Harnett finds a new home in Wayway

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This article was published 16/07/2020 (2090 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Taylor Harnett would love to share a Manitoba Junior Hockey League championship with the community of Waywayseecappo.

Harnett, who moved from Alberta in November 2017 to take over the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, can only imagine the scene.

“I truly think about it quite often, what it would mean to the community to win a championship,” Harnett said. “I honestly can’t imagine it. That really drives me, and there’s lot more about Waywayseecappo that will keep me going. I want to see that happen.”

The head coach and general manager was among hundreds of onlookers on Thursday afternoon as the First Nation opened its new gas station, which is located just south of the Brandon Airport along Highway 10.

The club hired him after dismissing Arnie Caplan, who started the 2017-18 sesaon 1-16-0-1. The Wolverines went 7-32-0-1 the rest of the way.

After two-and-a-half seasons with the team, Harnett has found his way, although he noted he had lots of help. A product of the Carry The Kettle Nakoda Nation in Saskatchewan, Harnett said Chief Murray Clearsky and the council have been invaluable resources for him.

He admitted there was some local hesitation to embrace him when he first arrived because the team wasn’t playing well and he was an unknown, but Harnett has made the effort to get to meet as many people as he can. 

On the ice, he quickly discovered he had to clamp down on his expectations. 

“I was impatient,” Harnett said. “I wanted to turn everything around that day. I knew we were going to turn things around but it was going to be a process and Chief Clearsky and Joey Gambler and some of the other councillors, they recognized that there wasn’t going to be a quick turn-around and we probably weren’t going to make the playoffs with 30 games left and one win.”

He said the first season was a feeling-out period between him and the chief and council and the community as they determined whether it was a good fit.

It certainly proved to be for Harnett.

“I fell in love with Wayway pretty quick,” Harnett said. “I didn’t know anybody out here. All I knew was that there was a hockey team out here and they were struggling and needed some guidance, and I was going to do my best … You’re not always going to get it right, but the one thing I knew is that we have something here.”

In the offseason, Harnett challenged himself to win 25 games the next season. 

The team delivered, going 28-27-0-2 for their first winning record in eight years, and their first playoff berth in three seasons. While they were swept by the eventual league champion Portage Terriers in the first round, it was progress.

In the 2019-20 campaign, the Wolverines went 32-21-5-2, finishing fifth in the league and earning the second most points in the 21-year franchise history. They were trailing the Swan Valley Stampeders 2-1 in their quarterfinal series when the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March. 

But the club had taken another giant step forward, which included the team’s first playoff win since March 12, 2013.

“It was quite an exciting time in the community and we didn’t get a chance to finish it,” Harnett said. 

He wasn’t shocked by the shutdown because a friend told him prior to the news being released that the Western Hockey League was moving in that direction. It was the way it occurred that startled him.

“I guess I was surprised by how quick it happened,” Harnett said. “I don’t think any of us in our lifetime has ever prepared for a pandemic.”

While much of the attention was placed on the 1999-born 20-year-olds losing their final season, Harnett knew most of those guys on his team had more hockey in their future. He was more concerned about the overall group and the fact that they had played their last game together.

“The toughest part was the uncertainty,” Harnett said. “Some of these guys you never see again. You stay in contact but you know you’re not going to see everybody again. When a season ends, you wind down and have one-on-one meetings and it’s a three- or four-day process. There might be a team function, and you cover everything you think with your outgoing players and your returning players. 

“In this case, it was ‘We’ve been told you guys have to go, pack up your stuff.’ It was a tough meeting.”

Harnett, who recently moved to Russell, was living in Rossburn in March. He hunkered down at home like everyone else and entered what he called a “dead period” in the spring.

“You didn’t really know what to say to recruits,” Harnett said. “We had to cancel our spring camp (in Brandon in April). We were in a dead spot there for about a month. There was a lot not being done.”

Harnett used the down time to watch webinars to build his hockey knowledge and tried to plan.

“It was ‘OK, let’s take our focus away from building our team next year because we don’t what we’re going to be allowed to do, to continuing to make sure the organization from a staff standpoint is ready to go when we’re told we can go,’” Harnett said. “That’s what we’re doing. We’re preparing like we’re going to have a season.”

There has been no announcement from the MJHL yet on what to expect in the coming months, although its next move is contingent on what Hockey Canada decides. Harnett has been in contact with the league since the stoppage, and likes where Manitoba is at with the pandemic.

The biggest issue, aside from when play begins, is who will be able to participate. The border closure could have a major impact on American players.

Last season, Wayway had seven Americans, including graduates Anthony Bilka and Jack Kennedy. In addition, defenceman Alex Lucken, who will enter his 20-year-old season, recently announced he will stay in the United States to play in the NAHL because of the border issues.

“When the season ended, that’s the one thing I didn’t think about,” Harnett said. “Am I going to be dealing in August with our American players coming back? That’s becoming an issue. I wouldn’t be surprised if the border stays closed.”

He said he’s received no indication from anyone how that issue will resolve itself.

The coach talked to each player by phone after they went home and they did some video as a team, but he said it’s important that players get to enjoy their off-season. They figured out how they could get their work in on their own.

While it’s unknown when the players will get to skate at the First Nation again, the two-way relationship between the team and the community continues to flourish.

Harnett said it was important for him to attend the opening of the new gas station on Thursday because it’s a new chapter in the strong business relationship between Brandon and Waywayseecappo.

“This is a big deal for the community,” Harnett said. “It’s not easy to get something like this built.”

He said the Wolverines have given Waywayseecappo a national profile in the hockey community, and there is a lot of pride in the community for the club. Harnett is still working to gain the trust of local people by spending long days in the office and getting involved in the community whenever possible.

“That’s not because it’s in my contract,” Harnett said. “It’s because I want to do it. I find myself going back to Alberta less and less and telling people that home is Wayway.”

 

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