Draft pick Tristan Follick works way into WHL conversation

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This article was published 25/05/2024 (655 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Self-awareness is an underrated virtue, but Tristan Follick rode it right into the Brandon Wheat Kings organization.

The 14-year-old defenceman from Langford, B.C., who turns 15 next month, dreamed of playing in the Western Hockey League as a youngster, but as recently as four years ago, considered it an unreachable goal.

“I wanted to but I did not think I would,” Follick said. “I was in a much different situation four years ago than I am now. I was maybe the seventh-best player on my minor hockey team. I was kind of a late bloomer. Two years ago, I started saying ‘Hey, if you work hard, you can get there.’

“This last year, I was like ‘Do it man, get yourself in that conversation about playing in the WHL.’ I really tried to get there this year and I did a pretty good.”

He took an important first step when Brandon grabbed him in the ninth round with the 191st overall pick during the WHL draft on May 9.

Last season, Follick had 10 goals, 12 assists and eight penalty minutes in 25 regular season U15 prep games at the Pacific Coast Hockey Academy in Victoria and led his team in scoring from the back end. In the playoffs, he had two goals and four assists in four games.

“I was happy with it,” the five-foot-10, 156-pound Follick said.

“I expected I would do well, but not this well. This year I was more confident than I ever was and that made the difference. From game one, it just felt different than other years. I was more responsible with the puck, I was making better plays and overall I thought I had a good season.”

The club didn’t make the playoffs — they went 9-17-1 and finished 13th in the 17-team Canadian Sport School Hockey League’s U15 prep division — but Follick saw the positives anyway, noting everyone got better and that’s one of the goals of prep hockey.

Langford is a bedroom community for Victoria on Vancouver Island, and just a 15-kilometre drive from Victoria’s Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre where the Royals play.

Follick went to a lot of Royals games over the years, so he’s certainly well acquainted with the WHL.

“They have been my favourite team,” Follick said. “I think I’m leaning more to Brandon now that they picked me but they were my favourite team as soon as I knew them.”

The left-handed shot started to skate and play at age five after the move to British Columbia from Ottawa a couple years earlier. He tried goal a few times but his talents lay elsewhere.

“My favourite part was stripping people off the puck,” Follick said. “Other than scoring, I really liked that so I thought that would be the best position.”

He also played football for a while, but his off-season sport is ball hockey, which is big in B.C.

It’s safe to say hockey is huge in the family, which includes father Darren, mother Angela and brother Finnegan, who is a 2012-born defenceman who also plays prep with the Island Surge.

He said one of the most important things his parents have given him to succeed in hockey is discipline.

“Our hockey careers were never up to them,” Follick said. “They drive us there and we work hard, but they provide for us. It’s not cheap playing at these prep schools.

“This year I was more confident than I ever was and that made the difference. From game one, it just felt different than other years. I was more responsible with the puck, I was making better plays and overall I thought I had a good season.”– Tristan Follick

“The Surge, where my brother plays, that’s a lot of money and they’ve driven us wherever we needed to go. In these last few years, it’s been a lot of travel, and they’ve helped in that way.”

His uncle Arliss Preus played in the WHL with the Saskatoon Blades and also with the Prince Albert Raiders when they were a highly successful Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League franchise. In addition, a more distant relative played in the Ontario Hockey League with the London Knights.

Follick said his game is built on several different things.

“When I’m playing well, I want the puck on my stick more than anyone else,” Follick said. “I’m moving, getting into positions, I’m more into it than anybody else. When I’m playing a good game, that’s all I can focus on, getting back on the ice and making plays. I’m more confident than I ever am when I’m on the ice and playing well.”

He said he is fast, and thinks that’s one of the reasons he was selected, but he said he struggles with opening up his hips and shooting and passing while he’s holding his edges. He’s also targeted his brain, hoping he can make more plays instead of waiting for them to develop.

With WHL scouts at the rink for his games, Follick did his best to use the mental skills he’s already developed.

“There is no person harder on me than myself,” Follick said. “When I was in practice, I would pretend a scout from every single team was watching me. It was no different going into a game, I just treated it like a practice.”

But when the season was over and draft day arrived, it was OK to get nervous then.

He did two classes in the morning, and since he knew he wasn’t a top three rounds guy, he didn’t worry about the draft. He came home for 90 minutes and watched rounds four, five and the start of round six, and then decided to get out on the ice to take his mind off it.

“I got picked while I was on the ice,” Follick said. “I didn’t think I was selected: I thought somebody would have told me, like my mom would have told me. People were on their phones in the room and they saw my name. It was a great experience. Everyone was super happy for me in the room.”

Two of his teammates were also drafted this season, including his defensive partner Kieran Wilson, who was picked by Victoria, plus forward Treytin Frizzell, who went to the Edmonton Oil Kings.

He said having the other two beside him made it easier all season.

“It made it feel better knowing other people were going through the same situation, especially come draft day,” Follick said. “I was wondering if I should go to school and what’s the deal, but knowing those people were there, I thought I should go to school and be around them because they helped me out along the way.”

He doesn’t know any members of this year’s draft class, but is friends with Giorgos Pantelas, who was selected in the first round a year ago. They played together in peewee on a powerhouse team that has had four players drafted since they were together.

The first person he heard from after he was picked was Wheat Kings regional scout Brian Lundberg, but Pantelas and several team veterans were also quick to make contact.

“I immediately came home and I received seven text messages from new numbers” Follick said. “It was ‘OK, I can already tell this organization is going to take care of me. I was super happy.”

Follick has never set foot in Brandon, although he’s visited Winnipeg twice to see his godparents.

He does have one connection to the area. His parents are both in the military, and his mother once lived at Shilo.

“I’m super happy,” Follick said. “It feels like I’m kind of restarting my hockey career. Getting to be part of Brandon, getting to be a part of a new organization, I can’t wait to meet some new faces, get some more friendships and develop as a player, and meet one of my old buddies in George again and see him on the ice.”

And while the stress of a long season and draft day has washed away, Follick has already set new goals. Like anyone with any degree of self awareness, he knows he has to keep getting better, and the work has just begun.

“It’s a relief to know I’m a part of an organization, and a relief to know somebody is going to take care of my hockey career,” Follick said. “I was really stressed. ‘Is there anything I should be doing or should I be asking questions,’ but it happened and I’m happy with it.

“Even though the scouts aren’t watching next year, I’m going to be playing the same way. I’m more hard on myself than anybody else, so I’m going to be playing the same way, like everyone is watching.”

• This is the final instalment of a series on the latest draft class of the Wheat Kings.

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