BWK TRAINING CAMP: Gonyeau comes north for hockey dream

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/09/2022 (1299 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ethan Gonyeau travelled a long way to Brandon Wheat Kings camp, and now he’s eager to stay.

The five-foot-10, 177-pound Texan and his mother Michelle flew to Fargo on Wednesday and drove to Brandon, arriving for the rookie check-in in the evening.

“I want to show my speed and that I fit in up here,” the 16-year-old defenceman said after the first practice session of rookie camp on Thursday morning at J&G Homes Arena. “I want to make the team. That’s my ultimate goal. I want to show that I belong up here with these guys and belong on the team.”

Gonyeau was born in Melrose, Mass., which is part of the metropolitan Boston area, and moved to Texas with his family when he was three. He lives in Flower Mound, a community of 78,000 located northwest of Dallas that has become a reliable producer of hockey players in recent years.

Former Medicine Hat Tigers and Saskatoon Blades forward Max Gerlach, who now plays professionally in Europe, was the most recent product of the city to play in the WHL.

With a majority of American players choosing the college route — and the United States Hockey League becoming a dependable step — there is a greater awareness of the USHL draft there. He found out about the Western Hockey League draft more recently.

“I’m pretty good friends with some of the ’05 age group and they started getting drafted so I heard about it then and was very interested,” Gonyeau said. “That’s one of my goals that I set for myself last year, was to get drafted to the WHL and try to play for a team in the WHL.”

That became a reality on Dec. 9, 2021, when the Wheat Kings selected him 32nd overall in the U.S. Priority Draft, 10 picks after they took forward Colin Frank from Ladera Ranch, Calif.

Gonyeau said it didn’t come completely out of the blue, because he had chatted with Brandon’s American scout, Kori Pearson.

“Kori talked to me a couple of months before the draft and then we were in touch a little bit,” Gonyeau said. “Brandon was the first one that actually talked to me and it was fantastic. That’s where I wanted to go from the start.”

Wheat Kings director of player personnel Chris Moulton said he’s just happy the youngster made the trip north after being unable to attend prospects camp in late May.

“We’re just excited to have him,” Moulton said. “He was an American guy who had some commitments during prospects camp so the fact we could get him up here now is great. We drafted Ethan in the last American draft and we really like him as a player.

“The fact we get to see him in person now is great. He’s a smart, heady, mobile defenceman who has a real chance to play.”

It didn’t take long for the game to imprint on Gonyeau’s father Peter played hockey a little bit as a youngster when he was growing up in New York, but became more of a rugby and lacrosse player.

“My dad put me on the ice when I was little to try it out,” Gonyeau said. “Initially he thought I was going to be a race car driver because I watched so much NASCAR. He put me on the ice and I really enjoyed it, enjoyed skating. He put me in some little rec leagues and we loved it and it grew to travel hockey, and that’s how I got here.”

It’s an athletic family.

His younger siblings are also active: Sister AJ plays golf and volleyball while brother Wyatt is into sailboat racing.

His mother played volleyball, but her value lies in a different place.

“She’s fantastic,” Gonyeau said. “She’s the reason I do all this. She pushes me every day. I couldn’t thank her enough for this. She’s the reason I’m even remotely who I am today.”

Last season, the left-handed shot played 69 games with the Dallas Stars elite U16 AAA squad, contributing 10 goals and 24 assists.

Gonyeau said the sport is doing well in Texas.

“It’s definitely growing,” Gonyeau said. “There are some pretty athletic kids down there and it’s a growing culture. There are a bunch of kids coming down from different areas and some Canadian kids coming down just to play there so it’s definitely grown.”

He knows fellow Brandon prospect Charlie Wilson, who hails from nearby Frisco, Texas, a little bit because Wilson also played in the Stars minor hockey organization.

While it’s Gonyeau’s first attempt at making a Canadian team, he has been to Canada before for summer tournaments. He likes the way the game is treated up here.

“They’re very passionate about hockey here and so am I,” Gonyeau said. “I think it would be a great fit.”

Gonyeau said on the ice, he likes to use his feet to play hard, aggressive defence and to create scoring opportunities for his teammates. He said along with building his perception of the game around him, he is working on his endurance so that he can be high energy throughout a shift, and his shot so that he can get it to the net better.

He smiles and nods when asked if he was a little nervous if he would fit in, noting it only took a couple of drills for those concerns to vanish. His next job is convincing the Wheat Kings brass that he belongs.

“It’s unbelievable,” Gonyeau said. “It’s such a great organization and there’s so much history here. It’s great to experience all of it. I’m very excited to be here.”

ICINGS: In the first intrasquad outing of rookie camp on Thursday evening, Team White dominated the first 45-minute game, winning 7-1, with Team Black earning a 3-1 decision in the second game. Joby Baumuller scored twice for White, with singles coming from Max Collyer, Ty Schell,  Brady Turko, Ethan Stewart and Drew Williamson in the first game, with Stewart also sniping in the second game. For Team Black, Easton Odut had the lone goal in the first game, with Grady Hope, Carter Klippenstein and Dominic Grieco scoring in their win.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson