Unbeaten U15 club impresses veteran coaches

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This article was published 13/12/2021 (1396 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s hard to imagine how the first half of the 2021-22 season could may have gone much better for the under-15 AAA Brandon Wheat Kings.

The team, which is led by head coaches Dave Lewis and Craig Anderson and assistant coaches Ty Lewis and Micheal Ferland, is a perfect 19-0-0-0 in the U15 AAA Winnipeg Hockey League and has outscored their opponents by a whopping 172-45.

“We have a really good skating team and we move the puck really well,” Lewis said. “We have good hockey IQ and play a good team style. It starts on the back end. We defend pretty well for the most part and then we move the puck well. Something we always talk about is taking care of the D zone first, and then once we take care of that, the offence will come.”

The Wheat Kings are led by Cole Temple (34 goals, 28 assists, 62 points) and Jaxon Jacobson (30g, 31a, 61p), with Easton Odut (24g, 21a, 45p), Brady Turko (19g, 26a, 45p) and Colten Worthington (15g, 23a, 38p) close behind.

Lewis said Temple, who may become the next Brandonite to be selected in the first round of the Western Hockey League draft in May, has the ability to make the players around him better, which he considers a sign of an elite talent.

“Cole is one of the nicest, most powerful skaters I’ve seen in bantam in a long time,” Lewis said. “He reminds me a little bit of Calen Addison with the power he generates from his skating. The other thing I really admire about Cole is that he is a team guy. Because of his speed and skill set he could probably do a lot more individually but he always makes the right play and almost overpasses the puck sometimes, but that tells me he’s a very good teammate and wants to share his success with his teammates.”

Only two of the 19 players and goalies are 2008-born minor bantams, with the rest 2007-born players in their major bantam season. Incredibly, one of the two youngsters is Jacobson, who leads the Wheat Kings with five game winners and is averaging more than three points per game.

The other is defenceman Nolan Saunderson.

There are seven players on the blue-line, with a nice split of offensive rearguards such as Saunderson, Josh McGregor and Kaeson Fisher, with Dustin Bell, Konnor Klemick, Konner MacKay and Aiden Laing serving more of a shutdown role.

“We do offer a little bit of everything back there,” Anderson said. “The depth is definitely something that we’ve been able to take advantage of. If one guy is not going, there are six other guys capable of stepping in and playing a role for us. As much as they’re still learning to defend, they’re smart and bring some creativity to their game.”

In net, Brady Low (11 games played, 2.21 goals-against average, .911 save percentage) and Matthew Michta (8gp, 2.56 gaa, .904 sp) have shared the load under the watchful of goaltender coach Tyson Verhelst.

“For the most part they’ve been very consistent,” Anderson said. “I would say it’s a work in progress for both of them, and they would both agree with that. There is a lot more room for development, and I think Tyson has done a good job with them.

“They’ve kept us in games and made saves when we needed saves. Up to this point, we’ve been more than satisfied with our goaltending.”

Lewis said the biggest thing he’s noticed is how much more they compete and battle for pucks now as the season has progressed.

“We’re fortunate to have a strong team in front of them, which means if we get solid goaltending, we have a pretty good chance to win most nights,” Lewis said. “They’ve been very consistent.”

The forward group brings a terrific blend of speed, skill, hard work, relentless forechecking and competitiveness that serves it well.

Anderson said the coaching staff has never once had to get after them about their work ethic, adding there are intense battles in practice that translate to games.

“We’re able to play the game at a high speed and we transition the puck very, very well,” Anderson said. “It kind of catches teams on their heels a little bit when we turn can pucks over and generate speed off the offence in our entries.

“In saying that, our skill level allows us to make creative plays coming into the zone and below the goal line. We do have a mix of size and speed and skill up there. We’re finding it’s hard for teams to defend sometimes.”

On top of those attributes, the structure in the U15 Wheat Kings game is apparent.

“It’s a very intelligent group,” Anderson said. “We’re able to teach them probably a lot of things up to his point we didn’t think we’d be able to teach yet. They know how to play with structure but at the same time, when you have a team that is this skilled you have to let them be free sometimes and be creative.

“There are times we want structure in the game and they’re able to provide it for us.”

Anderson and Lewis, who also serve as the lead instructors at the Western Canada Hockey Academy, offer an unusual amount of experience at the U15 level with decades of coaching between them. But they have also found the value of having former Wheat Kings Ferland and Ty Lewis, because the two recently retired professional players bring another perspective.

