A CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON: An oral history of the 2015-16 Brandon Wheat Kings

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This article was published 23/05/2020 (1942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 Championships don’t just happen.

A title in any level of sport generally comes with its share of hardship, adversity, luck and transcendent moments. Just ask the 2015-16 Brandon Wheat Kings, who won their first Western Hockey League title in 20 years with an 8-4 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds on May. 13, 2016 in Kent, Wash. 

Over the next three weeks, the Brandon Sun will take a detailed look inside a roller-coaster season that saw the team reach a high of earning WHL gold before the low of a winless run in the Memorial Cup.

More than 20 players, along with head coach, general manager and team owner Kelly McCrimmon, will reflect on their championship season. In addition, a handful of quotes will be be drawn from coverage at the time.

It won’t be a game-by-game look at the season but rather an examination of the big moments on and off the ice and what the team was feeling behind closed doors during the 262 days from training camp to a season-ending loss in overtime at the Memorial Cup.

 

PRELUDE

The Wheat Kings had the third best regular season in franchise history during the 2014-15 campaign, earning 114 points on a record of 53-11-4-4. After winning the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy for the best regular-season record in the league, they topped the Edmonton Oil Kings, Regina Pats and Calgary Hitmen in the first three rounds of the playoffs.

In the final, the Wheat Kings ran into a Kelowna Rockets team that had added Leon Draisaitl and Josh Morrissey, falling 4-0.

It was a body blow the Wheat Kings carried into the next season. 

IVAN PROVOROV: “We knew that most of the core was still playing so we should have a good team. We just wanted to use the experience that we got the year before to kind of guide us and help us to get to the finals again and then finish the job that we weren’t able to our first year.”

DUNCAN CAMPBELL: “After finishing first overall in ‘14-15 and making it to the finals against Kelowna and getting swept, it was devastating and a real blow but I think it motivated everyone to have a good summer and come into training camp determined. I think we felt that we got a taste and we wanted to finish it off with a victory and see what it was like.”

JAYCE HAWRYLUK: “I think when you’re that close to achieving the ultimate goal that it’s a bittersweet feeling for sure. Kelowna had a deep team and so did we but I think that definitely sparked the fire in us to realize we were good enough to win it and we still had pretty much the same team coming back and we weren’t going to let that happen again. That feeling of losing in the final was definitely something that the guys kept with them as motivation and I think that definitely helped for the next year.”

JORDAN PAPIRNY: “I feel like we came back with a chip on our shoulder almost. Going into that year when we played Kelowna in the final, I don’t think we were really expected to go as far as we did. We were the top team in the East but I don’t think we were picked to win, especially after Kelowna loaded up with guys like Morrissey and Draisaitl. For a lot of the younger guys on our team, we knew coming into the next year that it was our turn to be the Kelowna Rockets.”

MACOY ERKAMPS: “Losing to Kelowna was a tough pill to swallow. I think all the the boys came back knowing exactly what we had to do. We were determined right from the beginning.”

NOLAN PATRICK: “I think it showed how tough it is to win to all the returning guys. We understood what it took to win and how good you have to be win in the Western League. I think we all learned that lesson.”

REID DUKE: “I remember how amazing that previous year was. We were so good, and to have such a dominant season and then finish off the way we finished off, getting swept even though it was a really tight series, I think everyone just had so much fun that we just knew exactly what we wanted to do over the summer and then coming back in the fall. It was kind of like it was one really long season, those two. It was amazing to be part of.”

TANNER KASPICK: “We had such a good team in my first year and then obviously coming up short in the finals like we did was humbling. With the successful regular season that we had, we thought we had a good chance. Obviously for that one to go the way it did and come back the next year with a lot of returning guys, we thought we would be the favoured team in the league. I think everyone took that mentality into the summer and really came back with the purpose of making themselves better and improving on the year we had before.”

TY LEWIS: “From the previous years losing to Kelowna in the final, it was really upsetting to the guys in the room and the organization as a whole. A good majority of us were coming back the following year, which gave us a good chance to push for a title. Everybody’s mind going into camp was trying to win a championship. We obviously had a lot of highly skilled players coming back, we were fast, we were big and had great goaltending.”

TYLER COULTER: “We thought we were so good, and we were a good hockey team, but we weren’t the best. There were was still one of 22 that was better than us and we didn’t know that until that first game in Brandon against Kelowna. That’s when we realized we’re losing some good players — we lost Eric Roy, (Morgan Klimchuk), Peter Quenneville — but we have guys who are going to come and fill those shoes and younger guys like Tanner, Ty Lewis, guys who went on to sign entry-level contracts. We knew we were going to be deeper, we knew we were going to be better, and that showed us how much harder we had to work.”

 

PILON’S SURPRISE

Rookie camp for the Brandon Wheat Kings opened on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015 with the veterans reporting two days later. It started with a shocking development.

Veteran defenceman Ryan Pilon, who had been drafted by the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders three months earlier, told general manager and head coach Kelly McCrimmon that his heart was no longer in the game and went home.

TYLER COULTER: “He showed up at camp and wasn’t skating. He never set foot on the ice with us so he never really came back to the team per se, which led us to be a little shy on the back end for the first half of that season … We really did miss him.”

JAYCE HAWRYLUK: “It was unfortunate with Ryan obviously quitting but you have to respect the decision because he just didn’t have the love of the game. Guys who weren’t expecting that big of a role realized it was their time to step in.”

IVAN PROVOROV: “That was definitely shocking and kind of big news but we still had a good D-corps with lots of young talent and some good veteran defencemen so we had to deal with it and figure out our new D pairings. In my first year, I played with Ryan from the first game and we had really good chemistry.” 

JOHN QUENNEVILLE: “At the time it was really disappointing just because of how good a player Ryan was and how good of a player he could have been. A month later I was still messaging him, trying to get him to come back.”

DUNCAN CAMPBELL: “Kelly did a great job addressing the guys and telling us what was going on and to move on and trust that he was taking care of things.”

TANNER KASPICK: “Ryan was obviously a big part of our team the year prior. It was unfortunate news that he wouldn’t be continuing on with us, but honestly it was next-man-up mentality. I don’t know if we spent more than a day thinking or worrying about that.”

TIM McGAULEY: “That guy had unbelievable vision, was a great player and was a tough kid. He was a really good all-around defenceman. If he had stayed the course, in my opinion he would have played in the NHL.”

KELLY McCRIMMON: “We had real good depth on our team, and for the large part, our guys had grown up together so they had experience with one another. Losing Ryan, who was a really good defenceman, was a setback for sure. Those things happen over the course of a season, you’re going to have some disappointments and things that don’t go the way you had planned. That was certainly a tough blow for guys.”

JORDAN PAPIRNY: “Rumours started to float around during camp that he wasn’t going to come back. The guys knew he was in town but he was prepared to leave. A couple of guys got together and tried to make a last effort to get him to stay but unfortunately his heart wasn’t in the game. There’s not much you can really do.”

MACOY ERKAMPS: “That was tough. Pilon was an unbelievable player and he would have fit in perfectly if he had played.”

NOLAN PATRICK: “For us, it was ‘If you don’t want to be there, fine. We’ll move on without you.’ That’s what we did, and I think we brought in some great players to fill those pieces.”

KALE CLAGUE: “I think we were all pretty shocked and disappointed but if you look at it from a personal standpoint at the time, I remember thinking about the opportunity that I was going to have to fill his void and be able to play more key minutes.”

 

TRAINING CAMP

In training camp, the Wheat Kings displayed the passion and competitiveness that would characterize their season early. The intensity started early and even included a fight between close friends Hawryluk and Quenneville, each of whom was in his fourth year with the club.

HAWRYLUK: “Me and Johnny are obviously very competitive and we kind of wanted to set the tone at training camp that nothing here is given, it’s all earned and we’re a competitive bunch.”

QUENNEVILLE: “Right from training camp we were dialed in.”

COULTER: “That was by far the most aggressive training camp I was ever a part of. We had guys who were already on the team fighting in scrimmages, that’s how intense it was. I remember Jayce and John went toe to toe.”

PATRICK: “It was guys being so competitive to the point that you’re fighting in practice and I think that happened a couple of times that year. I think that’s what helps you to win. You practice to play and being that competitive in practice, I think that’s why we got as far as we did.”

