ROOM FOR ROOKIES ON ROSTER

(Story Courtesy of Perry Bergson – Brandon Sun)

As the Brandon Wheat Kings prepare for rookie camp beginning Tuesday, a simple truth exists even with 19 veterans eligible to return.

Youth will be served.

Head coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon said it’s important for his roster to have an influx of new talent every season. “Invariably there are going to be six or seven first-year players on our team,” McCrimmon said. “I think that in terms of your makeup, I feel you need that youth and enthusiasm that young players bring. In terms of continuing to develop players in your program, you need to make room when you have guys ready to play. Those are all things that over the next six weeks we’ll be looking at.”

The rookies register on Tuesday, with on-ice sessions beginning on Wednesday. Main camp starts on Friday.

In what’s being looked at by many as a season of promise for the Western Hockey League team, uncertainty with their import situation makes it difficult to forecast in August which holes need to be filled.

The Wheat Kings will have two forwards (Rihards Bukarts and Dario Winkler) and two defencemen (Ivan Provorov and Oliver Kylington) available, with any number of combinations possible based on what National Hockey League teams choose to do with the two rearguards.

The team has 19 veterans coming back, although the number is deceiving because five players — forwards Tim McGauley, Quintin Lisoway and Bukarts and defencemen Colton Waltz and Macoy Erkamps — are in their overage year. Only three can stay.

There is one clear-cut competition, however, for the right to serve as backup to starting goaltender Jordan Papirny.  Logan Thompson, 18, spent time with the Wheat Kings at the start of last season and then played in the Alberta Junior Hockey League before returning late in the campaign. He’ll compete with 17-year-old Josh Dechaine, who played midget AAA in Alberta. Highly touted prospect Hunter Arps will also challenge for a spot, although the Wheat Kings are usually patient with the development of their 16-year-old goaltenders.

On defence, 16-year-olds Ian Mitchell and Jarrod Gourley won’t report for camp this season. Both families decided to keep the young players closer to home to compete for spots on junior A teams in Alberta this season.

“We return seven defenceman so it was going to be a challenge for a first-year defenceman to make our team, assuming that all of our returning defenceman hold up their end of the bargain,” said McCrimmon, who expects both will have a chance to crack the roster next year.

Defenceman Aiden Mucenski, 16, will also not attend camp because he’s injured, but 16-year-old blue-liner Dane Hirst will be at camp looking to make an impression.

The team potentially has 11 forwards returning, not including 2014 first-overall bantam draft pick Stelio Mattheos, 16, and Brandonite Ty Lewis, 17, who both saw limited action with the club last season. Mattheos gained invaluable experience when he joined the team for their last regular-season game and stayed for Brandon’s run to the WHL final. A year earlier, Nolan Patrick played all nine playoffs and three regular-season games before going on to win the WHL’s rookie of the year award last season.

“It really helped (Patrick) going into his first full season in the league as a 16-year-old,” McCrimmon said. “Stelio’s situation is a little different in that he didn’t play every game, but our team played four rounds in the playoffs.”

A group of forwards that also includes 16-year-olds Brandonite Connor Gutenberg, Jeremy Klessens, Leif Mattson, James McIsaac and Nikko Morin, and 17-year-olds Linden McCorrister and Brad Goethals will be looking to earn one of a handful of spots that could be available up front.

McCrimmon said that, for the most part, the days of an unheralded player cracking the roster are gone, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be surprises.

“Sometimes you’ll realize when you get to main camp or perhaps into the pre-season that a player is ahead of where you thought that he might be,” McCrimmon said. “I don’t know that we expected Colby Robak to make our team when he was 16 and yet that was an easy decision once the camp and pre-season played out.

“Mark Stone was another player who we weren’t sure would be ready at 16, and yet once he was around our team and our veterans, his level of intelligence made the game easy for him.”

With 10 veteran players headed to NHL camps this fall, McCrimmon should have plenty of time to make his toughest decisions, which he feels will be an asset.

“I’ve always maintained that if you give the players long enough, they will make your decisions for you.”

BY THE NUMBERS
A look at the 2014-15 statistics for prospects in the Brandon Wheat Kings’ system who were not full-time WHL players last season (ages in parentheses; 15-year-olds ineligible to play in the WHL this season):

GOALTENDERS
Hunter Arps (16), 6-1, 150 pounds / Moose Jaw Generals (Saskatchewan midget AAA)
14 GP 2.34 GAA .927 % 6-8-0 W-L-OT

Brendan Benoit (15), 5-7, 125 pounds / Winnipeg Warriors (Winnipeg bantam AAA)
18 GP 1.77 GAA .918 % 15-3-0 W-L-OT

Joshua Dechaine (17), 6-1, 170 pounds / St. Albert Raiders (Alberta midget AAA)
23 GP 3.35 GAA .901 % 12-6-5 W-L-OT

Justin Klassen (16), 6-0, 170 pounds / Central Plains Capitals (Manitoba midget AAA)
27 GP 4.20 GAA .886 3 18 1 W-L-OT

Brandon Peacock (15), 5-11, 163 pounds / Okanagan Hockey Academy (bantam prep)
13 GP 2.93 GAA .888 5-7 -1 W-L-OT

Logan Thompson (18), 6-2, 172 pounds /Grande Prairie Storm (Alberta junior A)
22 GP 3.39 GAA .906 4 11 5 W-L-OT

DEFENCE
x-TJ Brown (17), 5-10, 173 pounds / Camrose Kodiaks (Alberta junior A)
58 GP 6 G 15 A 21 PTS 40 PIM

Sean Comrie (15), 6-1, 160 pounds /Edmonton CAC (Alberta bantam AAA)
30 GP 11 G 11 A 22 PTS 44 PIM

Ty Ettinger (15), 5-11, 151 pounds / Sherwood Park Flyers (Alberta bantam AAA)
25 GP 3 G 9 A 12 PTS 38 PIM

x-Jarrod Gourley (16), 6-1, 185 pounds / Calgary Rangers (Alberta minor midget AAA)
29 GP 9 G 23 A 32 PTS 62 PIM

Dane Hirst (16), 6-0, 185 pounds / Eastman Selects (Manitoba midget AAA)
42 GP 2 G 9 A 11 PTS 24 PIM

z-Oliver Kylington (18), 6-0, 181 pounds / Farjestads (Swedish Elite)
18 GP 2 G 3 A 5 PTS 4 PIM

x-Ian Mitchell (16), 5-10, 155 pounds / St. Albert Raiders (Alberta midget AAA)
27 GP 1 G 10 A 11 PTS 6 PIM

y-Aiden Mucenski (16), 6-0, 175 pounds / Calgary Stampeders (Alberta minor midget AAA)
30 GP 4 G 32 A 36 PTS 90 PIM

Garrett Sambrook (15), 5-10, 142 pounds / South West Cougars (Winnipeg major bantam AAA)
29 GP 7 G 14 A 21 PTS 40 PIM

FORWARD
x-Tak Anholt (17), RW, 6-0, 160 pounds / Yale Hockey Academy (midget prep)
24 GP 28 G 36 A 64 PTS 36 PIM

Rylan Bettens (15), F, 5-10, 146 pounds / Winnipeg Warriors (Winnipeg bantam AAA)
32 GP 25 G 31 A 56 PTS 18 PIM

y-Braden Billaney (17), RW, 5-10, 170 pounds / Southwest Cougars (Manitoba midget AAA)
30 GP 14 G 6 A 20 PTS 86 PIM

Caiden Daley (15), F, 5-11, 148 pounds / Winnipeg Warriors (Winnipeg bantam AAA)
32 GP 23 G 38 A 61 PTS 30 PIM

Brad Goethals (17), C, 6-0, 165 pounds / Eastman Selects (Manitoba midget AAA)
40 GP 32 G 23 A 55 PTS 55 PIM

