Forbes headlines top 10 players in WHSHL

Tucker Forbes didn’t start the season as he’d hoped, but he certainly made up for it down the stretch.

The 18-year-old Glenboro/Carberry/Baldur Wildcats defenceman led all blue-liners in scoring during the regular season and was also voted the Westman High School Hockey League’s top player in a poll between all 15 head coaches.

Forbes’ accomplishments shouldn’t be surprising, but they still are considering his season started in dire straits.

The senior was gearing up for another year of Westman hockey last fall when he had to start watching his club from the sidelines in a blink of an eye after suffering an injury during the first game of the season.

Forbes had sprained the AC joint in his shoulder, crashing awkwardly into the boards after an opponent knocked his feet out from under him while driving the net.

“I was sliding into the boards and I reached my hand out to pick myself up and then that’s when it kind of brought my shoulder down as I reached my hand out, and then I went right to the boards,” Forbes recalled.

As team captain, his loss had an immediate impact in all areas of the game, which led the Wildcats to a 2-5 start through their first seven games. Looking back now, though, Forbes said it may have been a blessing in disguise.

“It was tough,” said Forbes. “We weren’t sitting pretty good at the start of year, and watching us lose games that we probably shouldn’t have wasn’t the easiest thing to watch, but it was probably good for them to figure it out themselves without me in the lineup. Just to try and get stuff going without me.”

This marked the first time in his career he missed time due to injury, so Forbes found himself in unprecedented times, but he continued to rest up and eventually worked his way up to daily physio sessions. One month later, the Wildcats once again had a captain to right the ship.

After losing 5-4 in overtime to the Reston/Melita/Hartney/Souris Renegades in his return to the lineup on Nov. 22, the six-foot 200-pound defender collected four goals and six points in a 10-5 victory over the Birtle/ShoalLake/Rossburn Falcons the following contest. And while his team held a 4-8 record heading into the Christmas break, there was a sense the tides were turning — and that’s exactly what happened, just not to the extent they expected.

Forbes and the Wildcats dropped Game 1 in their return to action post-Christmas 5-4 to the Vincent Massey Vikings and then went on a tear after that, winning 13 games in a row and 14 of their last 15 to lock down fourth place in the WHSHL with 40 points (18-6-4).

“It was pretty crazy,” Forbes said. “They were starting to make plays when I wasn’t there and it was good to see and then when I came back everything just started rolling again.”

Forbes ended the regular season with 24 goals and 47 points, pushing the pace offensively for his squad while also proving to be a reliable backbone on defence thanks to his speed and tremendous hockey IQ. His play style was also highly complimented by his partner, Brydon Cornock, a six-foot-two, 150-pound frame that allowed Forbes’ offensive talents to shine through.

“He’s very defensive and that really suited my game because if I was up, then I knew he was always back,” said Forbes, who notched a plus-minus mark of +59.

Forbes’ signature move is to get up in the rush along the boards and then blast past the winger and the defender, before either looking to take a shot or driving a bit more wide to sling a pass over to a teammate in the slot. It’s just one of many offensive tendencies he’s slowly built up over time, as he used to play with a more mellow conservative approach even a few years ago.

He now tries to emulate his game after professional players like Colorado’s Cale Makar and New York Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer, two of the best mobile puck movers on the blue line that have changed the outlook of the position.

Forbes said he’s also gotten a confidence boost from being a multi-sport athlete. A few weeks ago he captured the varsity boys basketball provincial championship with Glenboro/Baldur, and also won the volleyball provincial championship with Glenboro in mid-November.

He said those experienced have helped him stay even keel during the biggest moments.

“Just the amount of games and close situations in each game, the amount of provincials I’ve been in, just help me in big games and key moments, so it helps with hockey, especially,” he said.

Forbes also got a taste of those high pressure situations earlier this hockey season with the U18 AAA Southwest Cougars, when he played five games for them and grabbed two assists, while also not look out of place in his own end.

His confidence was at an all-time high and his game was firing on all cylinders, but it was now time to turn his attention to the most important stretch of the season — the playoffs.

The Wildcats captured the consolation title last year against the Crocus Plainsmen after downing them 8-5 in Game 3, but were looking for bigger and better things this time around. Unfortunately, it never came to fruition. Forbes and his club were swept by the runner-up Dauphin Clippers after suffering 10-0 and 5-1 losses in their best-of-three tilt.

Forbes believes his team was capable of more, which made the loss even more frustrating.

“I honestly thought we could have won it all,” he said. “We had a bunch of injuries that piled up at the wrong time right at the end of the year to a few of our key players and we just couldn’t do it. We couldn’t win, so that was a piss off.”

While his team didn’t win, Forbes was still given his accolades, being unanimously named the league’s MVP.

I thought that was pretty cool to see,” said Forbes. “I wasn’t really expecting it, there’s a bunch of guys with a lot more points than me, but I guess it’s not all about points, so that was cool.”

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com