Verhelst main man in Chiefs’ net

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This article was published 22/10/2015 (3818 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Spokane Chiefs goaltender Tyson Verhelst admits that playing the Brandon Wheat Kings is something special.

The Brandonite, who joined the Chiefs last season after a year in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League with the Neepawa Natives, was in net on Wednesday as Spokane hosted Brandon.

The game ended after the Sun’s deadline.

“It’s always special to play against your hometown, it doesn’t matter if it’s in Brandon or a home game for myself,” Verhelst said recently.

Verhelst has met the Wheat Kings before, making 33 saves at Westman Place on Feb. 13, 2015 in a 5-4 Spokane overtime victory.

The goalie, who played his minor hockey in Brandon before joining the Southwest Midget AAA Cougars, played with current Wheat Kings Tanner Kaspick, Ty Lewis and Tyler Coulter and against Nolan Patrick.

“It’s always a friendly little competition,” Verhelst said. “It’s nice to see how those guys are developing since I don’t get to see them much and just get a chance to play against them instead of with them.”

The 18-year-old Verhelst has stepped into the spotlight in Spokane this season, making his eighth appearance on Wednesday in their 10 games. Last season he appeared in 26 games, posting a 3.65 goals-against average and save percentage of .883.

This year his save percentage has risen slightly to .892, with an accompanying GAA of 3.45 despite’s his team’s early season struggles (a 3-5-1-0 record going into Wednesday’s game). He outperformed incumbent starter Garret Hughson at the start of the season, leading the Chiefs to release the 20-year-old veteran.

“During the summer I worked hard and did all of the extra things so that hopefully this year I could come in and steal that spot and grab some more ice time,” Verhelst said.

Verhelst worked with Kelowna, B.C.-based goalie coach Adam Francilia during the off-season as he sought to take his game up another notch.

“I think every year you get better,” Verhelst said. “I feel like I’m more confident, bigger, quicker, stronger, faster. Just every year you feel like you’re getting better and better.”

But he hasn’t forgotten his roots. He keeps an eye on how the Southwest Cougars are doing and has been encouraged by their solid 4-1-0-1 start.

While he teased his mother before the 2012 WHL bantam draft that he would probably be picked by a team on the other side of the league — a forecast that proved to be correct when he was chosen by Spokane in the third round — he said it’s been a good thing.

“It’s always nice to play for your hometown but I think playing in a different country so far from home is a totally different experience,” Verhelst said.

“It’s nice to get that experience.”

His parents come out about once a month to see him and watch on the Internet from home.

A big part of the appeal of the city for Verhelst is Spokane Veteran’s Memorial Arena, a 10,366-seat facility that opened in 1996.

“It’s probably one of the best in the league,” Verhelst said. “When you have 10,000 fans standing on their feet, chanting, screaming, it’s definitely one of the loudest buildings in the league. It makes playing in this rink so much easier. You want to play because they are so loud and everyone’s into it.”

ICINGS: Brandon was 6-1-0-2 going into the game … The Wheat Kings scratched forwards Tim McGauley and Ty Lewis (upper body injuries, out week-to-week), and healthy scratches F Garrett Armour and D Mark Matsuba … The Prince Albert Raiders acquired 17-year-old Drew Warkentine, a hometown boy, from the Kootenay Ice for 18-year-old Dylan Stewart and a conditional fifth-round WHL bantam draft pick on Wednesday in an exchange of forwards. The pick is conditional on Warkentine being on a WHL roster as of Jan. 10, 2016 … The Tri-City Americans traded 18-year-old F/D Braden Purtill to the Red Deer Rebels on Wednesday for a third-round WHL draft pick in 2017.

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