Stanicks capitalize on unexpected opportunity

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/12/2020 (1937 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Twins Sloan and Slade Stanick can certainly spot a good opportunity, as unlikely as it may have been this winter.

The two 17-year-old hockey players received an unexpected chance to reunite on a line with the Manitoba AAA U18 Hockey League’s Yellowhead Chiefs this season due the pandemic-delayed start to the season in the Western Hockey League, where Sloan skates with the Regina Pats.

Last season was the first time the pair didn’t play together since they started in organized hockey in Rapid City at age five.

“It was a lot different just not having your brother and someone you’re really close with,” Slade said. “There’s a lot of chemistry there on the team, so it was a different change, but I felt like I made the best of it. It was good this year to have him back and play with him. We had some success together.”

They skated on a line together throughout the pre-season and nine regular season games. In just seven under-18 games this season, six-foot-one, 182-pound Sloan sniped 10 times and added four assists. Slade, who stands five-foot-nine and weighs 145 pounds, had five goals and four assists.

They also set the tone for the entire Chiefs team. Yellowhead assistant coach Craig Geekie said the competitiveness between the two even extends to practice.

“They push each other, especially if they get in the same drill at the same time against each other,” Geekie said. “It’s quite fun to watch, because really, at the end of the day, they’re competing against each other, they’e not actually competing on the drill.

“It’s more of a brother-versus-brother, I’m-going-to-beat-you deal. They bring out the best in each other, as most brothers do … If one takes half a shift off, they’re going to get beat and they’re going to get chirped about it. It not only raises their level, it raises everybody else at practice’s level when they see that.”

The twins, who were born on Aug. 1, 2003, live on a farm five miles of south of Rapid City with parents Daren and Leanne. The mixed farm includes grain and cattle.

“We help Dad as much as he needs,” Slade said. “Probably the most help we do is in the harvest season out on the combine a lot. We enjoy combining and baling and help whenever he needs it.”

It also proved to be an ideal environment to grow hockey players.

The pair started skating around age three.

“It’s definitely been a big part of our family,” Sloan said. “My dad played professional hockey overseas in Germany and he played with the Dauphin Kings as well, where I was drafted in the MJ. Dad knows a lot about hockey and coached us our whole life … Hockey is something we really enjoy at home.”

The pair played a bit of soccer when they were young, and later tried football and high school baseball.

But it was on the ice they were at their best.

“We played minor hockey together until last year and we were on the pond together making plays together and doing 1-v-1s trying to learn some new skills,” Sloan said. “Through peewee and first-year bantam, it was really us playing together trying to create the offensive side with the Rivers Jets. We just kind of knew where we were together, so that’s definitely a big goal and help.”

Naturally, they’ve pushed each other at home during the lockdown.

They have a homemade squat rack and some other free weights to use. The Pats also sent some workouts that both teenagers were able to use.

“It’s really good to have someone to work out with,” Slade said. “The two of us working out together is pretty fun. We’re working out hard but still having some fun with it. He’s a little bigger than I am, so trying to keep up with what he can do is a great challenge. He always tries to make me do a little bit more, which is really good.”

Both brothers were taken in the 2018 MJHL draft, with Sloan going second overall to the Dauphin Kings, and Slade being taken with the 54th overall pick by the Virden Oil Capitals. Slade was traded to Dauphin in a deadline deal on Jan. 11, 2019.

Sloan was also chosen in the WHL, 145th overall in 2018, by the Everett Silvertips, but was acquired by Regina, along with a pair of draft picks, for forward Robbie Holmes on Jan. 10, 2019.

In 49 games last season as a 16-year-old with the Pats, he had two goals, two assists and nine penalty minutes.

Slade certainly noticed the difference a year in the WHL made for Sloan.

“He developed a lot up in Regina,” Slade said. “I watched him play with Regina, but just being able to play with him you could really tell the difference of how much he has improved and just how great of a player he really is.”

While some WHL players eventually chose to play Junior A as they waited for the season to begin, Sloan had already spoken to Regina general manager John Paddock and head coach Dave Struch and settled on a different path. He was happy to return to Yellowhead.

“It was good to get my confidence back a little more,” Sloan said. “I was a bigger, stronger player out there and I held onto the puck and created lots of offence and had a few goals as well. I was able to show some of the younger guys on the team what I’ve learned in the WHL with the Pats, not just in the offensive zone but also in the defensive zone, which I thought helped with our success later on.”

When the season was paused, Yellowhead was 4-3-1, good for a tie for sixth place with an average of 1.13 points per game, which is how the league is determining its standings during a season in which every team might not play the same number of games.

