Chubey shares WHL passion with grandpa

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This article was published 22/05/2024 (477 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mason Chubey has been destined to become a part of the Brandon Wheat Kings for years.

The 15-year-old forward from Winnipeg, who was picked in the eighth round with the 169th overall pick during the Western Hockey League draft on May 9, is the grandson of longtime Brandon residents Bill and Brenda Crossman, who now live in Clear Lake in the summer while wintering in Florida.

Oddly enough for a Winnipeg kid — the former home of the WHL’s Ice — his awareness of the WHL actually came from Brandon.

“My grandpa was a huge Wheat Kings fan,” Chubey said. “My mom actually posted some pictures on social media of me in a Wheat Kings jersey at some of the playoff games with my grandpa. It’s pretty cool that I’m now drafted to them.”

Last season, the five-foot-eight, 140-pound Chubey had 24 goals, 37 assists and 30 penalty minutes in 29 regular season games with the under-15 AAA Winnipeg Bruins Brown. In the playoffs, he had four goals and four assists in just three games.

He tore a muscle in his shoulder early in the season, which fortunately only cost him a couple of games but was a hurdle to overcome.

“Overall, I was pretty happy,” Chubey said of his season. “I had a great playoffs. I had a slow start. I had an injury and then had a couple of good games after that. The rest of the year I played well.”

His game is built around his offence, but that’s achieved by how he plays.

His to-do list includes getting better at everything, but he said playing along the boards is an important part of the game, so he wants to be better when the puck is rimmed around and be able to play off the wall.

“When I’m playing my best, I’m moving my feet, getting in hard on the forecheck,” Chubey said. “I’m a great passer. I like to create plays.”

His team went 20-11-1 in the regular season, finishing in sixth place in the 17-team Winnipeg U15 AAA Hockey League. That landed them a date in the best-of-five quarterfinals with a talented Eastman Selects club that eventually fell in the final to the three-time provincial champion Wheat Kings.

The Selects took out Bruins Brown in three games.

“We could have done better,” Chubey said. “We had a tough matchup in the first round. We ended up being a first-round exit. I think we had a good year overall but we would have been happier if we went a little deeper into the playoffs.”

The born-and-raised Winnipegger began skating and playing around age four. He’s almost always been a forward, after taking a long look at another position.

“I think maybe when I was younger I wanted to be a goalie — I think every young kid wants to be a goalie — but I’ve been a forward most of my career,” he said.

The right-handed shot also played soccer, baseball, golf and basketball growing up, but hockey quickly emerged as his favourite.

“I always just loved playing hockey when I grew up and loved watching it with my dad,” Chubey said. “I just fell in love at a young age and have been loving it ever since.”

He comes by it naturally. His father Mark played Junior A, and his mother Kylie and younger sister Ava also support him.

“Pretty much everything,” Chubey said of what they’ve meant to his career. “They’ve helped me to get to this point and get me where I am now, for sure. I owe everything to them.”

He repaid some of that debt by taking the game seriously. All season, with WHL scouts in the stands, he made an effort to be at his best every night.

“Seeing all the scouts, some people might get nervous, but honestly, I just used it as motivation,” Chubey said. “You never know who’s watching, so you always have to be working your best out there.”

Happily for Chubey and his family, it all worked out.

Chubey was one of the 40 Manitobans in Brandon for Hockey Manitoba’s Pursuit of Excellence camp at J&G Homes Arena on draft weekend, so he found out he had been selected somewhere on the Trans-Canada Highway on his way to the Wheat City with his parents.

“I was actually in the car on my way to hockey when I saw my name,” Chubey said. “It was pretty cool.”

It was especially nice for his mother.

“She was ecstatic,” Chubey said. “She was crying she was so happy. My grandparents have been here all their lives so they were also happy.”

He loves that if he cracks the Wheat Kings roster one day, he’ll be close enough for them to come and watch.

While it’s nice to have the scrutiny from the scouts behind him, he understands nothing will be given to him. Now he’s ready to go out and earn it.

“It’s definitely relieving, but the real work starts now,” Chubey said. “It’s going to be harder and harder every year in my career now.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson