Massive Rookie Crop Crashing Camp
(Story courtesy of Perry Bergson – Brandon Sun)
The future arrives for the Brandon Wheat Kings this week, and the team might have to charter a bus to get them all to the rink.
The Western Hockey League club has an incredible 10 signed prospects looking to join the club this year, including four forwards entering their 17-yearold seasons — 2005-born Evan Groening, Teydon Trembecky, Hayden Chaloner and Carter Klippenstein — plus 2006-born Roger McQueen and Caleb Hadland.
On the blue-line, 2005-born Eastyn Mannix and 2006-born Charlie Elick are expected to earn spots, while goalies Nick Jones, who is entering his 18-yearold season, and 2006-born Ethan Eskit will be competing with 2005-born veteran Carson Bjarnason.
On top of that, Russian defenceman Andrei Malyavin is expected to earn a job after spending last season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Sarnia Sting.
Director of hockey operations Chris Moulton said several of the players had a chance to make their Western Hockey League debuts last season and have a sense of what to expect as they push for jobs.
“I’m excited,” Moulton said. “Chaloner played last year, McQueen played last year. We have guys who played and guys who didn’t and they’re real good too. It’s never a bad thing to have depth. We now have that and it’s exciting. With guys like Klippenstein waiting in the wings, it’s going to push our guys.
“The Hadlands and Klippensteins of the world just compete and compete and compete and they’re going to will their way onto this hockey team and be leaders for us in the future.
“The veterans are going to have to understand that these kids want it.”
“I think the biggest thing for them to understand is that things take time,” Moulton said of the rookie hopefuls. “Some kids play at 16, some kids play at 17 and some at 18. All these kids want to play at 16 and if it happens, great. I’m a big believer that you not only have to be good enough to play, but you have to be mature enough to handle it and we have to have the right opportunity.
“I tell them to be themselves, do what they do best and then we’ll work together to figure out what the plan looks like.”
The youngsters will also learn a quick lesson when rookie camp changes over to main camp on Saturday. Dominating the youngsters is one thing, but fitting in with veteran WHLers is a completely different animal.
“It’s massive,” Moulton said. “People don’t understand how good these kids are in the WHL. Sometimes fans are critical of them or sometimes people say ‘Well, this kid playing U18 is just as good as this guy.’ No, they’re not. It’s a big difference, a huge step.
“We have all these young guys who are quite highly touted coming in and I think sometimes people think they’re just going to walk in and continue where they’ve been. That’s not how it happens. It’s hard work, it’s a grind.
“I think these kids just have to keep doing what they’re doing and be patient in the process.”
Moulton said the expectations are a little different for the most recent draft class, the 2007-born players who aren’t eligible for full-time service yet. The only signed player from that cohort so far is first-rounder Joby Baumuller, although that may change at camp.
“I told them ‘Prospects camp was fun but now it’s time to go to work,’” Moulton said. “I want those ‘07s to come in and push. Obviously they can’t play but I would like to sign some players and want some kids to go through to main (camp) and would like to put some in exhibition. It just depends. It’s the wrong mentality to come in and say ‘I’m not playing here anyways.’ “I want them to come in and say ‘I would like to stay this entire pre-season or be the first forward or D-man you call up the minute somebody gets hurt.’ “I didn’t tell them the honeymoon is over. I said prospects camp was fun but now it’s time to come in and prove your worth.”
