff games, Kingerski was prepared for whatever might happen during the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.
Funny enough, he didn’t even know he had been drafted until about 20 minutes after the fact.
“We had the top-40 tryouts for Team Manitoba and I actually got drafted while I was in a meeting,” he laughed. “My agent had told me to expect to get drafted basically anywhere between 20th and 40th overall, but I wasn’t really too concerned about how high I went. I knew I could make the rest happen by working hard.”
Headingley is about as far as you can get from the U.S. Division, and Kingerski admits he hadn’t thought about potentially playing so far from home.
His mindset quickly changed once he realized where he had been drafted.
“I was super happy when I saw I had been drafted by Tri-City,” he said. “Geographically it’s such a great spot, the weather is so nice. I knew that Carey Price had played there and a good friend of mine, Wyatt Kelman, was also drafted by Tri-City.”
Kelman was the Americans 11th round pick in 2023, 233rd overall. His uncle, Scott Kelman, also played one season in Tri-City in 2001-02 posting a career high 83 points (33-50-83).
Kingerski has also known Mason Mykichuk, the Americans 56th overall pick, for a long time saying they’ve skated together with the same skills coach for the past few years.
It was only a few weeks after the WHL Prospects Draft before Kingerski officially put pen to paper and committed to the Americans organization, a sign that he was eager to begin his journey to the WHL.
“I’ve always really wanted to go to the WHL,” he said. “One of my U15 coaches, Tyler Anderson, he played at St. Cloud State, and he told me that the NCAA is a great option, but he said he would support me in whatever I chose to do. Everyone around me, my family, coaches, teammates, they all supported me in whatever decision I made.”
After a few months of hard work Kingerski made his way down for training camp last fall.
Seeing his future home for the first time only increased his desire to be an impact player for the Americans.
“Jumping on the ice with guys who have signed pro contracts, it just made me realize that I can be a big part of this team,” he said. “It made me think that my future is in my own hands, and I can try and help this team win a Memorial Cup. It was really cool to see all of that right in front of me, like my dream had come true. Now I just need to keep it going.”
Kingerski said the most eye-opening part of his first training camp was how much faster the game was and how hard players passed and shot the puck compared to what he was used to.
While he didn’t suit up for a pre-season game, Kingerski said his main goal for training camp was to show that he could keep up with everyone around him.
“I really wanted to make a good first impression down there and tried my best to do that,” he said. “I wanted to show everyone what I can bring to the team and how I can help everyone out by doing my part.”
After receiving encouraging feedback at the end of camp, Kingerski returned to Winnipeg to join the U18 Winnipeg Wild for the 2023-24 season.
Despite getting off to a slower start than he would have liked, with just three assists in his first eight games, he says he wasn’t worried about making the jump to the U18 level.
“Our lines were a bit mixed up at the start of the season, so it took a while to get used to who you were playing with,” he said. “I didn’t really get off to the best start, but then we went out to Dauphin and that’s when things turned around. I scored five goals in two games and everyone was working together and playing the way they can, and that’s how we found success this year.”
After three assists in his first eight games, Kingerski scored 49 points (22-27-49) in the remaining 35 games of the season to finish fourth among 2008-born players in the Manitoba U18 League.
That continued into the playoffs as Kingerski led his team in playoff scoring with 15 points (5-10-15) in 12 games, leading the Wild to the league championship against the Brandon Wheat Kings where they ultimately fell in three games.
His season wasn’t over yet however as the Wild were hosting the Western Regionals for the Telus Cup, the Canadian U18 National Championship.
Kingerski scored twice and added an assist to help the Wild win their first game, 5-4 over the Thunder Bay Kings, but they would lose the next two games to officially see their season end.
“Those Western Regionals were a lot of fun,” he said. “We tried to stick to the same way we played but those are some tough teams to play against. We hadn’t seen two of those teams at all. We played pretty well but just came up short in the semi-finals.”
Kingerski also kept tabs on his future team while leading the Wild throughout the 2023-24 season.
“I was following really close, I was watching as many games as I could,” he said. “It’s a tough league to play in and I don’t think all the injuries the Americans had helped them very much down the stretch. I think the future is going to be very bright.”
A year older, more experienced, and now eligible to play in the WHL full time, Kingerski’s focus is solely on earning a roster spot in Tri-City for the upcoming season.
“I definitely need to get stronger and faster,” he stated “The pace of the game is just so much faster down there, so I’m working a lot on my agility. I’ve talked to (Americans skating coach) Vanessa Hettinger to work on that and spending a lot of time in the gym.”
While always playing the role of an offensive producer, Kingerski says he’s willing to do whatever it takes to help the Americans win games.
“I want to be an offensive player and contribute game in and game out,” he said. “Whether it’s offensively or defensively, I want to help the team win. I’m pretty good on faceoffs, I’ve got a pretty heavy shot, I can get pucks out of the D zone along the wall or block shots. I’m willing to do it all to be a team player.”
