WHL NOTEBOOK: Carels capitalizes on farm values

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This article was published 21/01/2025 (241 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Carson Carels has a secret ingredient to his success that it will be hard for other Western Hockey League players to duplicate.

The 16-year-old defenceman, who is in his rookie Western Hockey League season with the Prince George Cougars, grew up on a farm near Cypress River and developed his tremendous work ethic honestly.

“Obviously you get put into a job and you never want to stop until it’s finished,” Carels said. “That’s what you have to do on the farm. You can’t take breaks. That’s really helped me as a player in the WHL.”

The cattle operation continues to play a large role in his life, and was a factor in where he played hockey prior to arriving in the WHL this season.

When he was looking at hockey academies, he settled on the nearby Pilot Mound Hockey Academy, which was a 30-minute drive from home.

While there are lots of options out there, it simply felt like a good fit.

“It was a bigger decision since there were other academies,” Carels said. “Pilot Mound was just starting to play U15, and the decision to play U17 instead of U18, I just wanted to feel comfortable with where I was. I think it was a family decision too with staying a little bit closer to home and obviously Pilot Mound is close and it feels like a better environment for me being a country kid too.”

Carels played under-15 and U17 prep hockey at the 10-month academy, and said its size was also good for him.

“It helped me develop on the ice with how much time I could spend with all the coaches and in the gym with the trainers,” Carels said. “Also, just being in the community with it being so small, everyone knew who you were and knew what was going on, so it was awesome. In school too, there were about 120 kids so the teachers knew who you were and teachers knew how you learned so it was perfect.”

In his 2023 WHL draft year, the left-shooting defenceman led the Pilot Mound Hockey Academy with 10 goals and 22 assists in 20 prep games, and added 12 more points in four playoff games.

The Cypress River product also had a pair of assists in two call-up games with the U17 team. He was taken in the first round, 15th overall, by Prince George, and just happened to be driving to Brandon when it happened because he was attending Hockey Manitoba’s Pursuit of Excellence camp at J&G Homes Arena.

That camp helped select the team that went on to win Manitoba’s first WHL Cup in October 2023, a tournament in which Carels was named tournament MVP with five points in five games.

Last season, he elected to play with Pilot Mound’s U17 squad, scoring 18 goals and adding 32 assists in just 27 games.

The season earned him a spot on the Canadian Sport School Hockey League’s U17 Tier II first all-star team and he was named most valuable player and top defenceman.

He was also called up twice by Prince George around Christmas and in mid-March for a combined seven games, and he earned three assists. He’s glad he had the opportunity, because it gave him a better sense of what to expect at training camp last fall.

“It just made me so comfortable,” Carels said. “I knew everyone around the rink and everyone who was coming back as a returning player. There was a comfortability that really helped me out there. Coming out of training camp when you know everybody, it takes all the stress off your shoulders.”

Even so, he’s still a 16-year-old defenceman in a league that can be notoriously difficult on young blue-liners. He said there are certainly some massive differences between U17 and major junior.

“Size and strength for sure would be the hardest things, and just how highly everyone thinks the game,” Carels said. “It’s such a higher level of hockey than U18 or any level of minor hockey.”

QUICK START

If he was looking to make a quick impression, he certainly did, with two assists in each of his first two games this season.

His first goal came when he found a top corner behind former Kelowna Rockets goalie Jari Kykkanen on Nov. 15, and he added three more in the next 11 games. The six-foot-one, 175-pound defenceman now has four goals and 19 assists in 38 games this season. Carels has earned plenty of power-play time, which is also unusual for a young blue-liner. He has two goals and six assists on the man advantage already this year.

“It’s awesome,” Carels said. “Feeling that trust from your coaches makes me feel really comfortable and feel like I’ve really done all I can to deserve that spot. Feeling that respect from them allows me to play my game.”

He’s quick to add he doesn’t it alone.

His defensive partner is Slovakian overager Viliam Kmec, who is in his fourth WHL season.

“He’s done exactly what Hudson Thornton did last year,” Carels said. “He has taken me under his wing and any time I have questions or any pointers he wants to give me, he is really open about that.”

It’s a long way from Cypress River from Prince George — just under 2,000 kilometres to be exact — and the city of 77,000 is also a big change for a farm kid. He admitted it’s been a major transition being away from home and his parents Ryan and Stacy and sisters Jayden, Kadence and Kendra.

“It’s actually gone surprisingly well because my billets are so open,” Carels said. “Playing hockey every day keeps your mind off missing the farm but constant calls with my parents about the farm and just feeling connected with that is why I’m still thriving over here.”

Nobody in his extended family has played at a higher level than Junior A, but they’ve certainly had an impact on his love for the game.

Carels became a WHL fan as a youngster because of his hockey-mad family.

“Often I went to Brandon games,” Carels said. “Our family is all about hockey so when there was an opportunity to get together, we always went.”

Academics are also highly valued in his family: Another reflection of his work ethic is that the 16-year-old is set to graduate from high school. “I was lucky enough to have my older sisters push me to always keep going in school,” Carels said. “My sister who is closest to me in age graduated early so we took on that challenge as a family for me to graduate early and I’m actually graduating this January.”

He speaks to his family once a day usually, and they gather at the table to listen so he’s able to visit with them all.

Carels doesn’t have his driver’s licence yet so he relies on teammates for rides. He now lives with recent trade acquisition Ben Riche, so that’s not an issue.