KASPICK: “Camp was very competitive. Everyone was super excited to get back, and it was a special feeling knowing that we were building for one thing. It was very apparent that everyone came in with a similar mentality.”

CAMPBELL: “Everyone wanted to be on the team and wanted a spot because we knew how strong the team could be. There weren’t many open spots but we still had to fight to secure a spot. Everyone was excited and ready to get going.”

McGAULEY: “We needed a close-knit group and that’s what I felt when in training camp for the new season.”

 

ROOKIES MAKE IT

As camp broke, a handful of rookies made the team, including 16-year-old forwards Stelio Mattheos and Connor Gutenberg, plus 17-year-old forwards Linden McCorrister and Ty Lewis,18-year-old forward Dario Winkler of Austria and goaltender Logan Thompson. Thompson and Lewis were both part of the 2014-15 club at the beginning of the season, and Mattheos had joined the Wheat Kings at the end of the season and playoffs.

MATTHEOS: “It was definitely nice to have that experience when I was 15. When I showed up at camp at 16, I just wanted to play in the league. I knew the team was so stacked that I had to earn every shift and every game I played. That was good. It made me a lot better.” 

GUTENBERG: “It was a little intimidating at the start. You look around and there are some unreal hockey players in that room. With how they ended the year before and returning a lot of guys, you knew that they knew how to win. You just tried to fit in as best you could.”

THOMPSON: “I just wanted to make that team and stay on the team. I knew we had something special and it was a good group of guys. That was my goal and I never really felt safe until after the trade deadline and things settled that I knew I was going to be there for a long time.” 

 

PRE-SEASON

As the Wheat Kings went 3-0-1-0 in the pre-season, Brandon’s NHL camp attendees — Ivan Provorov, John Quenneville and Tim McGauley — were all reassigned to Brandon.

HAWRYLUK: “Guys were just ready to play and were eager for that season to get going because we knew how special a team we had. We also wanted to prove that we were the best and could win, so we had a lot of incentive to go out there and prove that we were the best and I think we did that.”

McCRIMMON: “We went into the 2015-16 season with the goal of taking one more step, that’s what our focus was and it was really felt by everybody, right from player meetings before training camp.”

 

ON THE MOVE

On Sept. 21, in an effort to shore up their blue-line, the Wheat Kings brought in six-foot-three defenceman Dominic Thom from the Alberta Junior Hockey League. They also reassigned 15-year-olds Caiden Daley, Rylan Bettens and Garrett Sambrook, plus 17-year-old goalie Josh Dechenes.

Brandon opened its regular season on Sept. 25 against the Swift Current Broncos. In front of 5,004 fans, McGauley scored in the first period but Landon Bow stopped 53 shots and the Broncos emerged with a 2-1 shootout win.

LEWIS: “That was a tough way to start the year. Obviously when you put 50 shots on net and their goalie stands on his head, there’s not much you can do. It was good on him to have a game like that and upsetting for our team but it was 72 games for a reason and we had lots of time to work on things.”

More importantly, McGauley dislocated a shoulder, an injury that would keep him out of the lineup until Nov. 20.

McGAULEY: “It was a tough situation. That sucked. I was feeling good about myself before that. I trained really hard that summer and for that to happen was just so unfortunate.” 

McCRIMMON: “Timmy dislocating his shoulder on opening night was a real tough start to the year for him and for our team because as a 19-year-old, Tim was third in the league in scoring and as a coach I really appreciated his two-way game because there were few better two-way players that season than Tim in 2014-15.”

KASPICK: “I remember it quite vividly, him skating off and seeing how much pain he was in and knowing it was going to be a long-term injury. You felt bad for the guy, especially after the season he had previously. He was a huge part of our team but again it was a next-man-up mentality.”  

CAMPBELL: “Obviously he was our top-line centre with being Eastern Conference player of the year but I think it was a good opportunity for guys to maybe get a little more confidence and a little more responsibility and showcase their talents and show they can play against the other top players in the league. It created some good internal competition.”

HAWRYLUK: “With Tim being the Eastern Conference player of the year the year before and having such a great season, it sucked losing him for a while but it gave some opportunity to some other players who weren’t playing as much and took that opportunity and made the most of it.” 

REID DUKE: “It was tough, especially Tim coming off that season that he had. He was our first-line centre, he and Patty. I don’t think we were that worried … We had the entire season to get back to form.”

COULTER: “I remember him going down and how upset he was about it. He just said, ‘When I come back, we’re going to be red hot.’”

PATRICK: “After the year Timmy came off the year before — I think he had 105 points — he was our No. 1 centre. To lose him that early in the year was tough.”

 

OCTOBER

ARMY ON THE MOVE

Brandon Wheat Kings general manager Kelly McCrimmon continued to tinker with his roster in October 2015 as the season got into full swing.

On Oct. 1, he sent a conditional 10th-round pick in the 2017 Western Hockey League to the Saskatoon Blades for six-foot-three, 212-pound 18-year-old forward Garrett Armour of Winnipeg.

ARMOUR: “One of my biggest things I was excited about was that one of my best buddies for a long time, Nolan Patrick, was living there and he was telling me, ‘Ya, if you come to Brandon I have an extra room.’ The team was amazing, it was close to home in my home province. There were a number of reasons why going to Brandon was going to be awesome and they all turned out to be true.”

PATRICK: “He was one of my best friends since I was five, six years old so when he got to come in it was obviously a really exciting day for me. For me and him to be able to have that experience together and live together throughout that year … he’s one of those guys who doesn’t get enough credit just because everyone looks at how things go on the ice.”

JORDAN PAPIRNY: “Army was awesome. He was a big glue guy in the room and was super popular with everyone. He’s a blast. He had a personal relationship with every single guy on our team, and that’s pretty hard to do.”

DUNCAN CAMPBELL: “My one career fight was against him in Saskatoon. It was pretty funny. He was a fourth-line grinder who brought a lot of energy. … He was a lot of fun. He was a guy that made people laugh and people could laugh at him and he just took everything with a grain of salt.”

MACOY ERKAMPS: “There was so much depth but those guys who were in and out of the lineup at the end, I give them full kudos. Being in and out and keeping a positive outlook and having fun in the room was huge for us, and Army was a big part of that.” 

ARMOUR: “The biggest thing for me was that I had to pick up my speed. Everything was happening faster. It was just a winning atmosphere.”

STELIO MATTHEOS: “He always worked really hard. He didn’t have an ego and did everything for the team.”

TYLER COULTER: “He was always on the stereo, had ongoing jokes with everyone and when the game started there wasn’t one person he would back down from. Our team needed that little bit of grit when teams would bully our guys.”

JOHN QUENNEVILLE: “He was a great guy. I love him. He was friends with me, he was friends with Jayce, Timmy, so he fit in really good. He was already friends with Patty so he had that connection coming in.”

ARMOUR: “I realized pretty quickly that I was fitting in around the bottom on this team so I figured, what can I do to help? … I had to work as hard as I could every night and the rest would take care of itself.”

TIM McGAULEY: “He was one of the best teammates I’ve had. He was a great guy and I think under-appreciated for how skilful he was.”

 

WINKLER WAIVED

On Oct. 12, forward Dario Winkler was placed on waivers after suiting up for two games in the first month of the season without a point.

JAYCE HAWRYLUK: “Our team was so deep that year that guys who would be in any other team’s top six … it was hard to crack because we had so many guys with experience who had been there and proven they were top players in the league. We had an incredibly deep squad that year and obviously he still got an opportunity in Everett.”

McCRIMMON: “He was a good young Austrian player who went on to be a pretty effective player in Everett. We were pretty deep when we returned the bulk of our team.”

He played 57 games in Everett, scoring seven goals and adding five assists in one WHL season.

 

SHEARER ARRIVES

McCrimmon made his first big move to address his blue-line depth when James Shearer signed with the club on Oct. 16. The 18-year-old Brandonite starred with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Steinbach Pistons, but the chance to come home and play with the Wheat Kings was too much to resist. He was offered a roster spot just prior to the team leaving for its American road trip.

SHEARER: “I had to figure it out before that so I talked with my family a bit and figured, ‘OK, what do I want out of hockey?’ I knew if I played in Brandon they had a really good scholarship package for schooling, and at the end of the day I decided if I get nothing more out of this game than a bunch of good friendships with teammates and school paid on top of that, it’s pretty tough to turn that down.”

