WHL NOTEBOOK: Fluker makes new home in Wenatchee

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/02/2024 (576 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Josh Fluker thought his rookie season would be his season of transition in the Western Hockey League.

As it turns out, he’s smack dab in the middle of a second one.

On Jan. 4, the Boissevain product was part of a blockbuster deal which landed him with the distant Wenatchee Wild when they sent 19-year-old forward Conor Geekie of Strathclair to Swift Current for Fluker, 17-year-old forward Maddix McCagherty, 18-year-old defenceman Sam Ward, a first-round pick in 2025, a second-round pick in 2025, a first-round pick in 2026 and a seventh-round pick in 2027.

“It caught me off-guard,” Fluker said. “There were a lot of rumours Geekie was getting traded to Swift and we would make moves, but I had no idea I would be a part of a trade. I kind of thought I was part of the future there, but obviously the Wild wanted me. I think it was a good opportunity to come here.”

Like most players who get traded, Fluker had to balance the sadness of uprooting his entire life with the promise which lay ahead. It was a truly bittersweet time for him.

“It’s pretty tough, especially at 17,” Fluker said. “I had a lot of really good friends, my billets were unreal in Swift Current, my billet brother Owen Pickering, a bunch of guys I was really close with, a lot of Manitoba guys.

“It was a great opportunity to come here. They really believe in what I can do and they wanted me to be a part of the trade so they obviously want me here and they care about my growth.”

He is especially close to Brandonite Clarke Caswell, who was taken one pick ahead of him in the first round of the 2021 draft, plus guys like Rylan Gould, Ty Coupland and Peyton Kettles.

The move came after the five-foot-11, 161-pound defenceman discovered just how difficult a rookie season is in the WHL.

He posted five assists during his 10-game debut with the Swift Current Broncos as a 15-year-old call-up during the 2021-22 season — and had a terrific U18 AAA rookie season with the Southwest Cougars with 20 points in 38 games — but he found his full rookie season a little more taxing.

“I thought coming in at 15 and being pretty successful, I didn’t really understand a 16-year-old season and how it really worked,” Fluker said. “I think it’s a growing opportunity and a year where you can sit back and look at it and try and learn from other guys and not really focus on the game really, just focus on your craft more.

“I think I took that for granted. Last year, I should have worried less about how I performed and worked on my craft a little more.”

He posted a goal and two assists in 55 games with 26 penalty minutes and a plus-minus of -6.

Fluker dedicated himself to his fitness last summer in an effort to build on what he had learned and came back to camp in Swift Current with a new level of determination.

“It felt really good,” Fluker said. “I think I worked pretty hard in the summer and grew my game. I felt good going in and was pretty confident.”

In 36 games prior to the deal, Fluker had two goals and seven assists with 20 penalty minutes, while he has three assists and 12 penalty minutes in 14 games in Wenatchee.

NEW CHALLENGE

His new team did a good job of welcoming him after the trade, in part because the former Winnipeg Ice roster includes overage alternate captain Briley Wood of Rivers, plus other Manitobans Evan Friesen, Hayden Moore and Jonas Woo of Winnipeg, Steven Arp of Swan River and Kurt Rookes of Manson.

“It was pretty easy coming in,” Fluker said. “A lot of the guys were really welcoming and there are lots of Manitoba guys here, too, so I knew a lot of them coming in. It’s been pretty good.”

Wood is three years older than Fluker, so although the two had skated together a bit during the summers, they didn’t know each other well. Fluker, whose brother Carson played with Wood a bit, has gained a lot of respect for him since the trade.

Nothing has come easily for Wood. The Winnipeg Ice sent him down to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Neepawa Titans last season, and called him back up on March 19, 2023. He outworked a handful of other potential overagers this season to earn his spot.

“He’s a really good player,” Fluker said. “Last year in Winnipeg he probably got a little shafted. He’s a great leader, a great 20, a really humble guy. He doesn’t say much, but he’s a great leader and works hard every day.”

It was a big move off the ice as well for Fluker. Boissevain’s population is about 1,600, while Swift Current is home to about 17,000 people. Wenatchee, meanwhile has about 35,000 folks and is located in central Washington state, straight south of Kamloops, B.C.

In addition to everything new on the ice, he was starting over in a new country. Thankfully, his mother Crystal lent a hand during the transition.

