Trembecky biding his time for offence to arrive

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This article was published 18/11/2022 (1234 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Teydon Trembecky isn’t going to pretend the wait for his Western Hockey League goal isn’t a little annoying.

The first-year forward for the Brandon Wheat Kings has played 22 games — and is expected to be in the lineup tonight as they face the host Edmonton Oil Kings at Rogers Place at 8 p.m. CT — but after a high-scoring minor hockey career, is still looking to light the lamp for the first time.

“It’s obviously frustrating,” Trembecky said. “Everyone wants to score and everyone loves scoring goals so it’s a bit frustrating. You just have to stay focused and I think it will come. Hopefully it will come soon, and once you get one, then they start coming in bunches.”

Brandon (7-12-2-0) has lost nine of its last 10 games and is in a three-way tie for ninth in the Eastern Conference.

The Wheat Kings grabbed the five-foot-11, 167-pound Trembecky from Strathcona, Alta., in the third round of the 2020 WHL draft after he scored 22 goals and added 22 assists in 30 games with the Northern Alberta Xtreme prep program of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.

He had six points in six games in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.

After he was released by Brandon last season at age 16, he hadn’t decided on his next step so he went back to prep hockey.

At Christmas, he had 17 goals and 21 assists in 19 games with NAX’s U18 team.

“At the halfway point, my Junior A team who had my rights said ‘We want you to come play the rest of the year,’” Trembecky said. “I was doing pretty well in midget up to that point and decided it was the best decision for my future.”

The Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Whitecourt Wolverines announced on Jan. 11 that Trembecky was joining them for the rest of the season. The young forward had a goal and three assists in 24 games, but the value of the experience was measured beyond just points.

“It’s a step up from midget to Junior A, and then it’s another step up from Junior A to the Dub,” Trembecky said. “Definitely the speed and just being around the locker room and more of that junior-focused mindset definitely benefited me.”

He came back to Brandon this fall with the experience of the 2021 camp, which came 500 days after he was drafted due to COVID precautions, and also the chance to play five WHL games during the 2020-21 season. He even earned his first WHL point on Nov. 6, 2021 when he assisted a goal by Rylen Roersma in a 6-1 loss to the Regina Pats.

“There are no guarantees ever but for sure I’ve been more comfortable than the past year before that when you come here for the first time and aren’t really sure what to expect,” Trembecky said. “Coming here this year, you know what to expect and just come here and work hard and try to make the hockey team.”

The left-handed shooting forward has been in the lineup for 17 of Brandon’s 21 games, and has an assist, 13 penalty minutes and 21 shots on goal, with a plus-minus of -2.

“Everything is just happening so fast,” Trembecky said. “You have to adjust to the speed of the game. It’s not even if you’re a good skater or bad skater, it’s just the speed of the game and thinking, when to make plays, how fast you have to make plays.”

When a young player feels rushed — and especially when they aren’t scoring like they did earlier in their career — the results are predictable. Happily for Trembecky, he is starting to feel more comfortable.

“When you have more confidence, you’re not gripping your stick as tight,” Trembecky said. “You’re waiting that extra second or two to make that play. You’re holding onto that puck for that extra second.”

The youngster comes by his hockey ability honestly.

His father Jeff spent three years at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks before embarking on an eight-year pro career spent in the ECHL, Central Hockey League and Europe. In his best junior season in 1994-95 with the Chilliwack Chiefs in the B.C. Junior Hockey League, the elder Trembecky, who was a forward, scored 48 goals and put up 109 points in just 60 games.

“I just want to get my game back to where I want it,” Teydon Trembecky said. “It’s getting better each day, coming to the rink and working hard, and being a guy who can not just produce for his team but be a useful guy on the team. Whatever my job is, I’m going to do it 100 per cent. If that’s scoring goals, then it’s scoring goals, and if it’s going out and blocking shots, then I’ll go out and block shots.

“I’ll do whatever the team needs for me to get the job done.”

And while a player never wants to completely desert the skills that got them drafted, there is a natural evolution in every youngster’s game that takes place as more is asked of them defensively.

It’s a task that Trembecky is eagerly taking on.

“I’m always trying to be more of a complete player,” Trembecky said. “It’s never going to be bad if you can do everything. I used to be more of an offensive player but I’ve been trying to become more of a complete player and be more of a 200-foot guy and be able to do everything, kill penalties, defensive zone faceoffs.”

His second transition is coming off the ice after his first move out of Alberta. He lives with teammate Zakhar Polshakov in the home of James and Monika Montgomery.

“It’s definitely a transition,” Trembecky said. “I feel like it helped a bit even last year when I got a glimpse of it when I played Junior A and was living away from home. That wasn’t too bad. It doesn’t come naturally but you just get used to it. It’s a second home here, you have a family you live with, you have all your teammates, it’s a family.”

The Grade 12 student takes all of his classes online through his school back in Edmonton. He prints out his tests and then sends them back under the guidance of Wheat Kings academic advisor Glenda Zelmer.

He said he tries to do as much schoolwork as he can when the team is on the road, admitting it can be tough to get much accomplished.

But that’s all part of what he signed up for, and he certainly has no regrets about the long days.

“It’s the junior hockey lifestyle,” Trembecky said. “You’re getting up in the morning, heading to school and then going to the rink and working out, then you have practice and then stretch after practice or recovery stuff.

“It’s a grind, but it’s fun for sure.”

ICINGS: In a busy day for deals, the Lethbridge Hurricanes traded 2002-born forward Alex Thacker to the Victoria Royals for a fourth-round draft pick in 2026 and dispatched 2003-born goaltender Jared Picklyk to the Tri-City Americans for a sixth-round pick in 2024. In another deal, the Swift Current Broncos sent 2004-born forward Ty Hurley and a seventh-round pick in 2025 to the Seattle Thunderbirds for fifth-round selections in 2023 and 2025.

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