Connor Gutenberg (16), C, 5-9, 146 pounds / Brandon Wheat Kings (Manitoba midget AAA)
42 GP 19 G 28 A 47 PTS 32 PIM

Rylan Hoffman (15), LW, 6-2, 171 pounds / Eastman Selects (Winnipeg bantam AAA)
31 GP 12 G 14 A 26 PTS 32 PIM

Jeremy Klessens (16), C, 5-10, 185 pounds / Red Deer Northstar Chiefs (Alberta minor midget AAA)
32 GP 37 G 29 A 66 PTS 6 PIM

Ty Lewis (17), LW, 5-10, 176 pounds / Brandon Wheat Kings (Manitoba midget AAA)
13 GP 10 G 11 A 21 PTS 43 PIM

Stelio Mattheos (16), C, 6-1, 185 pounds / Winnipeg Wild (Manitoba midget AAA)
27 GP 14 G 11 A 25 PTS 18 PIM

Leif Mattson (16), RW, 5-11, 172 pounds / St. Albert Flyers (Alberta minor midget AAA)
33 GP 42 G 42 A 84 PTS 64 PIM

Linden McCorrister (17), LW, 6-0, 170 pounds / Swan Valley Stampeders (Manitoba junior A)
51 GP 9 G 11 A 20 PTS 55 PIM

James McIsaac (16), C, 5-10, 165 pounds / Winnipeg Thrashers (Manitoba midget AAA)
40 GP 17 G 13 A 30 PTS 50 PIM

Nikko Morin (16), LW, 6-1, 185 pounds / Pembina Valley Hawks (Manitoba midget AAA)
39 GP 13 G 8 A 21 PTS 126 PIM

Cole Reinhardt (15), LW, 5-10, 169 pounds / Airdrie Xtreme (Alberta bantam AAA)
29 GP 16 G 13 A 29 PTS 57 PIM

Marcus Sekundiak (15), C, 5-9, 141 pounds / Central Plains Capitals (Winnipeg bantam AAA)
30 GP 30 G 23 A 53 PTS 12 PIM

z-Dario Winkler (18), C, 5-9, 165 pounds / EC Salzburg (Russian junior)
13 GP 2 G 1 A 3 PTS 12 PIM

COLLEGE
Wade Allison (18), RW, 6-1, 201 pounds  / Tri-City Storm (United States junior A)
35 GP 6 G 7 A 13 P 8 PIM
(Committed to Western Michigan in 2016-17.)

Joey Anderson (17), RW, 5-11, 189 pounds / U.S. National Under-17 Team
55 GP 21 G 21 A 42 P 8 PIM
(Committed to Minnesota-Duluth in 2017-18.)

Mikey Anderson (16), D, 5-11, 201 pounds / Hill-Murray (Minnesota high school)
25 GP 6 G 5 A 11 P 23 PIM
(Committed to Minnesota-Duluth in 2018-19.)

Colt Conrad (18), C, 5-10, 175 pounds / Shattuck-St. Mary’s (United States prep)
54 GP 35 G 64 A 99 P 12 PIM
(Committed to Western Michigan in 2016-17.)

Rhett Gardner (19), C, 6-2, 216 pounds / Okotoks Oilers (Alberta junior A)
54 GP 24 G 30 A 54 P 119 PIM
(Committed to North Dakota in 2015-16.)

Ryan Lindgren (17), D, 5-11, 194 pounds / U.S. National Under-17 Team
55 GP 3 G 16 A 19 P 85 PIM
(Committed to Minnesota in 2016-17)

Mitch Slattery (17), LW, 6-0, 180 pounds / Fargo Force (United States Jr A)
30 GP 4 G 5 A 9 P 2 PIM
(Committed to St. Cloud State in 2016-17.)

Dylan Thiessen (17), C, 5-11, 185 pounds / Virden Oil Capitals (Manitoba junior A)
60 GP 17 G 16 A 33 P 34 PIM
(Committed to Mercyhurst University in 2016-17.)

x-attending junior A camp.
y-injured.
z-import.