Chiasson eager to prove himself

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This article was published 01/10/2022 (1157 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jake Chiasson kicks off his Western Hockey League season tonight with something to prove.

A year ago, the 19-year-old forward from Abbotsford, B.C., injured his shoulder at Edmonton Oilers training camp and didn’t return to Brandon’s lineup until March. He promptly put up 18 points in 20 games, including a four-point effort in his return on March 4 against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

“I think every year have a mindset that you want to prove to someone that you’ve gotten better, and prove someone wrong in that sense,” Chiasson said. “I think for me, just showing that the time I missed hasn’t put a damper on anything is a big part of what I want to show.

“Other than my first year where it’s kind of a learning curve, I haven’t been able to show anyone what I can do in a full season and the numbers I can put up in a full healthy year.”

The Wheat Kings (0-0-1-0) host the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors (1-1-0-0 going into a home game against the Prince Albert Raiders Friday night) at Westoba Place tonight at 7 o’clock. It’s Chiasson’s debut because he was still in Edmonton when the Wheat Kings fell 4-3 in overtime to the Winnipeg Ice last Saturday.

Chiasson, who was reassigned to the Wheat Kings by the Oilers on Monday, certainly hasn’t had much luck in his WHL career.

As a 16-year-old, he showed steady growth in his game after Christmas, only to have the season cancelled in March 2020 due to the pandemic.

The abbreviated 2020-21 season involved just 24 games in the Regina hub with no playoffs, and then he got hurt last year.

If he had played three complete 68-game seasons, he would have 204 games of regular season experience in the WHL. Instead, he has 104.

“Playing a full year, for me, is everything,” Chiasson said. “Obviously you never want to go through what I did — and what a lot of guys go through — but for me it’s about playing a healthy 68. With this group we have in the dressing room, it’s a big goal of mine to play every game because what we have in there is something we can take a long way.”

Edmonton grabbed him in 2021 in the fourth round with the 114th overall pick after he posted 20 points in 23 games in the hub.

Chiasson was named one of Brandon’s alternate captains, joining co-captains Nolan Ritchie and Nate Danielson and fellow alternate captain Brett Hyland in the leadership group.

He appreciated the faith placed in him by the coaching staff.

“It’s super special any time you can be recognized as a leader,” Chiasson said. “There are so many guys in that room that can be in that spot. I don’t think letters define who guys are. Obviously we all know who in that room has been here for a long time and who has stuff they can pass on to the younger guys.

“It’s really important for me to be a guy who is approachable and can help lead our team. I feel like with the adversity I’ve faced in the past couple of years, I try to have a real positive outlook on every situation, and I’ve learned that you can pull positives out of any negatives.”

Chiasson missed both pre-season games against the Warriors — a 4-3 loss in Moose Jaw and a 4-0 win in Brandon — but Brandon will be facing a very different club tonight anyway.

The highly touted Warriors has received much of their top talent back from National Hockey League clubs, including defencemen Denton Mateychuk (Columbus), Max Wanner (Edmonton) and Cole Jordan of Brandon (Calgary) and forwards Jagger Firkus (Seattle), Martin Rysavy (Columbus) and Eric Alarie (Los Angeles).

Brandon head coach Don MacGillivray said Moose Jaw is a very good club.

“They’re going to be a really good team and a tough opponent for sure,” MacGillivray said. “We just have to worry about our team. There are moments in the game when we can take control or at least give ourselves a better opportunity, we have to grasp that and take hold of it.

“If you look at the Winnipeg game, we had a 3-2 lead and didn’t shut it down. We had an opportunity to get an extra point and we didn’t do it.”

Last season, Moose Jaw went 5-1-0-1 against Brandon, the first time they captured the season series since the 2017-18 campaign. Both teams have graduated their leading scorer from last year’s season series: Brandon was led by Chad Nychuk with eight points and Moose Jaw’s Ryder Korczak had 10.

Tonight’s action is just Brandon’s second game in the nine days since the season opened, their slowest start to a campaign in the Internet era.

“You would like to be playing a little bit more,” MacGillivray said. “Winning kind of galvanizes your team a little bit. We’re going to get a real good feel for our group here in a short while. After this weekend, we start to play games back to back or within a couple of days, and that’s when you’ll start to see what we really are.