“It was pretty weird,” Fluker said. “I have great billets here, so that made it easier, but my mom came here with me for about five days and helped me set everything up, bank account, all that stuff. It’s pretty tough, but I want to play hockey here. It’s a good opportunity. I’m pretty far away from home, but I kind of like it.”

He had been attending classes in person at Swift Current Comprehensive High School, but now studies online as he completes Grade 12.

He chuckles about the other new challenge, driving in a bigger city.

“I don’t think it’s too bad,” Fluker said. “Obviously the speed limits are a little crazy and my car doesn’t even have miles per hour in it so I just kind of guess and hopefully I don’t get pulled over. It’s not bad at all. I just kind of go from home to the rink.”

The move out to the Western Conference does give him an opportunity to get a closer look at the other side of the league. He’s enjoying the chance to play for American fans, who are a lot more boisterous than their Canadian counterparts.

“I think hockey down here is a little more wild,” Fluker said. “I think the fans are a little more crazy playing in rinks like Everett and Portland. I think they really care about the game down here and I think it’s really growing. It’s a different look at the league.”

The league is also getting a different look at Fluker. He said the team’s expectations for him are simply to be consistent and perform every night, but added they’re also letting him explore the creative side of his game.

“Coming in, I think they knew I had offensive upside and I think they just wanted me to grow in that area of the game,” Fluker said. “They really trust my defensive ability, and obviously I credit that a lot to Swift. I worked on that a lot there and kind of grew that part of my game. Coming in, they wanted to give me opportunity to be offensive and joining the rush, which I didn’t really have in Swift.”

While Fluker is hoping to be selected in June’s National Hockey League draft, he’s also hoping for his first playoff experience to be a good one.

The Wild (28-22-4-0) are tied for fourth with the Victoria Royals in the Western Conference, 15 points clear of the ninth-place Tri-City Americans in the battle for the post-season, and 15 points back of the Portland Winterhawks and Everett Silvertips.

“It’s just putting together some wins,” Fluker said of his club, which is 3-7-0-0 in its last 10 games. “After the trades they made, it’s not the same team. We almost need to change the way we play.

“They don’t have guys who can score goals every night so I think we need to work on our defensive game and hold the playoff spot we’re in and get a good matchup in the first round and try to make it to the second round and go from there.”

He added, “We just need to put a couple of wins together and start rolling a bit.”

THIS AND THAT

• QUIZ — The Western Hockey League hands out major awards for most valuable player, top scholastic player, top scorer, most sportsmanlike, top defenceman, plus-minus, top rookie, top goaltender, top coach, top executive and humanitarian of the year. Which of those awards has been won the most by a member of the Wheat Kings?

• WEEKLY AWARDS — The awards weren’t handed out on the holiday Monday.

• SIN BIN — Brandon’s Carter Klippenstein earned a one-game suspension for a spearing major and game misconduct he took against the Calgary Hitmen on Friday.

• ALUMNI GLANCE — Daniel Bukac, 24, is playing in his home country of Czechia with HC Orli Znojmo, where he has two goals and seven assists in 28 games in the nation’s second best league. He is on loan from HC Dynamo Pardubice B, where he played six games. Bukac joined the Wheat Kings in the 2016-17 season as they tried to stabilize their blue-line after losing Ivan Provorov, Mitch Wheaton, Macoy Erkamps and Mark Matsuba following the championship season. Bukac suited up for 124 regular season and playoff games over two campaigns in Brandon, with three goals, 24 assists, 86 penalty minutes and a plus-minus of -5. He was released after his 18-year-old year and spent the 2018-19 season with the Niagara IceDogs before beginning his pro career in 2019-20.

• THE WEEK AHEAD — Brandon has an odd road trip this week. The Wheat Kings play the Prince Albert Raiders on Thursday at the Art Hauser Centre, the Saskatoon Blades on Friday at the SaskTel Centre and the Raiders again at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday in a trip that will at least allow them to almost certainly stay in the same rooms for four nights. They don’t play at home again until the Raiders visit Westoba Place on March 1.

• ANSWER — The answer is the Daryl K. (Doc) Seaman Trophy for top scholastic player. Brandon’s seven winners are Quinn Mantei (2022-23), Tanner Kaspick (2015-16), Keith Aulie (2006-07), Brett Dickie (2002-03), Stefan Cherneski (1996-97), Byron Penstock (1993-94) and Kevin Cheveldayoff (1987-88). They have won two of the other awards six times, for scoring titles and most sportsmanlike.