Sometimes, the two older coaches just let Ferland talk.

“The boys absolutely love listening to him,” Anderson said. “He’s got lots of creativity and there is a lot of respect for Micheal in our dressing room from our guys and the coaching staff. When he pops up and speaks, everyone listens. He’s going to be an excellent coach: He’s really good with the kids.”

Ty Lewis grew up around the Hockey Factory, the hockey school his father Dave started and operated with Anderson prior to the WCHA opening. 

“Ty is just a natural coach,” Anderson said. “We always say that just because you played the game, doesn’t mean you can coach. Ty was able to play the game and understand the game. He’s very good at the technical part of it. He communicates well with the boys.”

Dave Lewis said that with the opening of the new J&G Homes Arena, he and Anderson have been extremely busy, so the two younger coaches have essentially taken over practices and games.

“We’re really lucky not just to have a strong group of players, but a strong coaching staff across the board,” Lewis said. “It’s a very unique group.”

Brandon’s level of dominance might be partially explained another way too. Winnipeg added three new teams this year to bring the city total to nine, diluting their talent pool slightly as they try to develop more players. (At the U18 level, just three teams, the Thrashers, Wild and Bruins, play out of the city.)

“The Winnipeg teams are still challenging,” Anderson said. “They still have good players that can do some damage. We’ve had some really good games against the top-end Winnipeg teams and the Eastmans and Yellowheads. We can’t take those teams for granted.”

Another payoff for the Wheat Kings could come in May when the Western Hockey League draft is traditionally held. An unprecedented number of Brandon players could make the grade, with Temple leading the way.

While he leads the way offensively, the load has been shared. Fourteen of Brandon’s 17 skaters have at least 10 points in just 19 games. 

So far, the Wheat Kings have scored 10 goals or more six times and have been held under five goals just once, a 3-1 victory over Thrashers White on Nov. 6. Their opponent has stayed within two goals of them four times, all in a five-game span between Oct. 23 and Nov. 12.

Blowouts can be a challenge for coaches, because it’s not uncommon for players at any level to begin to cheat on their defensive assignments when the puck is going into the other net.

“When the score gets out of hand, we focus on doing other things, like something we maybe worked on that week in practice or more structure-based stuff,” Anderson said. “They’re a hungry team and like to win and like to score and we’re not going to take that away from them, but we do have to respect our opponents. Sometimes when it gets a little lopsided, we pull the horses back and focus on other areas of our game that we want to improve and the guys respect that.”

The staff has broken the season into monthly segments.

For the last month, they’ve been focusing on moving the puck up from their back end through the neutral zone and letting the offence take care of itself. Anderson said they’ve made real strides.

“I think we’re learning how to work from our back end out,” Anderson said. “We understand that we’re gifted a little bit up front with our scoring ability and the depth. We have to learn how to defend, because once you get to that next level, if you can’t defend, then it’s tough for coaches to put you on the ice.”

They’ve only allowed three or more goals six times — a true recipe for success when you’re scoring an average of nine goals per game — but Anderson added the shots and net are also dropping.

“These kids are understanding how to play the game in their own end,” Anderson said. “It didn’t take them long to figure out that if they defend well, they’re going to create more offensive opportunities. They bought into it and we’re starting to see some results.”

Lewis added their forechecking system has been a big success because the players have adapted to it so well.

“When the guys execute it, it’s very, very difficult to break through,” Lewis said. “Because of our team speed and our puck pursuit, we create a lot of turnovers and from those turnovers we have a very high skill set handling the puck and making passes and finishing plays. We’ve had a large number of highlight reel, tic-tac-toe goals, which comes off the forecheck because the kids are relentless.”

The Wheat Kings can next be seen in action on Friday at the brand new J&G Homes Arena when they host the 11th-place Hawks (5-6-1-4). The puck drops at 7 p.m.

“We want to be a fast-paced puck-moving team with a high skill set,” Lewis said. “We can distribute the puck and we have good team depth. That’s one of our strengths. All three lines can contribute, we have seven defencemen who all play a pretty good role and obviously our goaltending. 

“For us, it’s just trying to extend what we’ve been working on and giving them new scenarios in terms of offence and defence and challenging them to get better. 

“They like that challenge.”

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