CONNOR GUTENBERG: “It was awesome. Being a young guy, any familiarity that you have is good to see. It made it a lot easier knowing all the guys from Brandon on the team. It made the transition for me a lot easier.”

CAMPBELL: “I played with James growing up and I was always a big fan of his. I guess he just went under the radar. … He was a great pickup, a very steady defenceman with a wicked shot, laid the body, reliable and just a great guy.”

QUENNEVILLE: “When he came in he was really good off the bat and then he had a month or so where it was a little bit harder going to the Dub. It’s just like going to the NHL. You have energy and you’re feeling good and then it gets harder and harder for a bit because the players are so good. And then he was just really solid every day for the rest of the season.”

SHEARER: “Even just from the practices, I could tell right when I got there that it was going to be a lot different. Nothing against the MJ, that’s a great league, but it took me a couple of months or so (to get used it.)”

TANNER KASPICK: “I played with Shearsy most years growing up and he had always been rock solid defensively ever since we were young, young kids. He was hard to play against, had a really good shot and could contribute offensively.”

NOLAN PATRICK: “I knew when he came in he would help us. It was good to bring in another Brandon boy.”

PAPIRNY: “He and Jordan Thomson played that 5-6 pair on our back end, and it gave guys like Provorov and Erkamps and Wheaton and Clague a little bit of a breather when we needed it. They filled that role so good.”

MATTHEOS: “Shearsy is just a really down-to-earth guy. I was lucky to call him my teammate for three years. … He was very determined on the ice and a competitor.”

COULTER: “He tried Dom Thom right away, who was such a fun guy in the room, and eventually we landed on somehow squeaking James Shearer out of college. I just knew having another hometown kid — all the Brandon guy are so thankful to play there — as soon as he came into the room, that’s just James. He’s the nicest guy on the planet and would do anything to win. He was a scorer in the MJ and he came in to play a shutdown role and block as many shots as he could just to win a championship.”

MATTHEOS LEAVES

In late October, Stelio Mattheos left to play in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, B.C. He had two goals and two assists as his Team Black went 1-4.

MATTHEOS: “It was pretty close to start of the season and my first time wearing the Maple Leaf in a tournament so I was pretty excited. Coming back, I think every experience gives you confidence in one way or another. Even the negative experiences give you confidence in the long run. I came out of that tournament with a positive experience so I came back a better player.”

 

OVERAGE ISSUE

Brandon still had a big issue to address. With the overager McGauley nearing a return to the lineup, Brandon had four 20-year-olds on the roster with room for three. On Oct. 28, Rihards Bukarts was traded to the Portland Winterhawks for a conditional third-round pick in 2016, leaving team captain Macoy Erkamps and alternate captain Colton Waltz as the other overagers.

QUENNEVILLE: “I lived with Buky. That was our crew we had going for a while and not really any of us got traded. When he got traded it was tough but we all kind of knew it was coming.”

PAPIRNY: “He had a feeling things were coming to an end as a Wheat King. Buky was awesome. You never really know what you’re going to get with some of the European players just because there’s such a big tradition coming overseas. The language barrier also plays a bit of a factor. You’re going to a small city in Manitoba. He really bought into the whole thing and had such a big personality. He fit in really well with our group. It was sad to see him leave.”

CAMPBELL: “He was probably the loudest guy in the room, cracking jokes, making people laugh. Classic European, does what he wants and doesn’t have a filter sometimes. It was tough to see him go, especially after all the success he had in Brandon.”

ERKAMPS: “Buky was a character and a good guy. I really liked him. We knew we were both after a 20-year-old spot and I was just trying to play as hard as I could to keep my spot and he was doing the same … It’s just the way the league works.”

PATRICK: “Buky had extremely high skill for junior and he was a really good offensive player but we had to make decisions and I think we made the right one.”

MATTHEOS: “It was tough for sure. He was a really, really talented player, and one of the first European players I ever got to play with. His skill was something else. I think it worked for both sides because he got to go and enjoy Portland and we won a championship.”

LEWIS: “He was very fast, very skilled, great hands, great finish. It’s always tough seeing a guy like that go but it was a hard situation.”

 

NOVEMBER

With Tim McGauley on the shelf for a while longer, Brandon Wheat Kings general manager Kelly McCrimmon traded for overage forward Luke Harrison, sending a conditional 11th-round pick in the 2016 Western Hockey League bantam draft to the Spokane Chiefs on Nov. 5. 

Harrison arrived understanding that it was almost certainly going to be a short stay.

HARRISON, in 2015: “I definitely know the situation. (Spokane GM) Tim (Speltz) informed me about it. Every night I just have to play my best and hopefully I can stay as long as I can.”

McCRIMMON: “Luke played on a few teams that season and was really effective everywhere that he went. He was the victim of numbers as it went on with us but I thought he was really good in the short time that he was with us.”

CONNOR GUTENBERG: “He was another unbelievable guy. He fit in right as soon as he got here.”

DUNCAN CAMPBELL: “He was a lot of fun and easy to be around. He played the minutes we needed him to play in his role. It was too bad he didn’t fit into what the team was going to be made of but he came in and did his part and helped us out early on.”

JORDAN PAPIRNY: “He did a good job. I have a lot of respect for Luke Harrison.”

MACOY ERKAMPS: “I played with him at U16 and he was a locker room guy that everyone liked. He brought it when he came, played his role and did everything that he could. He filled Tim’s spot perfectly. For the short amount of time he was there, he was very valuable to us.”

CAMPBELL: “One thing I remember about Luke when he came in is he worked his (butt) off. He was one of the hardest workers and he knew what he had to do coming in. He had a limited amount of time and he didn’t let it stop him.”

NOLAN PATRICK: “It’s a tough job to ask someone to come in for a little bit but he was another guy who was great in the room. He’s such a laid-back guy, a hilarious guy and I loved him when he was there.”

STELIO MATTHEOS: “He was a super positive guy. It was a short time but I remember that he didn’t have a ton to say but I definitely respected him quite a bit. I was lucky to be able to play with him.”

TY LEWIS: “It was just too bad we couldn’t keep him with the age situation.” 

TANNER KASPICK: “I think he was on a line with me and Duncan for at least a game. He was a hard-nosed player who played the game smart but off the ice he was a positive, funny guy who really brought the room together and fit in as soon as he got here. It’s funny how even small roles fit into championship seasons.”

 

THOMSON ARRIVES

On Nov. 25, 2015, Harrison was traded to Prince George for a ninth-round pick in 2016. In a second deal, Brandon sent defenceman Mark Taraschuk to the Swift Current Broncos for Wawanesa’s Jordan Thomson to solidify the team’s third pairing.

THOMSON: “It was a dream come true for me. It was my goal to be part of the Wheat Kings organization for a long time. Hearing that news from (Swift Current) head coach Mark Lamb made my career, knowing I was going home and had lots of buddies on that team. It was a stacked group.”

JAMES SHEARER: “It was tough to lose Tarry because he was a super nice guy. He was a great hockey player and great guy but we brought in Thommy, and he pretty much turned out to be my partner for the rest of the year. It maybe took two practices to get used to each other.”

CAMPBELL: “Taraschuk kind of struggled a bit and was in and out but he definitely could play at the level. I think we just needed a little different kind of player, maybe a right-hander who could play the role day in and day out. Thomson had been around the league and had very high skill.”

GUTENBERG: “He was another unbelievable dressing room guy. That was kind of a theme with our team that year, how close everyone was in the room.”

TIM McGAULEY: “Thommy was one of my buddies too. All of the new guys brought the team together. They were all positive, and that in itself is huge. Positivity is contagious for sure.”

LEWIS: “It was nice having some familiar faces in the room from growing up. He was a pretty funny guy in the room and kept things loose.”

MATTHEOS: “It was a pretty veteran team but I thought that a lot of our older guys were upbeat guys so he fit right in. He had been in the playoffs before and through it. He was a very steady guy for us.”

CAMPBELL: “Thomson has a more offensive side to his game, he likes a little more risk, but then James is a true stay-at-home defenceman and 100 per cent reliable … They played big minutes. That was a real reliable and steady third pairing.”

 

McGAULEY RETURNS

McGauley, who had been out with a shoulder injury, returned to the lineup on Nov. 20 when the Wheat Kings played host to the Regina Pats. He was held off the scoresheet for his first two games, and then had points in 10 of his next 13 games.

McGAULEY: “I had a goal to win the scoring race and Crim pulled me in after a couple of days and said, ‘When you get back to the lineup, you probably aren’t going to be in a position to win the scoring race or to be a candidate for MVP again.’ I knew it too so I said, ‘Ya, 100 per cent.’ But he said, ‘You can make a big difference here and we can win a championship. We need a shutdown centre or a guy who can get a goal and you can be that kind of player.’ He really got me to look at the bigger picture.”

McCRIMMON: “He wasn’t going to win the scoring race. He wasn’t going to be in the top 10 in scoring. Those opportunities had vanished based on his injury and yet we needed him to be that great two-way player and that first-line centre that he was before.”

 

DECEMBER 

The Wheat Kings played a dozen games in December that bracketed their eight-day Christmas break. It would prove to be a month with plenty of drama.

 

JUNIOR CAMPERS

On Dec. 10, forwards Jayce Hawryluk and John Quenneville, plus McCrimmon, headed to Canada’s camp for the world junior championship, while star defenceman Ivan Provorov joined the Russian squad.

HAWRYLUK: “It was a major goal of mine to play on the world junior team that year after being close the year before. That lit the fire in me that I wanted to play for my country. Every kid does. Making it as far as I did in that camp and going to Finland and then hearing the news and having to go back was disappointing but at the same time I realized what I was going back to. I was going back to team that had one goal in mind, which was to win a championship.”

QUENNEVILLE: “Crim was going too and Jayce should have made it. We ended up not winning so I guess you could switch a couple of other guys too. Jayce was a really unbelievable player in his whole junior career so that was tough, and especially tough for me because I made it and Jayce didn’t. We were right down to it, I’m sure. Playing world juniors was an amazing honour. When your team is that good at home, it’s probably less of a worry than the other teams who send their guys.”

PROVOROV: “It would be harder to leave if we were pushing for the playoffs and every game was a playoff game. It was definitely easier going to world juniors knowing we were at the top of the standings and your team was so deep that even without you they were able to win games.”

PATRICK: “You’re excited for those guys who have the opportunity to try out for their country so you’re excited for them to go. I think we dealt with it even the year before, losing guys and other guys having to step up. I think a lot of guys stepped up.”

TANNER KASPICK: “We knew obviously that we were losing three of our top players for a decent stretch, including our head coach, who played a massive role in the day-to-day operation of the team. It was going to be an adjustment and we knew that.”

GUTENBERG: “With all those guys leaving, that was the first time and probably the only time that our lineup really had to be juggled around. Guys were moving all over the lineup. We had young guys playing up and down the lineup, and there were a lot of adjustments that were kind of tough at the time.”

CAMPBELL: “You wish them all the best and want to see them go and make the team and have success but at the same time you want them back because they are your best players. It was a good time for guys to step up.”

ERKAMPS: “We had such a good team and some guys were wanting more opportunity but they understood the kind of team that we had. Going in, I think we all knew that it was time for us to step up and prove the team we had, and I think we did exactly that.”

 

ANOTHER GUTENBERG

With Logan Thompson injured, Connor Gutenberg’s older brother Tyler served as the team’s emergency goalie in December, practising with the club and dressing for games in the event Jordan Papirny was also hurt.

 

WALTZ LEAVES

A shocking development unfolded after Christmas when veteran blue-liner Colton Waltz demanded a trade and returned home to Vermillion, Alta., on Dec. 27.

McGAULEY: “That was tough. I was roommates with Colton for four years … It was tough to see him go but I understood where he came from. I get it that you’re in your last year and you want to make it the best that you possibly can. Who knows, it could be your last year playing hockey. I felt he wasn’t really happy in the situation he was in.”

HAWRYLUK: “You can see his side of it. He wanted a big role and wanted to play those big minutes but we had such a deep team and guys were competing for spots … I don’t think he liked when guys would play ahead of him and personally he just wasn’t happy and wanted to play more, which I kind of understand, but at the same time sometimes you have to accept roles.”

PAPIRNY: “Waltzy is a really good friend of mine … We spent a lot of time together in Brandon, and for his own personal reasons, he didn’t want to be with the team any longer, which was tough because he had been there forever and was a really well-liked guy by everyone in the room … You can only tell a guy so much that you want him to stay. There’s not much you can do other than support a friend and wish him the best moving on.”

CAMPBELL: “He wanted more opportunity, more offence, more power-play time and I think he was getting a little complacent and tired of dealing with Kelly.”

KASPICK: “It’s never easy to see a teammate in that state of mind but ultimately the move is probably what he wanted, so as a teammate, all you can do is be happy for him.”

 

HAWRYLUK’S BACK

Hawryluk got all the way to Finland before Canada ultimately flew him home. His frustration may have boiled over on Dec. 29, when his careless hit on Moose Jaw Warriors rookie defenceman Josh Brook cost him a five-game suspension for charging. Brook was out of the lineup until early February.

KASPICK: “He was obviously a massive part of our offence. He always played on the edge and unfortunately in that instance he went a little too hard and was forced to sit out. It was a tough loss for our lineup.”

YOUNGSTERS PLAY

In happier news, Brandon prospects Caiden Daley and Garrett Sambrook, who were both 15, got into the lineup to make their WHL debuts. 

 

JANUARY

A tumultuous start to the second half of the season came to a head on Jan. 2 for the Brandon Wheat Kings in Red Deer. One night after losing in overtime to start an Alberta road trip, the Rebels scored seven times in the first period en route to a 10-0 dismantling of the short-staffed Wheat Kings, who were without Ivan Provorov, John Quenneville, Jayce Hawryluk, Colton Waltz and Tanner Kaspick. Brandon was able to dress only 17 skaters, including a pair of callups.

JAMES SHEARER: “Our coaches came in after that game and didn’t absolutely rip us apart. They calmed us all down. When you lose that badly, you’re feeling pretty bad, so they came in and calmed us down. They told us it definitely wasn’t acceptable for sure. All the leaders got together and we had a meeting after and we just had a nice talk and said ‘Hey, it doesn’t matter if we lost 2-1 or 10-0, we lost the game.’”

DUNCAN CAMPBELL: “They were going to be a real big contender for the championship as well. We knew that to get to the finals we had to go through Red Deer and losing 10-0 was a big wakeup call.”

GARRETT ARMOUR: “A lot of it was ‘Hey boys, we’re not bullet proof. If we don’t come to play, we’re going to get smacked down’ … Once it happened, it brought us all back down to earth. We’re not going to do this solo. It’s going to take every single guy, and if not, that’s what is going to happen.”

JORDAN THOMSON: “In any sport, taking a loss but definitely a beating like that makes you look around the room and kind of realize what needs to be done. I think we did that. We knew we had the power.”

CONNOR GUTENBERG: “Maybe it humbled our group in a sense. I think that would be a word you could use. It made us realize that we had a lot of work to do and couldn’t stop putting the work in, and obviously how important those guys we were missing were to our team.”

REID DUKE: “That Alberta road trip is never easy. It’s always a three-in-three with lots of travel … When you lose like that, you never want to do that again. That was good for us.”

KELLY McCRIMMON: “Depending on the makeup of your team — we had a good team — so that likely did our team more good than a 4-2 loss … In junior hockey, there are nights like that where it can all go wrong.”

STELIO MATTHEOS: “The main thing I remember from world junior time is being down 7-0 after the first period. We adjusted for sure. It took a little bit but I think it made us have to fight a little bit during the season.”

NOLAN PATRICK: “I think that was a turning point in the year. Red Deer was hosting so they were stacking up their team and they gave us a s… kicking. I was pretty pissed off about it and I don’t think anyone was happy about getting embarrassed like that … We played Calgary the next day and won 4-1 so we responded.”

TIM McGAULEY: “It was a humiliating loss, and it either crumbles your team or makes it stronger. It just made our team stronger.”

TY LEWIS: “You just have to have a short memory and move on, clean up some mistakes. Obviously we did a great job of it with the record we had following it.”

