Kasprick relishes time with hometown Titans

It didn’t take long for Cooper Kasprick to realize hockey was his calling.

The 20-year-old Neepawa product grew up in a billet home where Neepawa Titans hockey quickly became a central part of his live. He’s now in his fourth and final Manitoba Junior Hockey League season and second as Neepawa’s captain.

“Since a young age, we always had a billet stay at our house, so I always had an older billet brother to kind of look up to,” said Kasprick on Tuesday. “My billet brothers encouraged me to play, and I guess I was always driven to try and be the best I can.”

Kasprick began his hockey endeavour at age three and from the get-go, had his sights set on playing for the Neepawa Titans — known then as the Neepawa Natives — who he watched closely from the stands as a kid. Steven Phillips and John Blake are some of the many billets who served as major role models for him while growing up in the minor hockey league system.

“They were a huge part for me, obviously. I spent lots of time with them, and I tried copying everything they did when I was younger. Just kind of trying to be like them, really,” said Kasprick.

Phillips captained the club 10 seasons ago, before heading off to St. Norbert College, while John Blake was with the team from 2021 to 2023, and spent his last season playing alongside Kasprick, who made the team in what was meant to be his final year of U18 with the Yellowhead Chiefs.

“Going into my third year, I really didn’t know what to expect,” said Kasprick. “Obviously, I was trying to make the team, and it would’ve been kind of a bummer if I didn’t, but at least I would have U18 to go back to. When I found out I made the team, though, I was pretty excited.”

Blake was one of the first people Kasprick told.

“Getting to tell him I got to play on a team with him was a good feeling,” he said. “It was cool to go through that with him. I don’t even really know how else to describe it, but I was just pretty pumped to play for the team I looked forward to playing for my whole life.”

Making a junior roster as a 17-year-old is far from an easy task, especially in a league where size, speed, and experience often separate those who stick from those who don’t.

For Kasprick, the dream of playing for the Titans became more realistic during his major U15 season, when head coach Ken Pearson called to let him know he’d be auto-protected by the team in his MJHL draft year. It was a pivotal moment for his confidence, and it propelled him to work even harder toward the goal he set for himself from the start.

In the offseasons that followed, Kasprick ramped up his skills, skating, and strength training, which helped him make the jump to junior. Once he got there, he faced the inevitable growing pains a rookie experiences.

“It’s definitely a big jump,” Kasprick said. “The speed’s a lot faster, the players are bigger and more physical, and you pick it up after a while, but it definitely takes a few games of adjustment.”

In his first season with Neepawa, Kasprick saw limited minutes but still managed respectable numbers, finishing with eight goals and 19 points in 52 games. Heading into his second year, he felt he had something to prove and was determined to make the most of a bigger role — and he did just that.

Playing in a top-six role alongside Hayden Stocks and Connor Thompson, both now playing NCAA Division III hockey, Kasprick broke out with 18 goals and 41 points. The step forward, he said, came from having a full year under his belt, putting in extra work, and learning from strong leaders in the room.

“Going into your second year, and now a veteran, you want to prove to the players and to the coach that they can rely on you,” said Kasprick. “So definitely in the offseason, you put in the work, you work harder. And that also translates to in-season. You want to still be the best worker, hardest worker, and then guys kind of follow that. They look at you, and they watch you.

“I was also just super fortunate to play with those guys because they helped me a lot. They were good leaders, and they made it quite easy for me to play with them.”

Kasprick currently has one goal through five games while his team has just one victory. While he admits there may be some added pressure wearing the C on his chest, Kasprick said he’s not at all worried about his team’s results this season.

“We’re only five games in, so it’s still so early,” he said. “All of the teams are still settling in, and we’re still figuring out all of our systems, which is the big thing for us right now. We were confident heading into the season, and nothing has changed for us.”

The Titans, who exited the playoffs in five games last spring to the eventual Turnbull Cup champion Northern Manitoba Blizzard, have consistently made the postseason over the last number of years in the league, and Kasprick knows they have that experience to draw from through early-season struggles. And as the team continues to adjust to new systems, chemistry is still coming together on the ice.

Kasprick began the year playing with Logan Paquette and Jack Clark but has switched over to a line with Kyle Weisgarber and Talen Wallis the last number of games in hopes of sparking some more offence for the team.

Just as he once looked up to older billet brothers while dreaming of one day playing junior hockey himself, Kasprick is now the veteran and still living in a billet home, this time alongside teammate and defenceman Jackson Kohut.

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com