Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
Justin Holder tends the twine during Sunday’s Brandon Midget AAA Wheat Kings intrasquad game. (CHARLES TWEED/BRANDON SUN)
Don’t tell Justin Holder he’s too small to play net.
The diminutive 5-foot-5, 130-pound goalie for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League may be small in stature, but he’s got seriously big game.
"I’ve been hearing that (I’m too small) every since I’ve been in goal — all I want to do is stop the puck," Holder said. "That’s my job, to stop the puck, and I’ve beat out some bigger goalies, so it’s not all about size."
Last year, in his second season with the Midget AAA Wheat Kings, Holder finished with the eighth best goals-against average in the league (3.07) and a .908 save percentage while sharing the net with rookie Tyler Gutenberg. The pair essentially split the duties in the crease, with Holder finishing with a 15-9-2 record in 26 games and Gutenberg going 8-9-1 in 20 games.
This year, the 17-year-old Holder knows he’s going to be pushed even harder by his 16-year-old counterparts, Gutenberg and rookie hopeful Reid Stallard.
"We’re both fighting to be the starter each and every game," Holder said. "It helps push us and you have to stay working hard in practice."
At times last season, a young Wheat Kings’ roster — that included 15 rookies — got trapped in the defensive end, requiring Holder and Gutenberg to bail the team out. One year later, the lineup is relatively unchanged.
Now a veteran group with a healthy mix of highly touted rookies, the Wheat Kings are contenders and Holder knows it will be a different style of hockey played in front of him.
"I like more shots to keep me in the game and it’s going to be a change this year, but it’s going to be a good change," Holder said. "We’ll work at staying focused and staying in the game when we get a little cold."
Known for his work ethic and competitiveness, Holder understands it’s important for him to keep his focus and not to get too emotional in the crease.
"Sometimes I’ll get down on myself a bit when I let in a goal, so I’ve worked really hard at keeping my composure," he said. "I’ve been doing better, but there is still some work to be done. As a third-year guy, I have to be a leader out there and you can’t be slamming your stick or swearing — you’ve got to stay in the game."
That competitive fire is something Brandon assistant coach Curtis Brolund doesn’t want to coach out of his game, but he said it has to be channelled and harnessed so it manifests itself as a positive for the entire team.
"He’s got a lot of intensity and when things don’t go his way, he can lose it a little, but he’s still young and he’s learning," Brolund said.
The battle for playing time is something that could be a distraction for the two netminders, but Brolund and the entire coaching staff is happy with how the two goalies have responded.
"They like each other, which is good," Brolund said. "They both want to do well and they support each other."
The ability to be able to go to either goalie in any situation is by design, Brolund added. It’s a philosophy that he believes ensures a better chance of success in net.
"Those guys are going to battle in goal all year," Brolund said. "It should be a good competition and it should keep both guys sharp and we’d rather have two goalies because we can rely and fall back on either one of them at any time."
The Wheat Kings, who trimmed their pre-season roster to 25 skaters and three goaltenders following their weekend training camp, begin the exhibition season against the Southwest Cougars on Wednesday at the Sportsplex at 8 p.m.
» ctweed@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition September 11, 2012
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Don’t tell Justin Holder he’s too small to play net.
The diminutive 5-foot-5, 130-pound goalie for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League may be small in stature, but he’s got seriously big game.
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Don’t tell Justin Holder he’s too small to play net.
The diminutive 5-foot-5, 130-pound goalie for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League may be small in stature, but he’s got seriously big game.
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