TYLER COULTER: “That game stands out for the rest of my life. I’ve never been that outplayed.”

 

WHEATON ACQUIRED

On Jan. 4, McCrimmon pulled off a relatively unheralded deal that would prove to have major ramifications down the line, sending 18-year-old forward Braylon Shmyr and disgruntled overage defenceman Colton Waltz to the Saskatoon Blades for overage defenceman Mitchell Wheaton, 17-year-old rearguard Schael Higson and the Blades’ second-round pick in the 2017 Western Hockey League bantam draft.

WHEATON: “I remember specifically going to Brandon on the road from Saskatoon knowing how fast they were and how skilled they were and how loud the fans were. If you made one wrong mistake or one wrong play, it was definitely going to end up in the back of your net. Getting the news that I was going to join a team like that was very exciting.”

HIGSON, in 2016: “I think that it was time for a change for me, a new leaf and kind of turn it over. It took a little while to get my no-trade waived, obviously, but I think it was worth it. I’m excited to be here.”

KALE CLAGUE: “Mitch just came in with such a positive attitude and him wanting to be my partner and let me take the reins for the most part and join the rush whenever I want and be creative offensively. I knew he would always be hanging back there and bailing me out when I needed him to.”

JOHN QUENNEVILLE: “I knew Wheats and he lived with me. We actually played hockey together and his dad and my dad were friends forever. When he got traded, I said you better move him in with me.”

IVAN PROVOROV: “Mitch was a great teammate and a great guy. He got traded to us and I got to spend a lot of time with him, Erks and Johnny. Him and Johnny lived together so I was over to their house plenty of times. He was a great guy, just all for the team and willing to do anything to help the team win.”

JAYCE HAWRYLUK: “He was a great leader on our team, guys respected him, but he didn’t complain and he worked hard. He did all the little things right and it allowed Kale to show how great of a player he was.”

GUTENBERG: “He had been through a lot when he played in Kelowna so he brought some amazing experience. I remember at the Memorial Cup he had some good advice in the room.”

CAMPBELL: “I don’t know if we win a championship if we don’t get Mitch Wheaton. He was a happy guy to be around, he knew his role, he was a stay-at-home who let Kale do his thing. He loved to block shots and that really fired the guys up. He put his body on the line day in and day out.”

SHEARER: “Him and Claguer were a good pair. Clague had a little more opportunity to jump into the rush and get a little more creative, and Mitch was a shutdown guy. He came in and meshed with the group like he had been there all year. He got along with everyone and took a leadership role.”

THOMSON: “You’re getting a 20-year-old who had experienced winning in Kelowna and was super positive. He wasn’t afraid to be vocal. He wasn’t always the most vocal but if anything was going wrong, it was Wheats standing up.”

WHEATON: “The big thing for me was how badly they strove to get better every day. Winning was No. 1. The culture as soon as you walked into the room was ‘Ya, we’re going to have fun while we’re on the ice but in the end we’re getting down to business and trying to win.” 

MACOY ERKAMPS: “Kale was an offensive guy and Mitch was a big stay-at-home defenceman, steady Eddy, so those two worked really well together and were a very important duo for us.” 

DUKE: “He was excellent. He was another one of those guys who put the team before himself.”

MATTHEOS: “He made me feel really comfortable. He didn’t just hang out with his guys. It didn’t matter who you were, he would treat everyone the same.”

 

SAYING GOODBYE

Waltz wanted out, so his teammates were happy his wish had been granted. It was tougher to say goodbye to Shmyr, the happy-go-lucky 18-year-old forward who would enjoy tremendous success with the Blades over the next two-and-a-half seasons.

TANNER KASPICK: “He just brought so much energy to the rink every day and was such a nice guy. It’s tough losing a teammate you’ve had for a year and a half but it’s part of the business.”

GUTENBERG: “It was really tough for a lot of guys. He had been with the guys the year before when they went to the finals so they had a special bond with each other.”

CAMPBELL: “Braylon was a real happy guy. … He did have a struggle in Brandon because he wanted to be up in the top six being a skill guy with high-end skill and lots of flair but with the top six we had, it was tough.”

 

WHITE ARRIVES

At the deadline on Jan. 10, McCrimmon made one deal, picking up depth forward Jaeger White from the Everett Silvertips for a conditional sixth-round draft pick in 2017. He actively pursed more trades, but ultimately nothing made sense for both the short and long term.

WHITE: “It was pretty cool … there were a lot of familiar faces. When Kelly called me, I was in a pretty bad place mentally, and it was pretty crazy knowing that I was going to go to a team that had a chance to go all the way.”

JORDAN PAPIRNY: “Jags came in and he and I were actually pretty close because we were neighbours in Brandon. He was just a really relaxed dude and brought a calming attitude to the dressing room. I think it was a week in and he was already at the back of the bus hanging out with all the veteran guys. He just had that personality that gelled with everyone.”

COULTER: “He was just a glue guy. He was a fun guy to be around, he was a fun guy in the dressing room. He was always getting stuff going after practice.”

WHITE: “I felt like after a handful of games in Brandon that they played a style and I got my confidence where it needed to be that I could help contribute in an energy role. They had so many contributions offensively that I knew that wasn’t a role that I was going to take on.”

 

DEADLINE ANALYSIS

McCrimmon said he expected to do more at the deadline, an opinion shared by his team.

McCRIMMON: “We liked our team and thought we had a chance to win and had expected to have a chance to win and we really would have liked to have added at the deadline and didn’t. We made the Saskatoon trade, with Waltz out and Wheaton in, but it wasn’t something you would look at as having significantly upgraded your team. I remember when the trade deadline passed thinking to myself ‘We have to stay healthy. For us to win, we have to stay healthy.’”

DUKE: “I remember talking to the guys that night and maybe we were disappointed we didn’t get some bigger name guys that were out there who were available, but it just solidified the fact that we were such a tight group and we really already had what we needed.”

McGAULEY: “He crafted a great team, and I believe in playoffs you saw how great we were.”

LEWIS: “We had Schael for years after that too. He was definitely a steady D-man for us in the years to come.”

DUKE: “Honestly, I think one of the more important things that happened that season was the meeting we had after the trade deadline. We were all waiting for Kelly to make a splash and get us a couple of players after the deadline passed and that never happened. Kelly texted us and said sure it would have been great to get somebody but we understood how much he thought of us. He honestly thought we had enough the way we were, and that made us realize that we had been together for so long, why mess with this chemistry?”

 

FEBRUARY-MARCH

After the 10-0 loss to the host Red Deer Rebels on Jan. 2, the Brandon Wheat Kings finished the Western Hockey League’s regular season on a 25-6-2-0 tear.

A big part of the success was Jayce Hawryluk, a man possessed after returning from suspension, earning 71 points in the team’s final 30 regular-season games, including 14 games with three or more points.

HAWRYLUK: “That stretch of games after I was sent back (from Canada’s national junior team), I was definitely a motivated player ready to prove that when they left me off that team they were wrong.” 

TYLER COULTER: “It was a fill-the-net parade.”

 

INJURIES MOUNT

The team did struggle with some injuries, losing Ty Lewis to a second shoulder injury, Connor Gutenberg to a broken leg and Linden McCorrister to an upper-body injury. Interestingly, the rookie trio would return for the playoffs to form an effective fourth line.

GUTENBERG: “It was tough. It was something that I had to deal with. I had never been hurt at all before that in my life. Being out long term was tough, and the recovery was a long process … It’s tough when you’re not around the guys on the road and not practising with them on the ice. It’s easy to feel a little disconnected.”

LEWIS: “I separated the AC joints on both shoulders and missed about four weeks with each injury. I had injuries in the past so that was kind of a setback for me personally. There’s not much you can do but work through it and learn as much as you can when you’re off the ice. That was a crappy situation and I had to make the best of it.”

Garrett Armour also left the lineup for four games after being suspended for a check-to-the-head major and game misconduct at Red Deer on Jan. 30.

But the Wheat Kings kept rolling.

GUTENBERG: “It was a really good stretch for our team. I didn’t play in too many of those games down the stretch with my injury but it was amazing to watch all those games. You could really see that our group was getting excited for the playoff run and you could see everything come together.”

STELIO MATTHEOS: “I remember the second half was pretty smooth sailing other than that world junior time.”

