Dwyer treasures golden experience

Connor Dwyer isn’t going to even pretend that representing the United States at the under-17 Four Nations tournament this summer was just another week at the rink.

The goaltender from Bismarck, N.D., and his teammates — including another Brandon Wheat Kings prospect, Levi Ellingsen — went unbeaten in Chomutov, Czechia from Aug. 15 to 19. The Americans defeated Czechia 5-4 in a shootout in the final.

“It was surreal,” Dwyer said. “It was definitely the greatest honour and privilege of my life being able to wear the red, white and blue. That’s something I’m going to honour and cherish forever. I would give everything that I can just to be able to have that honour again.

“It was a great experience, taking home gold for your country is a type of feeling that I’ll cherish forever. It’s a feeling not a lot of people get to feel.”

The 194-pound goalie, who is a quarter inch under six feet, is now in a Western Hockey League camp at Assiniboine Credit Union Place with the Wheat Kings, the team that listed him in 2025.

He went to a national camp in the summer of his 15U year and had one of his previous goaltending coaches reach out to him.

“He said he had ties to Brandon and asked if it was something I would be interested in and thought it was a cool place,” Dwyer said. “Checking into it and getting a look at this place, I said ‘Absolutely!’ I knew this was an unreal place. He explained to me that Brandon had interest and I was like, that’s awesome, let’s take every step forward that we can to get me here.”

Dwyer has been drafted twice this year, seventh overall by the NAHL’s St. Clair Falcons and 186th overall by the USHL Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. The latter club has a link to the Wheat Kings, because that’s where both Ivan Provorov and Jiri Patera played before suiting up in Brandon.

The goaltender is diplomatic when he discusses the various routes a player can take to the next level in their junior career, especially since the NCAA opened eligibility to major junior players.

“It’s definitely opened up a lot of organizations and leagues and being able to filter through the NCAA,” Dwyer said. “I’m not going to say there’s a certain route to go to the NCAA but it definitely gave a lot more players more options to get to that collegiate level. Every player has their own path, so if anything, it helps more players get to that spot and get to that next level.

“Whether it’s the USHL or the CHL, I think they’re both great options and I think they both have elite players. It just comes down to what works for the player and the family. I think it’s a great thing that will make college hockey a lot more competitive.”

He added major junior is certainly in the discussion when he and his hockey-playing buddies imagine what could potentially come next.

“The CHL is definitely a lot more of a talked-about thing now that it can be a pipeline to NCAA hockey,” Dwyer said. “It’s definitely a thing. It’s always been a relevant league, I think it’s a good, talented league so the idea that you can go there and play college hockey after makes it a lot more relevant in the college hockey pipeline conversation.”

He spent the 2024-25 season with the WB/Scranton Knights 14U AAA club, appearing in 67 games overall.

Last year, he made the move to the Bishop Kearney Selects 15U AAA team, which is a prep school located in Rochester, N.Y. In 26 starts during the regular season, he posted a 2.14 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.

“It’s a great school,” Dwyer said. “I had a great experience there. I learned a lot. It was great teachers, great environment, great place for me to learn while also taking care of things on the ice.”

Brandon director of hockey operations Chris Moulton was watching and was impressed by what he saw.

“Connor had a great year,” Moulton said. “His team did very well throughout the season, he went to the national championships and he represented his country. Connor is an athletic, quick goaltender.

“He’s not as big as the typical guys who are in our league or going pro, but what he lacks in size he makes up in ability and compete. He’s a heck of a goaltender.”

While Brandon goaltending coach Tyler Plante hasn’t spent much time with him yet, he noticed some of the same things that Moulton did.

“My first impression of him is that he is a very athletic goaltender,” Plante said. “He stays within his posts but is still very aggressive in getting to his spots. From the brief amount of time we’ve worked together, he seems to be a great kid with a good attitude.”

Another of Dwyer’s strength is his mental toughness. If the first step to success is the belief you can and will achieve it, then he is ready.

“I would say I’m a dominant goalie,” said Dwyer, whose father John also played, skating in high school, the NAHL and eventually the Division III Bethel University. “I’m a winner. That’s what I do, I win games. I play well in big moments, and would say I’m a mentally dominant goalie. I have a swagger and a calm head. It helps me dominate in big moments when it matters most and win important games and non-important games.

“I balance my game with my edge work. I think my edges are one of the most important parts of my game and every goalie’s game. Just my playing reading and my IQ and the way I think the game helps set me apart.”

Still, he’ll have his work cut out for him to earn a spot in Brandon at age 16, which has happened just once in the last 35 years when Carson Bjarnason stole the backup role in 2021-22.

Filip Ruzicka has the starting job sewed up, which means Dwyer is competing with 2008-born WHL veteran Ryley Budd, 2009-born Urijah Moosetail of Brandon and 2010-born Joffrey Chan.

“It was important for us to get that depth in goaltending,” Moulton said. “We even have two invites who are great goaltenders. We did that on purpose. We want to have competition among those guys. We’re going to have two goalies on our team but we also have affiliates we have to use on the regular. Fil (Ruzicka) might leave us so we need to have three and four deep.”

Dwyer’s Plan B if he doesn’t make the Wheat Kings is heading to the Boston area to play 18U prep hockey with the new Masters Academy in Stow, Mass.

But his Plan A is to be a Wheat King.

“That’s what I have my eyes set on now and that’s my goal,” Dwyer said. “For me, it’s just going to take one per cent every single day to get there. I just have to take care of the process, stay the course and focus on the process and stay in the present moment and I’ll find myself there.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com