WHL NOTEBOOK: Clarke Caswell builds on his rookie season

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This article was published 27/12/2023 (868 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Clarke Caswell is finding life in the Western Hockey League slightly easier the second time around.

The 17-year-old forward from Brandon, who is in his second season with the Swift Current Broncos, has been able to capitalize on what he learned as a rookie.

“It was really good knowing the league and knowing everybody’s size and speed and just the tax it takes on your body,” Caswell said. “That was the biggest thing I took away from the year before. Recovery was the biggest thing. This year, I’ve been doing a lot of resting and just keeping the body fresh for each game. I think it’s helped me a lot.”

After scoring nine goals and adding 20 assists in 63 games a year ago, Caswell has already matched those nine goals and has 24 assists in just 33 games this time around. He said confidence plays a big role.

“I’m just more comfortable holding onto pucks and making plays and not being scared to turn over the puck,” Caswell said. “I’m trusting myself and that correlated to a lot to my success so far.”

The five-foot-11, 170-pound forward, who shoots left, was the sixth overall pick in the 2020 draft, just behind Brandon Wheat Kings Charlie Elick and Roger McQueen, who went third and fourth, and one ahead of his Swift Current teammate Josh Fluker of Boissevain.

Caswell earned that lofty spot by contributing 35 goals and 53 assists in 38 games with the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings during the 2021-22 season, impressing scouts after the draft was moved from May to December.

It seems the huge role he enjoyed that year has returned.

“I’ve been playing in all situations, penalty kill, power play, late in games,” Caswell said. “I love when my coach trusts me. I’ve been building off that whole two-way game and being able to play in any situation. I think that’s helped my defensive game a lot this year.”

He has skated the most with Tyson Laventure — the overage forward who was on a line with Russell’s Tyson Zimmer with the Lethbridge Hurricanes last season — and Mathew Ward, until the latter got hurt and has missed significant time.

The Broncos, who have been assembled by their Brandon-based general manager Chad Leslie, have built around 11 players from Manitoba, including Fluker and Zach Turner of Boissevain, Rylan Gould of Headingley, Luke Mistelbacher of Steinbach, Josh Filmon, Matthew Kieper, Grayson Burzynski and Peyton Kettles of Winnipeg, Owen Pickering of St. Adolphe and Reid Dyck of Winkler.

So do the Manitoba guys direct digs at each for the rivalries they developed growing up, or do they pick on guys from other provinces? It turns out it’s the latter.

“We chirp the B.C. boys a little bit because maybe they’re a little bit softer than Prairie boys,” Caswell said with a chuckle. “Usually we’ll gang up on them a little bit.”

In an odd bit of scheduling, Swift Current and its bevy of Manitobans visited Brandon on Sept. 30 for a 6-3 loss, and then returned on Oct. 4 for what proved to be a 6-2 win.

“I think they’ll always be special,” Caswell said of playing at Westoba Place. “It’s just seeing your family and playing in the barn you grew watching and idolizing. It’s an amazing experience every time.”

They make their final trip of the regular season to Brandon on Jan. 12.

The Broncos have been a bit of a puzzle for a couple of seasons. Leslie has done a terrific job of rebuilding the team — former GM Dean Brockman also played a huge role — after everything but the benches and towels were sold off by former head coach and GM Manny Viveiros to win the league title in 2018.

Still, the Broncos haven’t taken the next step everyone has been expecting. This year they sit in seventh place in the ultra-competitive Eastern Conference with a record of 16-14-1-2, although they are just four points out of third place.

“I think it’s been decent for us,” Caswell said. “We know we can build something bigger. We have the pieces of the puzzle to create a great team and make a great playoff push. Up to this point we’ve been playing all right but our standards are higher than this. We’re excited to push to a place even higher.”

Swift Current’s season has had its share of drama. Head coach Devan Praught was suspended on Nov. 14 for a violation of league rules involving a player at a practice, and 15 days later the club announced they were parting ways.

Caswell said he and his teammates have done a good job of moving on.