TANNER KASPICK: “Over the course of the season, especially when you’re coming off the high of the playoff run the previous year, sometimes it’s just hard for every single guy to get up for every single game. For the first half of that season, I would say we underachieved for the group we had. It was maybe being a little too complacent with the roster we had.” 

 

WHITE’S SEASON ENDS

On March 2, Jaeger White’s season came to an end in Brandon. After winning a faceoff in the second period of an 11-2 win against the Saskatoon Blades, White was looking for the puck in his skates when Luke Gingras unloaded on him several feet from the boards near the Brandon bench. White ended up with a badly separated shoulder.

WHITE: “It was a pretty gross injury. It was an awkward hit and I’d had some problems with that shoulder in the past. It was a tough one to suffer, especially with six or so games left in the season.”

GUTENBERG: “He was really liked around the room and got along with everybody. It was really unfortunate how his season ended. He wasn’t around too much after he got his injury but he was a really good guy in the room.” 

 

SEASON ENDS

Brandon closed out its regular season on March 19 with a 3-0 victory over the visiting Regina Pats in front of 5,404 fans after averaging 4,202 during the 72-game campaign.

The Wheat Kings finished the regular season with a record of 48-18-4-2 for 102 points, four shy of the league-leading Victoria Royals. It was good enough to earn them the top spot in the Eastern Conference, eight points ahead of the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

DUNCAN CAMPBELL: “We ended the season on a nine-game win streak. That was good for the confidence. We were feeling good. We knew what we had to do and we just wanted playoffs to start.”

JORDAN THOMSON: “I don’t think it was cockiness. I think it was swagger and confidence going forward. We weren’t afraid of any other team and it showed going into the playoffs.” 

On the final weekly roster report, White was listed as out indefinitely, Ty Lewis was week-to-week, with Connor Gutenberg, Linden McCorrister and veteran forward Tyler Coulter all listed as day-to-day.

The Wheat Kings had five days to wait for the post-season to begin against the Edmonton Oil Kings on March 24 and 25.

 

LEADERS ABOUND

One of the strengths of the 2015-16 club was its leadership group of captain Macoy Erkamps and alternates Tim McGauley, Nolan Patrick and John Quenneville.

ERKAMPS: “I was just another guy on that team … It wasn’t just one leader. We had a big leadership group that helped me out and helped everyone out.”

DUKE: “When one guy was talking, the other guys were listening and everybody had their turn to say something. I don’t think we were an overly talkative group but there weren’t guys standing there pointing fingers telling each other what to do. We were so well coached and knew what we needed to do.”

GUTENBERG: “They all did a good job of leading by example. Every single guy bought in so you could see right away how they practised and how they prepared. That was what you had to do it to win. The biggest thing for us young guys was just to follow along.”

CAMPBELL: “It definitely went beyond the letters in the room. We had Jayce Hawryluk, Nolan Patrick, Tanner, Kale (Clague), Mitchell Wheaton, Reid Duke, all these guys who even though they might not have a letter, but they’re older guys who guys looked up to and they led by example every night.”

ERKAMPS: “That’s what it really came down to. When you get a group of guys, whether they’re young or new and they’re feeling uncomfortable or left out, you’re not going to see their best hockey. I think one thing our team was good with was being inclusive.”

JAMES SHEARER: “(Erkamps) was the best captain I’ve ever played with for sure. He showed what he could do on the ice and led by example of what a captain and a leader should be. He would talk to anyone, whether it had to be kind of a harsher talk where he would say, ‘Come on, you have to get going here,’ or just having a normal conversation off the ice. He did that to every one of us and he definitely made his presence felt and asserted leadership.” 

JORDAN PAPIRNY: “There was a point in the season where a big group of us met, including our coaching staff, and from there we kind of decided what kind of team we wanted to be. I believe that probably was the deciding factor … We just collectively decided that feeling we had the previous season of losing in Kelowna really sucked.”

WHEATON: “There was such an expectation every day, that every day you come to the rink and have to put your work hat on and just work, If it wasn’t for their dedication and the amount of time that they put into video and game plans, I don’t think we would have had as successful a year as we did.”

KASPICK: “There were so many good people and good players, especially among the older guys with the talent they possessed, the character that they showed, how well they treated everyone in the room and how close of a group we were. That all comes from the leadership, from Macoy down. It was definitely Macoy in charge on the leadership front. He was the best captain I’ve ever played for.”

LEWIS: “Mitch was a fantastic leader in the room, and definitely one of the best mentors to the young guys. For him, being in the Memorial Cup a year prior, he knew what it took to get there and it brought a lot of experience to our group.”

 

WHERE IT CAME FROM

Their approach on the ice was simple, and it was informed by both their coaching staff and their own experience.

PATRICK: “Crim would always say to us that there are a lot of things that come before skill takes over. He preached us playing the right way, being above the puck, tracking the puck. He was hard on guys to play the right way. He knew that we had the skill to beat teams by outskilling them but that’s how he wanted us to play and we followed that game plan.”

DUKE: “It was the experience from all the guys who there the season before. I think we had a less talented group that second season but we were a lot more solid up and down the lineup. We definitely weren’t as skilled or high-powered as the year before but I think that everybody understood that each person had to give a little bit extra to make up for some of the things we lacked.”

IVAN PROVOROV: “We were fairly deep. Everyone was contributing, from the first line to the fourth line and from the first D pairing to the second and third, and both goalies were playing great and ready to go all the time. Everyone wanted to make a difference on that team and when you have that type of mentality and those type of players, it’s hard to lose.”

 

 

THE LINES

The Brandon Wheat Kings were fortunate that their depth extended beyond their top players. As the Western Hockey League playoffs got going, Brandon mainly stuck with a few combinations.

KELLY McCRIMMON: “Getting Ivan Provorov back from Philadelphia was important. The evolution of Macoy Erkamps, who had a tremendous 20-year-old season, was important. I was an assistant coach at the world juniors that year, so the whole process as the trade deadline neared of bringing in Mitch Wheaton and trading Colton Waltz to Saskatoon, which as it played out, Mitch was a tremendous addition. He was a great partner for Kale Clague. Kale was in his draft year and a second-year player who had a tough first half. Mitch really helped Kale’s game and that in turn really solidified that second pair. James Shearer coming in and partnering with Jordan Thomson gave us real definition on our third pair. And Erkamps helped Provorov on our top pair so that gave us a real good back end and of course great goaltending with Jordan Papirny and Logan Thompson.”

 

FIRST LINE

• Nolan Patrick with Jayce Hawryluk and Tyler Coulter.

HAWRYLUK: “I had incredible linemates. Me and Patty would go into games with the mindset that there was no way we were losing every single game. Having that mindset and obviously the chemistry we had together is what made that season possible for both of us. We just fed off each other. If one guy wasn’t playing his best, the other guy was there to pick him up.”

COULTER: “Jayce had such a drive that season. I think what really drove him was being unsigned by Florida. John, Tom, Macoy, everyone else was getting contracts and it just drove Jayce that much more to just be so electric every single night. He was the Energizer bunny, and didn’t stop until we won.”

 

SECOND LINE

• Tim McGauley with John Quenneville and Reid Duke.

DUKE: “I absolutely loved that line. I was normally a centreman but I played wing most of that year. Tim and Johnny are very different players, which made them fun to play with. Timmy is smart, defensive and has great skill too and is a great passer. Johnny has a hell of a shot and he was lighting up all playoffs. I just think we had so much chemistry together … Playing with them was so easy. It’s probably the best line I’ve ever played with.”

DUKE: “All three of us were big penalty killers too, and Timmy was probably one of the best two-way centre men in the league. It was a big goal for us to be plus players throughout the playoffs and we made it hard on other teams’ top lines to be out there with us.”

 

THIRD LINE

• Tanner Kaspick with Duncan Campbell and Stelio Mattheos.

CAMPBELL: “With us, all we had to do was be even on the night. We weren’t expected to score goals, we were expected to go out there and shut lines down and be defensive and create energy. We would wear teams out with our cycle game. Tanner and Stelio were great along the boards. We hit hard and played simple and I think we were really reliable. When we did score, and obviously we wanted to, that was icing on the cake.”

MATTHEOS: “Our depth was definitely one of our biggest strengths, and our line with me, Tanner and Dunc definitely knew that. We weren’t trying to force anything, we were just trying to bring the guys up as much as we could with our play.”