“There are good kids here and they work hard and seem to enjoy each other. We just want to try to get better every day.”

The benefit of the slow start is that he and his assistant coaches Mark Derlago and Del Pedrick have been able to spend an inordinate amount of time putting the club through its paces at practice. While that schedule will lead to more games later, it should pay off in the long term.

“You want to do your teaching early and then let them play,” MacGillivray said. “I think if you put the structure in your game, it makes it easier for them to play, and then they don’t have to think about it. Right now, there are a lot of guys learning how to play at this level and have success.

“Those little details become important ones when they get magnified in a close game. And by the looks of it, the games are going to be tight so we need the attention to detail to be at a real high level. We have some talented kids who should be able to pick it up and then we can move on to other things and they can just go out and play, and their talents will take over.”

After tonight, Brandon meets the Regina Pats next Wednesday and the Saskatoon Blades on Friday, and then heads out for two weeks for a swing through the B.C. Division that includes three games against Central Division foes.

But Moose Jaw comes first before they can even consider what’s next.

“It’s a team you can expect a lot of firepower from,” Chiasson said. “They’re a group we’ve had a lot of run-ins with the last couple of years, and all those guys are just a year older now. Obviously they have a couple of top prospects and a couple of guys who have been drafted. We know the way they play is fast and hard, but I feel like we’ve had a good week of no games, just a lot of practising to prepare for it.

“I think we can push right back at them. We’re a fast, hard team and I’m looking forward to that battle.”

ICINGS: On a busy Friday, the Edmonton Oil Kings claimed 2002-born forward Cole Carrier off waivers from the Lethbridge Hurricanes and claimed 2005-born defenceman Vojtech Port off Canadian Hockey League import waivers from the Red Deer Rebels. who had to make a move after Christoffer Sedoff returned from pro. Edmonton also released 2002-born forward Reed Jacobson … The Everett Silvertips dealt 2002-born forward Jacob Wright to the Calgary Hitmen for 2003-born forward Steel Quiring, a sixth-round pick in 2023 and a fourth-round pick in 2024 … The Spokane Chiefs sent 2004-born Logan Cunningham to the Rebels for a conditional seventh-round pick in 2023 … Late Thursday evening, the Winnipeg Ice traded 18-year-old Italian forward Alessandro Segafredo and 18-year-old defenceman Owen Boucher to the Prince Albert Raiders for 19-year-old Belarusian forward Vladislav Shilo.

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Brandon Wheat Kings vs Moose Jaw Warriors

7 p.m. at Westoba Place.

6:30 p.m. (CKLQ): 7 p.m. (WHL Live)

(All stats prior to Friday’s games)

WHEAT KINGS

Record: 0-0-1-0, 1 point.

Players to watch:

Brett Hyland (1gp, 1g, 2a, 3pts).

Mason Ward (1gp, 1g, 0a, 1pts).

Nolan Ritchie (1gp, 1g, 0a, 1pts).

Goalies:

Carson Bjarnason (0-0-1-0, 3.70 gaa, .907 pct).

Nick Jones (0-0-0-0, 0.00 gaa, .000 pct).

Key injury: Owen Harris.

Power play: 0.0 per cent (T19th in WHL).

Penalty killing: 100.0 per cent (T1st in WHL).

Total goals for/against: 3-4.

Last 10 games: 0-0-1-0.

Head to head vs. Moose Jaw: 0-0-0-0.

WARRIORS

Record: 1-1-0-0, 2 points.

Players to watch:

Brayden Yager (2gp, 1g, 3a, 4pts).

Atley Calvert (2gp, 2g, 1a, 3pts).

Ben Riche (2gp, 2g, 0a, 2pts).

Goalies:

Conner Ungar (1-0-0-0, 4.00 gaa, .897 pct).

Jackson Unger (0-1-0-0, 5.01 gaa, .865 pct).

Key injuries: None.

Power play: 20.0 per cent (T9th in WHL).

Penalty killing: 100.0 per cent (T1st in WHL).

Total goals for/against: 8-10

Last 10 games: 1-1-0-0.

Head to head vs. Brandon: 0-0-0-0.