Transportation is a big issue in Prince George, which endures the league’s worst bus travel. Their closest trip is the 527-kilometre journey to Kamloops — by comparison, Kent (where Seattle plays) and Everett are 73 kilometres apart, and it’s 71 kilometres from Regina to Moose Jaw — so learning to travel is paramount for the Cougars.

“I’m adapting pretty well,” Carels said. “I have a good spot on the bus. I get the floor with some mats on it so it’s pretty comfy. It’s almost like a bed.”

But it’s a game at home he’s looking to most right now.

Carels will have his first chance to meet the Wheat Kings on Friday, which will also give him his first chance to play against his buddy Jaxon Jacobson. The two played together on Manitoba’s WHL Cup team and skate together a couple times a week in the summer in Brandon.

Cypress River is located 94 kilometres southeast of Brandon.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Carels said. “It’s going to be fun competition between us two, and obviously whoever wins will have some epic bragging rights.”

At the U17 World Challenge in November on a team with Jacobson, he had four assists in four games as Team Canada Red fell 3-1 to Canada White in the final to earn silver.

While Carels is off to an outstanding start in his career, his mind-set is just like it is on the farm as he develops his goals. You plant the seeds and hope for a bountiful harvest in the future.

“There are point goals and where you want to be in the lineup, but really my goals I made with my D-coach Jim (former National Hockey League player Jim Playfair) is just to feel comfortable and feel ready for next year,” Carels said. “Next year is a huge year.”

THIS AND THAT

• QUIZ — What decade did the Brandon Wheat Kings miss the playoffs the most?

• WEEKLY AWARDS — The player of the week is Spokane Chiefs forward Berkly Catton of Saskatoon, who had five goals and three assists in three games. The 18-year-old forward, who was the first overall pick in the 2021 WHL draft, is a prospect of the Seattle Kraken.

The goaltender of the week is overage Medicine Hat Tigers netminder Harrison Meneghin of South Surrey, B.C., who won a pair of starts against the Calgary Hitmen with a 0.96 goals-against average, a .944 save percentage and a shutout. He is a prospect of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The rookie of the week is 16-year-old Vancouver Giants defenceman Ryan Lin of Richmond, B.C., who had four assists in two games. It was his smart play that sprung Adam Titlbach for a goal with 0.5 seconds remaining in the first period that proved to the winner in a 3-1 victory over Brandon on Sunday.

• SIN BIN — It’s been a busy week for the poor folks in the league office. — Prince George defenceman Corbin Vaughan received the fifth suspension of his career and second this season when he earned a four-game ban as a repeat offender for a cross-checking major and game misconduct taken against the Kamloops Blazers on Jan. 11.

— Wenatchee Wild forward Luka Shcherbyna received one game for a goalie-interference major and game misconduct against the Spokane Chiefs on Jan. 11.

— Under supplemental discipline stemming from a game against the Tri-City Americans on Jan. 10, Seattle Thunderbirds defenceman Tai Riley received three games and his fellow blue-liner Vanek Popil earned two games.

— Tri-City Americans forward Jake Gudelj is awaiting the length of his suspension for a boarding major and game misconduct at Vancouver on Friday. — Red Deer Rebels forward Jaxon Fuder earned a one-game ban for a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct at Saskatoon on Friday. — Prince George defenceman Aleksey Chichkin earned a one-game ban for a cross-checking major and game misconduct at Spokane on Friday.

— Edmonton Oil Kings forward Marshall Finnie received three games for a checking-to-the-head major and game misconduct at Swift Current last Wednesday.

• NEW FACES — The Swift Current Broncos will be adding 17-year-old forward William Morin of Boden, Sweden after he signed on the weekend. He was a second-round pick, 110th overall by the Broncos in July. Morin had been playing in Luleà HF’s U18 program, with nine goals, six assists and 32 penalty minutes in six games. He was without a point in five games with Luleà’s U20 team.

• ALUMNI GLANCE — Andrei Maliavin, 20, is playing this season with Perm Molot-Prikamye in the second-level Supreme Hockey League, where he has one goal, two assists and four penalty minutes in 16 games. The Russian defender spent the last two seasons in Brandon, where he had seven goals and 40 assists in 122 regular season games with 72 penalty minutes and a plus-minus of -19. He added an assist in four playoff games.

• BIRTHDAY BOYS — This week’s birthdays include Burke Henry (Jan. 21, 1979), Mark Kolesar (Jan. 23, 1973), Shayne Wiebe (Jan. 23, 1990), Jakub Sindel (Jan. 24, 1986), Bob Woods (Jan. 24, 1968), Bob Leslie (Jan. 25, 1950), Jeff Hoad (Jan. 26, 1973), Lynden McCallum (Jan. 26, 2000), Kevin Harris (Jan. 27, 1982) and Colin Cloutier (Jan. 27, 1976).

• THE WEEK AHEAD — The Wheat Kings continue their annual Western Conference trip against the Kelowna Rockets on Tuesday at 9:05 p.m. (all times CST), the Kamloops Blazers on Wednesday at 9 p.m., and finish up 1,902 kilometres from Brandon against Prince George on Friday. Their next home game is on Wednesday, Jan. 29 when the Red Deer Rebels visit.

• ANSWER — Longtime fans know it was the 1980s, and that they set a record that might not be broken for a long time. Here’s a look back by decade.

— 2020s — (1) 2022-23.

— 2010s — (2) 2012-13, 2018-19.

— 2000s — (1) 1999-2000.

— 1990s — (3) 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92. — 1980s — (5) 1982-83, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1988-89.

— 1970s — (2) 1970-71, 1973-74. — 1960s — None