KASPICK: “I loved playing with those two. I thought we were always on the same page with each other and predictable for each other. We weren’t going out there trying to get into a track meet or go back and forth with the other team. We wanted to play hard against their top line if we were thrown out there against them and grind away until we could come out of the night plus … I think we were able to win matchups that, on paper, maybe the other team had the advantage going in.”  

COULTER: “The (third line) had three centremen essentially playing on a line. The centreman is the best defensive player on the ice for forwards, and you have three of them. It was incredible how well they played in their own end, and whenever the puck got in the other end, they weren’t doing toe drags and tracking the net every time. They almost want to chip it into the corner, and cycle it six, seven, eight times and it just wrecked teams mentally when that line would get out there and go to work.”

MACOY ERKAMPS: “Kaspy plays a heavy, hard game, Stely was a 16-year-old at the time but comes in and makes an impact and Dunc obviously was a hometown hero. That third line was crucial. In playoffs, we were ready to match them against the other team’s third line.”

CONNOR GUTENBERG: “(The third line) were amazing for us. They could play against any line and they played a lot of minutes. That was a really good line … They contributed offensively some big goals for us. That would have been a very tough line to play against.”

JORDAN THOMSON: “It was incredible, and that’s why I think we had the ability to beat a lot of teams in the playoffs. Every team has their solid one-two punch but as you head into the playoffs, those third- and fourth-line guys are going to do a lot for you.”

PATRICK: “We were really deep. When you have the first overall pick (Stelio Mattheos) in the Western league on your third line with Kaspy and Duncan Campbell, that’s as deep as it gets.”

 

FOURTH LINE

• Connor Gutenberg with Ty Lewis and Linden McCorrister.

GUTENBERG: “For us, we knew that we had to try to provide energy any way we could playing in the offensive zone. Our main goal was to not give up anything in any game that we played. I think all three of us understood what we had to do and what our role was and we were all OK with that. It was a lot of fun playing with those two guys.”

LEWIS: “We were younger guys, first-year guys … We just tried to be solid players and contribute when we could.”

HAWRYLUK: “Our fourth line was so hard to play against, even for guys like us going against them in practice. It made us better because they were so good defensively and they just worked.”

WHEATON: “That’s where we gave a lot of teams trouble. Ya, we had a lot of very skilled guys on our first two lines, but we also had very high calibre, skilled third and fourth lines that could score at any moment.”

 

FIRST D PAIRING

• Ivan Provorov with Macoy Erkamps.

PROVOROV: “It was awesome. We understood each other and had chemistry. We played as hard as we could defensively trying to shut down all the first lines we were matched up against. Offensively we had all the freedom and it worked really well because Erks was a righty so we were able to zip the puck D to D in the offensive zone back and forth. It was really easy and kind of opened up shooting lanes for each other and scoring chances in general.”

ERKAMPS: “In my mind, I always tried to get the puck to Provy. We had a good bunch of forwards so as a puck-moving defenceman it was pretty easy to pick up points, having him on my left and a bunch of forwards up front. He made the league look easy, and now he’s doing it in the NHL and I’m not surprised at all.”

JORDAN THOMSON: “Obviously Provy is an absolute elite defenceman and in junior he was dominant so any team would be happy to have a player like that. But to be accompanied by Macoy, that’s huge. He’s a very skilled player and gritty.”

KALE CLAGUE: “Provorov is a special player. You can see what he does in the NHL now. He’s one of the top defencemen in the NHL now. Being able to play with him and learn from him in different areas … he was incredible to watch. He was the best player or one of our best players on the ice every single night.”

 

SECOND PAIRING

• Kale Clague with Mitch Wheaton.

JODAN PAPIRNY: “Wheats was awesome. Him and Claguer were kind of a unique dynamic. Clague was about 175 pounds and maybe six feet and Wheats was a big defenceman so it was kind of fun watching them out there together but they had such a unique dynamic. They did a tremendous job.”

COULTER: “Mitch let Kale be the offence and be that fourth forward. Kale could join every single rush because Wheats was a home guy who could hit anyone on the tape and played with his head up. He was like Reid Gow. He would block a shot with his chest if he had to. I think he was the only D-man who wore shot blockers on our team, and boy, did he use them.” 

 

THIRD PAIRING

• James Shearer with Jordan Thomson.

THOMSON: “(Shearer) was one of the greatest guys. Not only were we D partners and both played a shutdown role, but we roomed together on the road all the time, which I think translated onto the ice as well. We became a good duo together. It was a little bit of a different role for us, but Kelly let us know and we accepted it and made the best of it.”

HAWRYLUK: “They’re both just great guys and they work extremely hard and they have that will to win at whatever cost. … You look at Thommy, he was a 19-year-old that season and could have been a top D-man and he accepted that 5-6 role with Shearsy and they played really well. They are just steady D who played tough minutes against a bunch of tough lines and they also contributed on the offensive side. They were great for us.”

ERKAMPS: “The (third pairing) were steady. They did the job.”

• SCRATCHES: Garrett Armour, Mark Matsuba, Schael Higson, Caiden Daley (in playoffs after callup).

 

GOALTENDERS

• Jordan Papirny starting, Logan Thompson as backup.

THOMPSON: “The thing about Paps is that he’s always the hardest-working guy in practice. I think that year he was just so set and so focused. The year before they went so far before being eliminated by Kelowna that he was super hungry that year and you could tell he wanted it. He came back from Montreal’s camp with a lot of motivation and he was ready to go. He really helped me become the goalie I am today.”

COULTER: “(Papirny’s) mood never changed. He was just always even-keeled. He would blow up a couple of times here and there and would beat the crap out of somebody but that was the only time. His heart rate was 100 at all times.”

 

COACHING STAFF

(Head coach Kelly McCrimmon and assistant coaches Darren Ritchie and David Anning)

SHEARER: “Our coaches were a real key, they were second to none. It was amazing all the little pointers they had and the way they coached and how professional they were. That made a huge difference.”

QUENNEVILLE: “Our assistant coach Darren Ritchie was running the forwards, and it doesn’t get much better than that and the power play. What a guy. David Anning was running our defence. We loved Dave, he was a great guy. Crim loved and respected both of those guys.”

McGAULEY: “It was a phenomenal team, and coaches too. David Anning and Darren Ritchie and Kelly McCrimmon, everything was perfect for that season to come together.”

 

CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS

While the Brandon Wheat Kings had finished 37 points ahead of the Edmonton Oil Kings, they held their first-round opponent in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference in high esteem.

The Oil Kings still had vestiges of the powerhouse club that had appeared in three straight finals from 2012 to 2014, winning twice and earning a Memorial Cup title in 2014.

Along with top forwards Brett Pollock, Brandon Baddock and Lane Bauer, they had Dysin Mayo and Aaron Irving on the back end.

TYLER COULTER: “They played a very smart system. They were big and they worked hard and they always put five guys in the middle of the ice in their own end, which didn’t let our defencemen shoot pucks, and that was a huge part of our offence.”

DUNCAN CAMPBELL: “Playing against them was difficult because they could shut our top lines down and we could shut their’s down. There was a lot of frustration and not as much room out there. Guys were getting hit when they didn’t want to.”

KALE CLAGUE: “Right from when I was 15, Edmonton was such a strong team. Before I came into the WHL, they were winning the league. They had a good forward group and really good depth on their team and they gave us a real run for our money in the first round.”

MACOY ERKAMPS: “They were a well-coached team and a team that played the right way. They dumped pucks in, they played hard and had some big forwards like Baddock, who was run and gun.”

MITCH WHEATON: “They were rough, they were gritty. It was their work ethic. Going into the series we were expecting an easy game just because they were lower in the standings and we were a very high calibre team.”

CAMPBELL: “I thought Edmonton was designed very similar to the way we were designed. They had some skilled top forwards but everything below that was just hard work and hard hitting.”

 

GAME 1

March 24, 2016 (Westman Place, 3,507 in attendance) 

Edmonton 4, Brandon 2  

(BWK goals — Duke, Patrick)

Reid Duke scored nine seconds into the series but the Oil Kings scored three times in the final frame for the victory, despite being outshot 41-29. Payton Lee made 39 saves.

