Kaeson Fisher poised for big moments

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This article was published 25/04/2024 (709 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kaeson Fisher is playing the biggest hockey tournament of his life. It’s about the 20th most nervous he’s ever been.

“Anybody that’s golfed knows the pressure you have on the first tee at any tournament. It’s pretty insane. You’re shaking, your swing thoughts are all messed up,” said the top-scoring U18 defenceman in Manitoba.

“On the ice, I’m more relaxed because there’s other guys out there to help you.”

Fisher and the Brandon Wheat Kings are jostling for playoff position with five league champions at the Telus Cup U18 nationals in Membertou, N.S.

He has long been one of the top players in his age group locally. The Everett Silvertips picked Fisher 124th overall during the 2022 Western Hockey League prospects draft and signed the Brandon product that year.

While he has grown physically and doubled his point production from his rookie season with the U18 AAA squad — from 25 to 51 — he said the biggest difference has been his ability to stay level-headed, not getting too high or too low.

He’s learned to handle his thoughts and emotions by venturing into competitive golf, where minor mental lapses can lead to big mistakes.

“We talk about golfing lots in the room,” he said. “We talk about how you’ll never feel pressure in any sort of situation like you do on the first tee. It’s crazy, the pressure you feel on the first tee. But just talking Tamarack and tournament golf, the pressure’s always there. You have to hit shots under pressure, and you have to make plays under pressure on the ice.”

As a top-pairing defenceman on a remarkably talented team, Fisher got used to having a bull’s eye on his back as everyone wanted to hand Brandon its first loss.

No Manitoba team did in regulation all season and the only one at the Telus Cup west regional tournament was Thunder Bay — after Brandon locked up a berth in the final with two victories.

The Wheat Kings could have afforded to take a few nights off during the regular season and even the playoffs, sweeping all three rounds en route to the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League crown.

But these guys hardly take a rep off at practice. And although it’s late April, they’re far from sick of each other.

“I always look forward to going to the rink, no matter what, but especially this year it’s been fun,” Fisher said.

“The guys are so close, everybody’s so close with everybody and everybody wants to get better every day. You can see it on the ice, how fast our practices are and everybody just wants to get better so it’s fun.”

The five-foot-10, 150-pound rearguard is in search of constant improvement. He was a sponge in his rookie year, learning from the veterans and has found his voice as a mentor to this year’s rookies.

Fisher, like the majority of the team, listens well to coach Travis Mealy except at the end of practice when he whistles them off the ice.

“There’s a few guys, he usually has to come back out of the room and blow his whistle again or say something to us,” Fisher said after the team’s last full practice Thursday afternoon, when just about everyone ignored the first suggestion to hit the showers.

Those extra reps certainly haven’t hurt. Fisher recorded seven goals and 44 assists in the regular season, leading all blue-liners in the Manitoba league by at least 10 points.

He is quick to credit his defensive-minded partner and team captain Owen Wallace for freeing him up, and his time on Brandon’s daunting power play for the production.

“We hovered around 40 per cent, which is absolutely insane. A good power play’s usually 20, 25 per cent,” Fisher said. “In big games, some games we won this year because we scored a late power-play goal.

“In the last game of regionals, we had a power play to start overtime and we had all the possession and they never got anything going. It led to Turks [Brady Turko] scoring that big goal.”

The Wheat Kings hopefully saved their best for last, as it’ll all come down to Saturday’s semifinals and Sunday’s final to become the first Telus Cup champ from Brandon since 2004. Wednesday’s 2-1 win over the Kensington Wild all but locked up a playoff berth.

For Fisher, who has a good shot at making the Silvertips’ roster next year and ending his U18 career, there’s no truly perfect ending this week.

“Playing with these guys all year, it’s kind of sad there’s nowhere else to go. It’s the end of the road no matter what,” Fisher said. “The goal is to play seven games in seven days.”

Prior to nationals, Fisher was the lone Wheat Kings player named to to the U18 AAA Canadian Elite Hockey League (CEHL) all-first team among two goalies, four defencemen and six forwards.

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