Stanley back stronger than ever with U18 AAA Wheaties

Owen Stanley’s biggest test of the season so far didn’t come when he was on the ice.

The 15-year-old on the Brandon Wheat Kings U18 squad suffered a minor MCL sprain just a handful of games into the season and was sidelined for weeks. Getting healthy again was challenging enough, but the real struggle for Stanley came in the stands, where he had to sit and watch his teammates battle without him.

“It obviously sucked not being able to play,” Stanley said. “You just want to get back so bad and help the team, so that was really tough.”

That discouraged feeling was amplified when the injury bug caught him while he was on a roll, as he registered five points for Brandon during his five contests as a rookie. Nonetheless, Stanley stuck to the recovery process, attending multiple physio sessions a week and stretching lots to help get back into peak form.

After more than two and a half weeks, he made his return to the lineup in late October and even got on the scoresheet after tallying an assist en route to a 3-2 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Thrashers.

Now with more than a month under his belt post-injury, Stanley feels as good as new.

“It’s very relieving. I feel a lot better,” he said. “Obviously it hurt for a little bit, and it takes a while to get back after missing a lot of games, but I’ve slowly started to find my groove and score a bit too.”

Through 19 games, Stanley is scoring at just under a point per game pace with five goals and 10 assists for 15 points. He most recently grabbed one assist in the Wheaties 6-2 victory over the Parkland Rangers at J&G Homes Arena Wednesday evening. The five-foot-nine, 160-pound Brandonite seems to have found a home on a line with fellow freshman Kevin Knee and second-year forward Hunter Ethelston, who notched a hat trick against Parkland.

The trio have combined for 58 points.

“I feel like we’ve just been able to find each other, and we’re clicking, and even off the rush or cycling pucks, we are just able to know where each other are,” Stanley said. “Some games we might not score, but if it feels like we definitely get chances and have dominant shifts.”

In addition to his five-on-five line, Stanley’s also gotten a chance to play with his older brother, Ethan, on the second power play unit. It’s the duo’s first season together since the atom age group, so Stanley is grateful they got the chance to do it again in what will likely be the last time.

“It’s definitely super cool,” said Stanley. “Just going to the rink and always seeing him and then cheering for him if he scores a goal or just seeing him have a nice play, It’s just fun to see.”

The two got to celebrate on the ice together a few weeks ago after Stanley buried one thanks to a feed from Ethan during Brandon’s 7-1 smoking of the Kenora Thistles on Nov. 22.

The Wheat Kings, who now stand at 16-6-1 through 23 games, currently take up the fourth-place position in the standings – only behind the Winnipeg trio of the Wild, Thrashers, and Bruins — but could jump the Bruins with a victory tonight when they host the Eastman Selects at J&G Homes Arena.

Stanley believes his club could show a higher compete level moving forward to help bolster their consistency day in and day out, which has been shaky at times this year.

“I think our battles, if we’re first to pucks and just winning battles every game, I think it helps out so much,” he said. “We have games where we show we can be the best team in the league, but we just need to focus on doing that every game, and then we’ll be a hard team to stop.

“Obviously, when you see the program does that well, you just want to follow it up, and you don’t want to be that team that doesn’t do that, and I feel like we definitely have the right group to be first in the league. Once something clicks or switches, we’ll just find that groove to dominate. I think we have it.”

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com