Nicol dominating U15 AAA for Wheaties

Kale Nicol is having himself a season for the ages.

The 13-year-old Brandon Wheat Kings U15 AAA forward is running away with the honours of being Brandon’s most prominent player rising through the ranks, as he’s continued to completely decimate his competition to start the season.

Through seven games, the centre has incredibly racked up 21 goals and 37 points. To put those numbers into perspective, Nicol is ridiculously averaging three goals and more than five points per game for his club.

The five-foot-seven, 165-pound local product has received attention galore for his performance so far this season, even catching the spotlight from TSN Bardown’s Jesse Pollock, who posted a quick hit video on social media, but Nicol has handled the pressure with ease. In fact, he might be the most humble kid out there for his age.

“We have a really good group here,” Nicol said earlier this week. “Our team’s super deep, and through the first seven games of the season so far, we’ve been really good, and I knew from last year that when I played U13, coming up into U15, it would be a lot better and the competition and everything would be a lot stronger. Teams are better and bigger. So I knew it was going to be hard for me, but I also knew that I’d hopefully do pretty good, and as I’m doing right now, it seems that way.”

Nicol tried to play at the U15 level last year at age 12 but wasn’t approved to move up an age group. This summer, he put in a lot of work in the gym training and conditioning at home to help him prepare to play against bigger and faster competition. Clearly, it helped.

There are a lot of aspects of Nicol’s game that stand out when he’s out on the ice, but the biggest of them all would be his lethal shot. At just 13, Nicol arguably already has a junior-level calibre release with how quickly he is able to get it off his stick and also freeze the netminder with a certain level of unpredictability the goaltender isn’t able to read. He said it’s a part of his game he’s always working at to improve.

“I do shoot pucks very often at home,” he said. “We have a nice spot outside in our back where we have a net set up with some nets, so I do shoot pucks quite a few times a week, and it’s just mostly pinpointing areas where goalies would go down and trying to find those open spots.”

Nicol put his goal-scoring ability on display most recently last weekend, when he potted three to complete the hat trick against the Winnipeg Bruins en route to a 4-2 win and then again the next day, tallying two goals and four assists in Brandon’s 11-0 victory over the Yellowhead Chiefs.

Thanks to Nicol’s offensive production, which is currently 12 points higher than the second-highest scorer in the league, his club sits in second place in the West Division with an undefeated 7-0 record — only trailing the Hawks, who have played three more games.

“I think we’re doing pretty good so far,” said Nicol regarding his team’s play thus far. “Obviously, there’s lots of areas that we need to clean up, and we’ll definitely get much better as it’s still early in the season, but I think we’ve gotten off to a hot start. We just have to keep it that way.

“Stay humble and don’t get too ahead of ourselves thinking we’re this great team because there’s other teams out there that are looking to come beat us, so we can’t do that.

“We have to keep going.”

As for Nicol, he knows his play has now drawn a large target on his back against every team in the league. Clubs have started to double or even triple team him just to try and negate his rapid production, but so far, it’s come to no avail. Still, Nicol is prepared to use that to his advantage.

“First of all, I’m just using my teammates as much as I can, but then also, just doing my own stuff, like, just doing me,” he said. “I’ll do whatever I can out there and see what can be done.

“The odd time I might feel some pressure, like during some hard games where I know we’re playing against a good team, but my team’s super deep, and I know if I’m not having my best game, I know my teammates around me are going to have a great game.”

Off nights have been foreign to Nicol so far, though, and he believes a big part of that was competing at the WestCan Prime U14 tournament in Helsinki, Finland, last year. Nicol had a wealth of experience playing against Europeans, which helped him develop the offensive side of his game even more than it already was going into action.

Nicol recorded 15 goals and 25 points in just eight games, which not only led the tournament in scoring for his age, but also helped his team secure a championship after beating the Czech Knights in the final. Next year, Nicol will likely head to Philadelphia for another highly competitive tournament with a wealth of great players in the wings.

“It was really good to see where I was at compared to kids from the States and across the world, so it definitely helped boost my confidence,” Nicol said.

The biggest impact for Nicol, however, no matter on or off the ice, has been that of his older brother, Reid, an Everett Silvertips prospect who plays on the Wheat Kings U18 AAA team and whom he credits for all of his success.

“He’s had a big influence on me,” he said. “Obviously he helped me through the years, showing me the right path and how to do things right, and really helped me grow as a player and as a person. He’s taught me so much stuff from when he’s played, and he’s showing me better ways, like what he could have done better, and I’m adapting to that. So he’s definitely been a big help throughout my hockey career, and he’s the one that’s pretty much gotten me to this spot. He’s been the one there for me all the time.

“He’s guided me so much, showing me how to be a good person and just always stay humble and just do all the right things.”

Nicol and Brandon will look to stay undefeated this evening on the road against the Winnipeg Thrashers and then will host the Wild Red J&G Homes Arena on Sunday for a matinee tilt at 1:30.

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com