See ‘It was’— Page 5

They had a tough start to the season, however, dropping three games against the league-leading Parkland Rangers (6-1-0, 1.71 ppg) before taking two out of three against the Brandon Wheat Kings. They finished up with a weekend set against the Norman Northstars in Thompson in early November, with Sloan scoring five goals and adding an assist to earn the league’s player of the week honours. The runner-up was Slade, who had three goals and an assist that weekend.

Not surprisingly, the pair are big fans of each other’s game.

“Sloan is a very offensive-based player,” Slade said. “He can make tons of things happen. He’s got a great shot, really gets it off quick, and has great hands with the puck. He can really make a move on the defenceman and not hesitate at all. He can see the ice really well and he’s not a selfish player. When someone is open, he gives them the opportunity to score. He’s just an all-around great player.”

Sloan didn’t mind returning the praise on his brother, who scored 14 times, with 18 helpers in 41 games with the Chiefs last season.

“Slade is definitely an all-around great player,” Sloan said. “He’s a smaller player but he is a strong, smart player as well. He definitely reads the play and is able to get into the places where the defenders aren’t to make scoring opportunities, score goals and make plays.

“We’re able to pass to each other and dance around some guys, so it’s great playing with someone who knows where I am and is able to get me the puck, but I want to be able to do the same with him. He’s fast, he’s smart, he’s great in the D zone, he doesn’t cheat the play. He makes sure he’s solid in the D zone and then takes it over in the offensive zone.

“It’s great playing with him again.”

While Sloan will return to Regina when the WHL season begins, he has enjoyed the time with his brother. The Chiefs play out of Shoal Lake, a 72-kilometre drive from Rapid City.

“It was something that we definitely didn’t think would ever happen, but it was great to play with him again,” Sloan said. “The long road trips up to Shoal Lake for practice even and just being together and having the time we had before I leave or he leaves to play in the MJHL. It was great just to be together again and play as one and help each other develop over the short period of time we’ve had.”

The U18 season was mothballed on Nov. 12, so the pair is once again getting their work in on the farm.

They have a few dugouts and ponds near the house that freeze, and in a normal year their buddies come out to play. That’s not possible for now, but they still enjoy it.

“It’s just me and Sloan out there, but it’s still really good to work on our shots and puck handling and things like that,” Slade said.

When the twins were split up after Sloan headed to Regina, they spoke on a daily basis and the family drove out for games when they could. His brother may have moved to another province, but it might have been Slade who faced the bigger transition.

“When he first left, it was a big change to come home and not have anybody in the room next to me,” Slade said. “It was definitely different, but we still talked a lot on SnapChat and he kept me updated with how his games went, what he was doing on a daily basis, we talked a little bit about school and how we were doing.

“It was just how much he really enjoyed the Regina Pats and what a great organization it was there and how much he loved it up there, which was good. I was really proud of him.”

Naturally Slade has to be supportive. After all, he’s the older brother, forever holding a two-minute advantage over Sloan.

“He’s never getting that one past me,” Slade said with a chuckle.

“He hasn’t stopped, that’s for sure,” Sloan replied as the two laughed.

So, do twins have a special connection in sports? Do they process the game differently with the person they know best beside them?

“It’s hard to explain,” Sloan said. “Twins just have that sense to just know where each other are going to go, especially with our 11 years of playing hockey together. It’s just natural at this point, and it’s a really big bonus to have both of us out there at the same time. Things just happen a lot more naturally. When one of us makes a mistake, we can correct each other without getting offended or upset with each other, which was also really good.”

Geekie has noticed the same thing. He’s a firm believer that the twins seem to have a special connection on the ice.

“One hundred per cent,” Geekie said. “I think there’s that sixth sense, so to speak, where each other is. A little call or a little stick tap and I know he’s going over here or I know he’s going over there so if I throw the puck over here, I know my brother is going to be there and I don’t have to look. They definitely have those attributes going for them too, which is almost like a third player on the ice.”

When the WHL season begins, their time together will once again end. However, both have big plans for the rest of the season.

“My hopes are definitely coming into Christmas to get back to Regina Pats and play there and have some success on the higher-up lines,” Sloan said. “Hopefully I’m going to be playing some bigger minutes and a little bit on the power play and penalty kill. I’ll just stay focused.

“I’ll be graduated by the end of January, which will be nice. I’ll be able to just focus on hockey and just play my game and get back into the rhythm of it and just succeed in the offensive zone and the defensive zone.”

Slade hopes his team can maintain its momentum without his younger brother, and that he will also get a taste of junior hockey this winter.

“I’m just hoping that the AAA midget league starts up again so we can hopefully get to the top of the standings like we have been for several years,” Slade said. “It will be different without Sloan there on the team, but we have some skilled players with us there and some great coaches. I think we’ll be able to have a good rest of the season and hopefully I get a few callups from Dauphin to get some experience in the MJHL.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson