Well-travelled Young’s path leads to MJHL title

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This article was published 01/05/2024 (731 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandt Young’s hockey career has taken him in some directions he might not have imagined, but it ultimately made him a champion.

The 21-year-old Winkler Flyers defenceman from Neepawa, who came of age playing AAA hockey in the Yellowhead Chiefs system, skated in 17 games with the Western Hockey League’s Winnipeg Ice in the Regina hub during the shortened 2020-21 season.

But he ultimately spent just one game with the Ice the next season and spent his final three seasons almost entirely in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

Last week, the Flyers completed a sweep of the Steinbach Pistons to win their first title since the 1997-98 campaign, and Young found himself finishing his junior career on a high note.

“Obviously, getting sent down from the Western League was not what I hoped for but looking back on it now, I think everything happens for a reason and I’m really fortunate to be in the position I am now and really fortunate for the opportunity I had here in Winkler,” he said.

ON THE MOVE

Young has certainly worn a few jerseys in recent years on the path to becoming a champion.

After Spokane selected Young in the 10th round with the 208th overall pick, he spent two years in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League with the Chiefs.

In the meantime, the Chiefs dropped him when they needed space at the 2019 trade deadline, and he attended camp that fall with the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

He was also on the move in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. The Waywayseecappo Wolverines picked him 12th overall in 2018, but dealt his rights to the expansion Winnipeg Freeze in the summer of 2019 for a draft pick.

One day at a Freeze practice, Young learned the Ice had listed him, and he was invited to join the club in Regina in the hub during the shortened 2020-21 season.

He suited up in 17 games, with five of his 21 penalty minutes coming in a fight against Brandon Wheat Kings forward Ty Thorpe. Following the season, the Freeze sent their alternate captain Young to the Portage Terriers on Aug. 19, 2021. After failing to earn a spot in the WHL with the Ice, he skated in eight games in Portage, then was flipped to the Winnipeg Blues on Nov. 19, 2021.

He was called back up to the Ice for a WHL game on Dec. 3, 2021, but returned to the Blues the next day. He finished the 2021-22 season with the club, and then had an outstanding 19-year-old season with the Blues.

After last season, Young mentioned to Blues general manager Alex Mandolidis that he was hoping to spend his final junior chasing a championship. Since the Blues had just finished sixth in the East Division and missed the playoffs — a feat they duplicated this season — the GM honoured Young’s wish.

“I knew it probably wasn’t going to be a great season for the Blues this year so I had a meeting with him and said in my last season, I want to go someplace where I have a chance to win, and he was really understanding of that,” Young said. “I’m really thankful for him doing that. He got me into a place where I could do that.”

He was traded to Winkler on July 31, 2023 for 2006-born prospect Zachary Einarson and a player-development fee.

He knew a handful of guys in the Winkler dressing room, noting it was a smooth transition.

“Sometimes it’s easier,” Young said of changing teams. “It just depends on the group of guys. I’ve had times where it’s been a little bit tougher but I’ve been fortunate with the teams I’ve played on and I’ve played with some great guys.”

When Brandt joined the Flyers, he knew he was in his 20-year-old season, so expectations would be high. It was a challenge he embraced.

“I think going into my last year of junior, I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could and come to a team I thought I could help win and have a chance to win,” Young said. “Obviously that happened, so I was really fortunate to have that happen.”

In 153 regular season games and 20 playoff games over four seasons in the MJHL, the six-foot-one, 175-pound, left-shooting defenceman contributed six goals, 73 assists and 308 penalty minutes.

PLAYOFF RUN

With the benefit of hindsight, Young said there were certain things about Winkler’s game that made them a formidable playoff adversary as they dispatched the Portage Terriers in five games and the Virden Oil Capitals in six.

“I think we bought in as a group,” Young said. “We didn’t have too, too much injury troubles. We lost a couple of guys in the final series, but other than that, everyone kind of bought in and we played pretty desperate, and I think the results showed that.”

Winning the first two series launched them into the final against Steinbach. The two teams have a long-standing rivalry that goes just beyond the geographic. The Pistons edged the Flyers in a seven-game quarterfinal series a year ago, and also emerged in the semifinals in a seven-game series in 2016.

This season, the teams posted the two top records in the league, with the Pistons going 47-8-3 and the Flyers finishing eight points back at 42-11-2-3.

“Jumping right into the rivalry was good,” Young said. “Obviously with two top teams, it’s going to get heated, so it was really good and what you wish for, having the two top teams playing in the final for it all.”

Since Steinbach had to play on the road with its rink out of commission, the teams played Games 1 and 3 in Niverville, home of the Nighthawks. That made the trip even closer for Winkler’s fans, who Young thinks made up close to half of the crowd.

“I would be lying if I said I thought it would take four games,” Young said. “We thought it would probably go the distance, seven games. It was pretty much 50-50, our record with them all year, so we knew it would be a tough, tight series, and I guess it was, just the final scores fell in our favour.

Winkler won by scores of 2-1, 3-1, 4-3 in overtime and 5-4 in overtime. Young said his team’s quick start was important in the series.

“Starting Game 1 on the road, they went to Game 7 in their prior series so we had a little longer of a break, so it took us longer to get back into game form,” Young said. “But once we found our game, we were good. Winning Game 1 and having the momentum coming back home in front of our fans was huge, and then going up 2-0 was incredible.”

The series was settled in overtime with Winkler on the power play on a five-on-three for one minute 44 seconds. The Flyers patiently moved the puck around until Zach Nicolas scored 4:49 into overtime and 46 seconds into the two-man advantage.

“It was pretty crazy,” Young said. “We were up 4-2 going into the third and we got a little bit away from game, kind of sat back in the third and let them back into it. I think we were all confident going into overtime. We didn’t lose an overtime game in the playoffs and we prevailed.”

NEXT STEP

The MJHL title vaulted Winkler to the Centennial Cup on May 9-19 in Oakville, Ont.

The 10-team field includes the host Oakville Blades, plus the champions from elsewhere, some of which haven’t been decided yet: The Calgary Canucks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, Sudbury Cubs of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League, Sioux Lookout Bombers of the Superior International Junior Hockey League, Collingwood Blues of the Ontario Junior Hockey League and College Français de Longueuil of the Ligue de hockey junior AAA du Québec, plus representatives of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, Central Canada Hockey League, and Maritime Hockey League.

“I’m looking forward to being able to go to the rink for another couple of days and get to be around the guys for a little bit more and then obviously a great experience we’ll have at Oakville,” Young said. “I think we have a real shot at winning a national championship so it’s really exciting.”

Part of that will be preparing for a bit of the unknown as they meet some unfamiliar clubs.

“As we get closer, we’ll probably start doing some video and some pre-scout on the other teams we’ll be seeing when we get to Oakville,” Young said. “We’ll try to get as acclimated to them as we can.”

While Young has some unfinished business ahead of him in Ontario, he’s acutely aware his days in junior hockey days are winding down. As a result, he’s already taken some steps for what comes next.

“I’ve applied to a few schools,” Young said. “I don’t know what that looks like yet, if I’ll be playing hockey at the next level or just going to school. I’m going to look at that after we’re done in Oakville and make a final decision then.”

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