KELLY McCRIMMON: “We were ravaged with illness as the regular season wound down. You love as a coach in that week leading into the playoffs where you get the opportunity to have a good week of practice, work on special teams, have good pace, good tempo with the line combinations and defence pairs. We opened up on Thursday night and we never had our team together. We had a meeting on Wednesday night, and that was the first time that we saw some players. They weren’t at the rink for any of the practices that week. We went into Game 1, and had no energy, just none at all, and lost Game 1. When you’re in a two-three-two format, now you’re at risk of never getting the series back on home ice.” 

 

GAME 2

March 25, 2016 (Westman Place, 4,855)

Edmonton 2, Brandon 1  

(BWK goal — Quenneville)

John Quenneville scored midway through the first period, but Baddock tied it six minutes later and Pollock scored midway through the third period for the win. Brandon once again outshot its visitors, but suddenly the favourites found themselves down two games and heading to Edmonton for the next three.

TANNER KASPICK: “They were just playing greasy road games, playoff style. They were blocking so many shots, they were playing tight, they didn’t make too many mistakes or give up odd-man rushes. They were just trying to let us make a mistake and capitalize on it. I thought we outplayed them in those first two games but that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

IVAN PROVOROV: “Going into the playoffs and that series, we were riding a nine-game winning streak in the regular season so we were kind of, I wouldn’t say shocked, but we weren’t ready to switch to playoff hockey mode. In the second game, we played well but we couldn’t put the puck in the net.” 

CONNOR GUTENBERG: “I remember sitting in the room after Game 2 and there really wasn’t much panic. The team knew that we had a lot more to offer going into Edmonton for Game 3.”

GARRETT ARMOUR: “We were so high that everyone just expected us to sweep them and they come out and beat us two in a row in our barn — bang! bang! — and all of a sudden we’re thinking ‘Holy crap!’ … The Oil Kings came out like a bat out of hell and snuck it away from us.”

JAMES SHEARER: “The first two games they definitely came out, not that we didn’t play good, and they got the bounces when they needed it and worked hard. We knew we were going to have do something to change it up.”

JAYCE HAWRYLUK: “We had a little meeting and some words were spoken. Guys just knew we had to step it up a little, play our game and do all the little things right and play hard because we had such a skilled team up and down. As long as we played hard and we left it all out there, they wouldn’t beat us. Guys really bought in after we had that meeting.”

JOHN QUENNEVILLE: “I think we were just distracted. Every time we played Edmonton, in the years before, they were running through our warmup (before the game up on the concourse) for a couple of years when they were the big, bad Oil Kings. They tried to bully us and would give us a hard time. We always had a thing with the Oil Kings.” 

SHEARER: “We all had faith in each other. Yes, it wasn’t ideal, but it’s only two games and you have to win four to win a series.”

JORDAN PAPIRNY: “I just remember coming together as a group after we lost Game 2, 2-1 and outshot them. We just couldn’t buy two. We came together as a group and said if we get through this, it will make us a stronger team.”

TANNER KASPICK: “There was a little moment of confusion.”

TIM McGAULEY: “Nobody was shook, that’s for sure, but it wasn’t good.”

 

GAME 3

March 30, 2016 (Rexall Place, 6,115)

Brandon 3, Edmonton 1  

(BWK goals — Gutenberg, Patrick, Coulter)

Jordan Papirny was outstanding, making 34 saves as his team was outshot for the only time in the series. Connor Gutenberg scored his first career WHL playoff goal, with Nolan Patrick scoring the winner late in the second period on the power play and Tyler Coulter adding an insurance marker in the third period. Suddenly, it was a series again.

McCRIMMON: “Here we are, a team two or three years in the making with high aspirations for a likely playoff run, and suddenly we’re down two games to none going on the road for three. That was a real challenge, and that’s what playoffs do. You get challenged in different ways at different times and in that particular case, it came right off the bat.”

REID DUKE: “I remember that third game. It was a tight game and we even almost lost it. I just remember talking to the guys after that and even if we did lose that game, I don’t think anybody’s mentality would have changed.”

IVAN PROVOROV: “After we went to Edmonton for Game 3, we knew that if we lost Game 3, it would be hard to come back from being down 3-0 for anyone. We knew that we couldn’t lose that game, and we knew that if we were able to get Game 3 that we would be able to turn it around.”

McCRIMMON: “When we went into Edmonton for Game 3, I expected us to play much better than we did. Paps was the difference in Game 3.”

SHEARER: “Our mentality going into Game 3 was really big. We came out really hard and really fast.”

QUENNEVILLE: “We went into Edmonton and those next games we played might have been the best games we played in the whole playoffs.”

COULTER: “I hurt my knee with three games left in the season. I watched games 70, 71 and 72, took a week and still couldn’t skate and then had to watch Games 1 and 2. I hadn’t skated in two-and-half weeks, and as soon as we lost Game 2, I was back for Game 3 without skating.”

WHEATON: “We knew once they went up 2-0 that we just had to emulate how hard they were working and instead of just using our skill, we had to actually outwork them physically and mentally.”

ERKAMPS: “We played a good third game, and after that we realized we were going to come back and win no problem. Those first two games put a spark in us.”

See ‘Wheat Kings’ — Page B2

WHEATON: “I remember Kelly McCrimmon saying we need to get the next one. If we get the next one, we’re going to win. That was the message we carried into that third game.”

MATTHEOS: “I remember our group being pretty nervous that game. To be honest, we didn’t play our best game and we got a couple of goals and just hung on. After that, we definitely turned it around.”

KASPICK: “I don’t know if it was nerves or what was going on, but I thought of the first three games that was the one we had the best chance to lose. I remember a big goal by Guty and Paps stood on his head.”

GAME 4

March 31, 2016 (Rexall Place, 5,940)

Brandon 5, Edmonton 0 

(BWK goals — Quenneville, Clague, Quenneville, Duke, Hawryluk)

The hometown kid, John Quenneville, scored twice as Brandon dominated the hosts, outshooting them 36-15.

Brandon established its dominance in Game 4, but suffered a loss of another kind when Coulter was hit with a two-game suspension under supplemental discipline for knocking Oil Kings defenceman Anatolii Elizarov out of the series in an altercation.

COULTER: “They waited until Game 5 to declare my suspension, which we won, and then they suspended me an extra game.”

 

GAME 5

April 3, 2016 (Rexall Place, 5,149)

Brandon 5, Edmonton 2 

(BWK goals — Quenneville, Mattheos, Thomson, Duke, Hawryluk)

Quenneville and Stelio Mattheos staked Brandon to a two-goal lead in a close game in which Jordan Thomson scored the winner seven minutes into the final frame. Brandon added a pair of late empty net goals. The Wheat Kings were up 3-2 in the series and returning home with a chance to close it out.

McGAULEY: “I think coming back from down 2-0 in a two-three-two format — we lost two at home and we’re going for three in Edmonton — we had to win all three in Edmonton. That’s what we did.”

 

GAME 6

April 5, 2016 (Westman Place, 5,124)

Brandon 10, Edmonton 3  

(BWK goals — Duke, Provorov, Clague, Duke, Clague, Lewis, Patrick, Shearer, Armour, Mattheos) 

Duke and Ivan Provorov staked Brandon to an early lead, and after Luke Bertolucci countered for the visitors, the Wheat Kings scored the next three goals.

WHEATON: “I think Game 6 was when our true potential really came out. That was the defining moment that was ‘OK, this is our year.’”

LEWIS: “Against Edmonton we just had to buckle down and stick to our game plan and limit our mistakes. As the series went on, I think we just got better and better.”

McCRIMMON: “One of the things about the playoffs was the attendance. The atmosphere and the energy in the building, you could feel it in Game 6.”

THOMSON: “I remember Crim talking to us as a team and he was super proud that we won three in a row and came back home to win it. That’s definitely not something a lot of teams can do.”

McCRIMMON: “The playoffs make you better. That’s something I’ve always said about playoff hockey, that you’re better at the end of the round than you were at the start. We were battle tested and we’d had a significant scare.”

PATRICK: “Losing those two games might have been the best thing that happened to us in the playoffs. We faced a little adversity right away and knew we weren’t going to steamroll everyone and had to learn how to bounce back.”

 

TOMORROW: Moose Jaw series