WHL Stars of Tomorrow: Sawyer Dingman, Swift Current Broncos
The bloodlines are strong for Swift Current Broncos up-and-comer Sawyer Dingman.
The 16-year-old forward’s father, Chris, gained fame as a former Brandon Wheat Kings captain, WHL Champion and two-time Stanley Cup winner who gained a reputation for dropping the gloves on hockey’s biggest stage.
While the pair like to joke about the younger Dingman following in his father’s footsteps, Sawyer actually models his game after a legendary Broncos player.
“Adam Lowry- really liked to watch him in the playoffs last year,” Dingman said.
Dingman netted a pair of goals and 16 assists for 18 points in 29 games with the CSSHL’s NAX U18 Prep squad in 2023-24, but prides himself more on his ability to make life difficult for his opponents.
“Physical, in guy’s faces, hard to play against,” The 6-foot-3, 209-pound 16-year-old added. “Basically, all the aspects you see out of today’s power forwards, hitting and just creating presence when I’m on the ice.”
“It’s a hard thing to find these days,” Broncos bench boss Taras McEwen said. “That’s something that teams look for. The biggest thing for young players is just the competitiveness, the intensity that they have to have every day when they come to the rink- off the ice in the workouts and on the ice for practices. To get a player like Dingman who has that already has been really important. Some of the checks he finishes in practice for a 16-year-old, guys are barking at him a little bit, but you just can’t teach that, and it’s very hard to find.”
It’s an attitude that helped him earn a pair of call-ups to the Broncos in the 2023-24 regular season- notably, playing both games in NHL arenas in Edmonton and Calgary and earning his first two assists at the Saddledome- the very building where his father played with the Flames in the 90s and helped Tampa Bay capture the Stanley Cup in 2004.
“He (Chris) was watching, too,” Dingman recalled. “It’s just exciting overall, pretty pumped about it.
It was pretty amazing to be sitting on the bench in a rink where I usually have been sitting in the stands watching my favorite NHL players playing.”
Since being drafted 30th overall in the second round of the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft, Dingman has made big strides and carved out a role for himself playing alongside fellow towering forwards Connor Gabriel and Dawson Gerwing, according to McEwen.
“He’s already put himself in a position where he’s important to to our group and put himself in a position where he can have an impact in our lineup to start the opening night,” McEwen added. “He’s done a really good job of coming into camp and being an impactful player. If it’s not on the score sheet, he’s having an impact in the game. That’s really important for young players because it’s really hard to generate offense and score in this league. If you’re not doing that, how are you having an impact and how are you fitting into the lineup? And he’s figured that part out already.”
The Broncos kick off the 2024-25 regular season on Friday, Sept. 20 with an East Division tilt against the Saskatoon Blades at Swift Current’s InnovationPlex at 7:00 p.m. ST.
