Roulette keeps his eye on prize

Ben Roulette’s love for the game didn’t come as naturally as others.

When Roulette began playing hockey at age four in his hometown of Brandon, something didn’t click — and he already wanted out.

“I absolutely hated it,” said Roulette on Thursday. “I was not good at it, I couldn’t skate, and it wasn’t fun. So, I quit.”

That didn’t last very long. His parents insisted he try again, and a year later, Roulette got better and started to have some fun with it. Now, as they say, the rest is history.

Roulette’s family moved to Rivers when he was five. He embraced living in such a hockey-crazed community, and as he got older, his dream became playing for the Yellowhead Chiefs AAA squad.

“I always wanted to play for the Chiefs. My cousin, Owen Wareham, was a bit older, and he made the team, and I got to watch him play, and I just always wanted to play there too,” Roulette said.

Roulette accomplished his goals quicker than he expected, cracking the U15 AAA club when he was 13 and lighting up the league with 16 goals and 53 points in 36 games. He said the possibility of playing junior hockey became more clear after that season and became even more apparent playing on a line with Strathclair’s Conor Geekie, who now plays in the National Hockey League with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“Playing with such a high-calibre guy like him, you learn a lot. He kind of taught me how to treat yourself like a pro, and that helped me a lot, especially in my first season,” he said. “WHL draft rankings started coming out, and I realized, maybe I have a chance of going to play somewhere and being a big part of a team somewhere.”

Geekie’s positive influence had Roulette taking his training more seriously in the offseason, engaging in speed training and fundamental lifting in the gym, which helped him build a foundation to build around before even entering high school.

“It was just kind of being more committed to the game, I guess you could say,” said Roulette. “It’s progressed more and more throughout my career, and I feel like it’s played a big part in where I am now.”

Roulette now spends his summers in Brandon, where he spends the week on the ice doing skills training and then strength training on the weekend. He’s also worked with the Western Canada Hockey Academy the last few off-seasons and said it’s helped tremendously with his skating.

“I think a lot of people misunderstand trying to get as big as you can in the offseason and be super strong,” he said. “For me and my game, I always wanted to get faster, doing track workouts and transitioning that on the ice with power skating, working on your edges and just critiquing your stride and making it as perfect as you can.”

In 2020, the Waywayseecappo Wolverines drafted Roulette fourth overall in the MJHL draft, and when he made the team out of camp two years later, he had some trouble adjusting to the pace of junior hockey.

“That was one of the biggest jumps for me,” Roulette said. “I had a really tough year. I wasn’t getting played a lot and was struggling to think I was even a junior calibre player at that age, and obviously my point production went from being one of the top scorers in U18 AAA to kind of being a bottom-line guy. It was definitely a tough transition going against bigger, faster guys.

“I think they were expecting more things out of me my first year, and I was expecting more too, and I just kind of knew I had a little more in me. It was definitely tough from that standpoint, thinking about not trying to make mistakes, and you’re not even showing your skills anymore but really just trying to survive out there and do everything you can without taking any risks.”

Roulette had just six goals and 12 points in 45 games during his first year in Wayway and spent countless hours working one-on-one with coaching staff before and after practice to improve his game. That hard work would soon pay off, as Roulette was not only announced to Team Manitoba’s squad for the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships but was also named captain of the team after the MJHL season concluded.

“We were at the team banquet, and the 20-year-olds went on stage and announced me as captain, and I wasn’t expecting it at that time,” Roulette said. “I was a little surprised, but it was a really special moment for me and my family.”

Roulette recorded three goals and five points en route to an NAHC championship for Manitoba, as it defeated Team Ontario 4-2 to stay undefeated in the tournament. In a big “prove-it year,” Roulette carried that momentum and confidence with him into his second season with the Wolverines, as he broke out for 20 goals and 49 points in 50 games. He always believed he was capable of that type of offensive production at the next level, it was just a matter of execution.

“Coming back, I had a lot of confidence going in knowing I put in the work the season before and in the offseason and just knew I could kind of be a big part of the team,” he said. “I just started taking more risks my second year and trying to do new things and show what I could do.”

Roulette’s game-breaking play turned many heads across different leagues and earned him an opportunity with the Minnesota Wilderness out of the North American Hockey League. It was a chance he couldn’t pass up on.

“I kind of wanted to get a little bit more exposure and knew I would be stepping into a bigger role again, so it just made sense for me,” said Roulette. “I had a lot of fun down there, it was very fast hockey. All those guys in that league are working for Division 1 commitments, and it’s just hard work every night. You can’t take a night off.”

Roulette got used to the faster pace of the NAHL quickly and got off to a hot start with the Wilderness, scoring a few times in his first handful of games, however, a hand injury early into the season set him back about a month.

“It really sucked,” he said. “Sitting out for three or four weeks was really tough, especially like two weeks into the season. It was definitely like a reset for me when I was playing well before that.”

Roulette had torn some ligaments in his hand and couldn’t even hold a stick, never mind shoot the puck. After three weeks, he began squeezing his hand or some putty to help him recover, and around a week later, he was set to return. In 49 games with Minnesota, Roulette finished the season with 13 tallies and 30 points.

Heading into the summer, the only thing on Roulette’s mind was winning a championship, and that’s what ultimately made him return to Wayway for his final season of junior hockey.

“I haven’t played a playoff game yet in the MJHL. I’ve been so close for many years, and Wayway has always been a really good organization and a really good spot for me, so seeing how the team was going to be next season, I thought they had a chance at being a championship-calibre team,” said Roulette. “Coming in I knew I was going to be a leader on the team, and I’m just super honoured. I’ve been with this organization for a long time, so I just want to help my team get to the playoffs and hopefully win a Turnbull Cup.”

The Wolverines have a split 2-2 record through the club’s first four games of the season, with Roulette scoring five points playing alongside captain Aidan Herring and Sebastien Hicks on the first line. He believes once the early season rust wears off, he’s confident his club will be in a spot to make some noise.

“We have guys up and down the lineup that are going to put the puck in the net, and I think it’s going to be tough for teams to stop once we get our systems down a little bit more and become more comfortable,” he said. “I think we have a shot of winning the Turnbull and the division in the regular season, and now we just have to go out there and do it.”

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com