Where Are They Now: Morton Catches Fire to Open Pro Hockey Career

CALGARY, Alberta – The 2023-24 season will always be known as the year where Sam Morton’s hockey career truly caught fire.

Granted, it wasn’t as if the three-year Wenatchee Wild forward hadn’t enjoyed his share of hot streaks, after an eight-year stretch that includes a British Columbia Hockey League regular-season championship, a playoff crown, and back-to-back appearances in the Frozen Four with Minnesota State University. Now, he wears a flame on the front of his jersey as a forward for the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers, the top minor-league affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Calgary Flames.

Morton fell in love with the sport on the roller hockey rinks of California before making the transition to the ice, eventually moving with his family to Lafayette, Colorado as a teen. After playing in the Rocky Mountain Roughriders and Colorado Thunderbirds programs, he landed a spot on the Wenatchee roster after impressing the Wild staff in a tryout near his Colorado home, and making it through the final cuts at the team’s main camp in 2016.

It didn’t take long to make an impact once he got to Wenatchee, picking up the primary assist on future San Jose Sharks forward Jasper Weatherby’s goal late in the second period of his first Wild game. Two weeks later, he made his Town Toyota Center debut and posted another assist. In the end, he picked up 25 points in 43 games during the 2016-17 season, and tacked on 54 more points the following year.

“I was looking back the other day on my first game in Wenatchee, when I was 17 years old,” said Morton. “That rink was such a good atmosphere. The first time when you’re playing in front of that many people, in an atmosphere that’s loud, the goal horn’s going off, player introductions coming out of the Wolf, all the things that make you feel like you’re at the next level and working your way up toward pro hockey are rewarding and really memorable.”

His first two years with the Wild coincided with perhaps the greatest two-year run in Wenatchee hockey history – during the 2016-17 season, the Wild won 45 games and a Boileau Memorial Trophy as the BCHL’s regular-season champion. The following season, Wenatchee claimed both the Fred Page Cup playoff championship, and the Doyle Cup as the top Junior A club in the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s Pacific Region. When all was said and done, the Wild were one of the last four teams standing in all of Canadian Junior A hockey. Players like Brendan Harris, Charlie Combs and Dakota Raabe combined their talents to bring home hardware for the team before embarking on their own pro careers.

“My first year, there were some unbelievable players there that I’ve looked up to and learned a lot from,” said Morton. “There were so many studs on that team my first year here who I got to learn from and become friends with, and then the second year was one of the closest teams I’ve ever been on. I don’t know if that’s because we won, or if we won because we were that close. Both years we won a lot of games, but I think the playoff run sticks in my mind.”

It wasn’t just the play on the ice that had him setting his sights high – looking to challenge himself in the classroom, Morton chose Union College in Schenectady, New York as his college destination, and picked up 13 points in 42 appearances for the Dutchmen over a season-and-a-half. However, when the second half of the 2019-20 season came around, he decided it was time to return to the Wild and reopen his college commitment. He finished his final season in junior hockey with 31 points over just 26 games, finishing seventh on the team in scoring despite playing in far fewer games than anybody above him on the leaderboard, and his 110 career points over those three seasons ranks 11th in Wenatchee’s Junior A history.

Thanks to many factors, including the college playing experience of Wild coach Chris Clark and a chance to reunite with Wenatchee teammate Lucas Sowder, Morton chose Minnesota State for his second run through college hockey. The Mavericks were coming off their third straight conference championship, enjoying their best run since competing as an NCAA Division III program 30 years before. He found the transition into college hockey easier the second time around, but landed in a brand-new situation along with the rest of the sporting world.

“COVID was going on,” said Morton. “Classes were all online, our preseason games were all on Zoom instead of in person. We were skating in groups of players rather than a whole team when I first got to Mankato. It was very different because of COVID, and the processes that you go through with your team are very different.”

His junior season for the Mavericks in 2021-22 was one to remember, posting 25 points in 38 games and ending with the program’s first national title game since the 1991 Division III championship. His senior season and the chase for another deep tournament run, however, came to an early end, with a torn ACL in his 10th game of the season. As he returned to the ice during the offseason, he also gained a new head coach when Luke Strand took over for Mike Hastings, who recently finished his first season as the head coach at the University of Wisconsin. It didn’t take Morton long to find a lot to like about each coach.

“They’re different in their own ways, but similar,” said Morton. “Hastings is an amazing guy – he’ll be hard on you, but with the best intentions. I learned a ton from Hastings in terms of details and the things that you need to do within your game that transition to the pro level, things that can separate you and help you stand out. [Luke was] a little more of a player’s coach – very friendly away from the ice, and he always has a smile on his face and enjoys being there. He’s really easy to talk to – his door’s always open, whether you want to talk about hockey or life.”

After being chosen as the team’s captain this past season, Morton paid back that trust with a 24-goal, 34-point season that outpaced all but the very best players in college hockey, and earned him a spot among the top 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey.

Morton’s college career ended in the conference semifinals in March, but his pro career started immediately after, signing a deal to join the Flames organization. With advice from his Mavericks coaches in hand, he departed for Calgary and settled right into the AHL, with an assist in his first professional game on March 19 against the Bakersfield Condors and his first pro goal the next night. However, with eight games in a 13-day span to open his pro career, time to breathe and reflect on the rise to the pros was at a premium.

“It took a couple of weeks for sure – when I went up there, it was the busiest time of the season,” said Morton. “We were playing back-to-backs, and I don’t think I had a real practice until a week-and-a-half after I’d been in Calgary. I think the first time that I stepped back was a week later, when I had a day off and I was actually able to walk around Calgary and check out the city, and take some time to myself to think about all the things that are going on. In some regards, it’s nice to just jump into it as quick as you can and get your feet wet, without being able to get too nervous about it and think too much about it.”

Morton closed out his early cameo in the AHL with seven points in 13 games, including a game-winner March 27 against the Coachella Valley Firebirds and a multi-goal showing April 20 at the Abbotsford Canucks. A brief run through the Calder Cup playoffs ended with a four-game loss to Coachella Valley, but he was arguably his team’s most consistent player, posting goals in three straight games and points in four in a row.

Though it’s not quite playing in the NHL and wearing the “Flaming C,” the Wranglers play home games in the famed Saddledome and have access to many of the same resources as their NHL counterparts. Morton says he enjoys the chance to play in one of the NHL’s iconic rinks, and though he’s certainly noticed the step up in competition, it doesn’t give him much pause.

“It’s a bit of an older building, but you can feel the history that’s in it,” said Morton. “(The early success) was a big confidence boost – I was pretty nervous in my first game, just because you’re making that step up. The game gets faster and more physical. I remember before my first game in Calgary, our head coach Trent Cole told me, ‘I don’t want you to worry too much about systems – that’ll come in the next couple of weeks. I just want you to go out and compete, and don’t let your teammates think you’re not a hard worker.'”

Fresh off his first taste of pro hockey and beginning a two-way contract with the Flames, Morton is aiming for a roster spot with the big club, and will be doing plenty of physical training and skill work this offseason to prepare himself for the longer season in professional hockey. For now, he’s spending time golfing and seeing friends back in the United States before he settles back into his new home city for the season.

“The expectation doesn’t change,” said Morton. “It was nice to get a little bit of experience at the end of this season, but at the end of the day, at the beginning of the year I’m still walking in as a new guy. The more I’ve been shooting the puck on the ice, the more it’s been translating to production, so I’m working on little things like winning puck battles, getting stronger on the puck and on walls, and little details of shooting the puck and skating. There are a lot of pieces of my game that I can continue to improve on, and on the ice that’s going to be a big focus of the summer.”