Wheat Kings honour late Ethelston with U15 title

Every time the Brandon Wheat Kings hit the ice this year they weren’t just playing to win — they were playing for something much bigger than hockey, and themselves.

For a fallen brother. For Ryker Ethelston.

Brandon’s U15 squad hung up Ethelston’s Jersey (92) behind the bench and a gigantic head cutout along the glass with the rest of his teammates’ every game, so it was only fitting after the Wheaties captured the Hockey Manitoba AAA provincial championship — and its fourth title in five years — following a 9-7 victory over the Eastman Selects in Game 4 in Landmark on Sunday, the club brought his memorabilia onto the ice for one last tribute to cap off an unforgettable run in his honour.

“It was kind of everything to us,” said Wheat King forward Sullivan (Sully) Taylor. “We did it for our Captain Ryker. It’s kind of what we worked toward this entire season, so it felt really good to win that one for him.”

Ethelston died suddenly two years ago after suffering from a spontaneous brain bleed. His loss not only left a hole in the hearts of his parents April and Craig and his brothers Brody and Hunter, but also the entire hockey community.

Ethelston would have been a major in the U15 age category this season and was named as the team’s honorary captain, serving as a constant reminder for what the team was really playing for this year and will continue to play for moving forward.

Head coach Dave Lewis said he couldn’t have been more proud of how his team rallied around their captain.

“Having his thoughts and having him in mind gave us something higher than ourselves to play for. That gave us extra motivation and it’s something we’ve talked about since day one,” said Lewis. “The kids in his age group really put him front and centre and to have that come to fruition and have Craig and April being there to support the team, it was just a tremendous day.”

With Ethelston’s memory in their hearts and their sticks, the Wheat Kings closed out the regular season as the best team in the league with 31 wins and one loss. They carried that momentum into the post-season with a 3-0 sweep of the Winnipeg Wild Green, before prevailing in an absolute dogfight against the Bruins thanks to a 3-2 series victory and then eventually claiming the crown with a 3-1 series win over the Selects.

All the bouts in the championship were high-scoring affairs with 5-1 and 6-5 wins in Games 1 and 2, a 7-1 defeat in Game 3 and a 9-7 victory in Game 4, however, Lewis couldn’t help but ignore the results of his team’s clinching decision over the weekend.

“We scored nine goals, and won the game by two goals, which is 92, which was Ryker’s number,” Lewis said. “I do believe that there was someone looking down on us and they gave us a little extra motivation that third period, and that was probably a difference maker. It was just a very special day, and I think it’s something that I know our players or our team would never forget.”

Brandon trailed Eastman 5-4 heading into the final frame in what can only be described as a roller coaster of a game.

Defenceman Jace Woloski and forward Daniel Flett-Neapew got the Wheat Kings off to a 2-0 lead halfway into the first frame, before Reed Sherry and Ryder Olford would reply for the Selects to even the game at twos after 20.

Easton Anderson then broke the deadlock 10 minutes and 15 seconds into the middle frame, but then Olford tallied his second of the game and Nixon Gaudet potted in two goals less than three minutes apart to put his team up 5-3.

Brandon superstar Kale Nicol brought his team within one 33 seconds ahead of the second intermission, and then casually fired off three more in a 1:54 span to hand his squad a 7-5 lead with just under 16 minutes left in the third.

Gaudet netted a hat trick a minute and a half later, but then Nicol restored the two-goal lead with his fifth of the game, making it the second team this playoffs he’s notched five goals in a series clinching game, the first being in Game 5 of the semis against the Bruins.

Flett-Neapew added another for Brandon to make it 9-6, before Gaudet scored his 13th of the post-season and fourth of the contest for a 9-7 final.

“It was a crazy game,” said Nicol. “Definitely had lots of adversity, but we pushed through and we got it done.

“We knew it definitely wasn’t going to be easy, they’re a very good team, but we pulled through and it was really good.”

Nicol, who capped off the playoffs with 22 goals and 37 points in just 12 games for a total of 178 points this season, showed time and time again how much he can single-handedly take over a game, especially in the biggest moments.

He and the Wheat Kings were looking for a big response following arguably their worst effort of the season the day before in a 7-1 loss. They not only wanted to show the Selects Game 3 was a one-off, but they also wanted to close them out in Game 4 to avoid a winner-take-all game back at home with the momentum on their opponent’s side. After some back-and-forth action, the 14-year-old then saw his opportunity to put his mark on the game and did so, five times.

“We had a talk with our coaches after the game, (Game 3) and they obviously told us this to flush it down the toilet, forget about it, come back tomorrow and be prepared, and that’s what we did, and it turned out good,” said Nicol, who’s set to attend the World Selects Invitational tournament in Philadelphia in early May.

“We just played our same game and told everyone go battle, work hard, get the puck and you’ll get rewarded.”

While he’s still a minor at the U15 age, Taylor said he’s still been a tremendous piece in the leadership department

“He’s a big leader on our team,” said Taylor. “Definitely leads by example on and off the ice and he’s a really good player. He’s always positive on the bench and just getting everyone going.”

Taylor admitted just as Nicol did that emotions were high entering Game 4 and there were all sorts of nerves flowing before the game, however, once they hit the ice they just stuck to a simple brand of hockey, finished their checks and executed when they needed to — and it was clearly enough to get the job done.

In total Brandon only had four losses all season long, so it didn’t face too much adversity, but Lewis still pointed toward his team’s pushback for their eventual rise to the top.

“That’s one thing I would say about this team is they’re pretty resilient,” he said. “We got a lot of success here, but it seemed like every time we got pushed by someone, we seemed to have had that ability to push back harder and come through it.

“Getting pushed by the Bruins in the semifinals was probably a really good thing for our team to go through that adversity. You understand how hard you have to work to be successful at this level and I think that really paid off in the finals after getting beat pretty soundly on Saturday. We knew that if we put our best foot forward, that we’d have a pretty good chance to win, so it was just a matter of going out and executing.”

The Wheat Kings program is, of course, built off talent, but it’s honed with resiliency and cohesion, which is why nobody should be surprised they’ve been able to lock down the provincial title four of the last five seasons. They’ve consistently been able to yield winning teams thanks to a winning culture that is brought up by one of Lewis’ biggest coaching philosophies.

“One of the analogies I always talk about is synergy and one plus one equals three,” explained Lewis. “The sum of our parts is way greater than each individual part, so as a team if we can play together as a group and play with structure, move the puck, then we’re going to find way more success than teams that maybe are more talented than us, but don’t move the puck as well.

“I can honestly say in the five years, there’s been teams that are more talented than we have, but we have the best team because we play it the right way as a group, and that’s a buy-in from the players and the parents and it’s a culture that we’ve built over the last five years, and that’s one thing that I feel very proud of.”

And now they play for a bigger purpose beyond themselves.

That win was for Ryker.

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com