“I think it was just coming to the rink with a new mindset and forgetting the past,” Caswell said. “It’s just coming in and focusing on the new coach and buying into his systems and buying into a new team environment. I think just getting off to a fresh start after that happened was the biggest thing for us.”

He added one key element in the transformation was the team’s strong leadership group.

“We have lots of trustworthy older guys who anybody can go to,” Caswell said.

The Broncos finished up the first half of their season on Dec. 17 with a game against the Calgary Hitmen in which Caswell had a career-high four assists in a 7-4 loss. When he spoke prior to the game, he was looking forward to the break.

“Obviously you’re excited to go home, but the biggest thing is getting some rest,” Caswell said, noting he was excited to sample his mom’s fruit pancakes. “This season went by real fast. We’ve had more games at this point than last year so it’s been more taxing on the body.”

He headed back to Swift Current on Tuesday: The Broncos visit the Hurricanes tonight.

In a tight conference, Caswell is confident his club can make a push, and that he’ll enjoy every minute of the process.

“I think as a team to make a strong playoff push and play good individually, which will lead to team success,” Caswell said. “We want to build off the good start we’ve had this year. I think just enjoying the game and having fun with the guys around you.”

THIS AND THAT

• QUIZ — In the longest game in Wheat Kings playoff history, Brandon fell 3-2 to the Red Deer Rebels on a series-clinching goal by Jayden Grubbe 7:41 into the third overtime on May 1, 2022. Brandon has been in eight games that went to a second overtime in the franchise WHL history. Do you remember any of the other seven?

• ALUMNI GLANCE — Dylan Myskiw, 24, is in his fourth year at the University of Western Ontario, where he has posted a 3.73 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage with a record of 3-9-0 for the eighth-place Mustangs.

The Winnipeg product was acquired by Brandon from the Victoria Royals on Sept. 7, 2017 for goalie Hunter Arps and a 2018 draft pick. In the 2017-18 season, Myskiw served as backup to overage starter Logan Thompson in Brandon, appearing in 22 games with a 3.41 goals-against average and a .887 save percentage, with a record of 11-5-2-0.

At camp the next fall, he was the odd man out in the crease in a three-way battle with 17-year-old Ethan Kruger and 19-year-old Jiri Patera. Myskiw was sent to Edmonton on Sept. 19, 2018 for a conditional fifth-round in 2019, which the Wheat Kings used to select defenceman Cyle Clayton.

Clayton, 19, is playing in the Alberta Junior Hockey League and will attend college at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. In his WHL career, Myskiw appeared in 109 regular season and playoff games during four seasons.

• THE WEEK AHEAD — The Wheat Kings return to action for the first time since Dec. 16 when they host the Regina Pats tonight and the Saskatoon Blades on Friday, and then head out on the road to play Regina on Saturday and Saskatoon on Monday.

• ANSWER — Brandon is 2-6 in games that have gone to a second overtime. Here’s a look at their other longest games, courtesy of some research by former Sun sportswriter Lucas Punkari.

— April 24, 2002 in Brandon — 41:32 into overtime — 5-4 win over Red Deer in Game 3, semifinals. (Goal scorer: Jiri Jakes)

— March 30, 1979 in Saskatoon — 36:01 into overtime — 5-4 loss to Saskatoon in Game 2, round-robin (Goal scorer: Terry Paskurak)

— March 23, 1988 in Prince Albert — 31:17 into overtime — 5-4 loss to Prince Albert in Game 2, quarterfinals (Goal scorer: Len Mark)

— April 1, 2015 in Edmonton — 28:58 into overtime — 3-2 win over Edmonton in Game 5, quarterfinals (Goal scorer: John Quenneville)

— March 27, 2002 in Winnipeg— 28:02 into overtime — 2-1 loss to Saskatoon in Game 4, quarterfinals (Goal scorer: Justin Kelly)

— March 26, 2001 in Winnipeg — 25:23 into overtime — 4-3 loss to Swift Current in Game 3, quarterfinals (Goal scorer: Ben Ondrus)

— April 28, 2002 in Brandon — 22:41 into overtime — 3-2 loss to Red Deer in Game 6, semis (Goal scorer: Chris Neiszner)