Wolverines look back on junior hockey careers

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This article was published 17/03/2021 (1675 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Waywayseecappo Wolverines were on the rise and ready to take off in the 2020-21 Manitoba Junior Hockey League season.

They sat at 7-3-0-0, atop the Northwest Division in the modified format to limit the spread of COVID-19, when the virus delivered what proved a fatal blow to the season on Nov. 11. The season was paused and ultimately cancelled, ending the junior hockey careers of a talented 20-year-old group in Wayway.

Over the past month, the Brandon Sun spoke to the coaches and graduating seniors on all four Westman-based MJHL teams: the Virden Oil Capitals, Neepawa Natives, Dauphin Kings and Wolverines.

Each player reflected on their junior hockey career, what the game has meant to them, and what lies ahead in their future. 

Each coach reflected on the graduating class, the 2020-21 season and what lies ahead for their team. 

 

COLBY WOLTER

D.O.B.:  Feb. 2, 2000 Position: Forward Height: 5’10” Weight: 160 lbs. Hometown: Falun, Alta. Seasons in the MJHL: One

Colby Wolter is an energetic power forward who plays a 200-foot game. He’s one of three seniors who also played for head coach Taylor Harnett in the Alberta Elite Hockey League, for the AAA U18 Leduc Oil Kings. 

Wolter spent four seasons playing junior, evenly split between the Alberta Junior Hockey League and MJHL.

He played 14 games for the Portage Terriers last season, netting three goals and three assists. This was his first season playing for the Wolverines, where he played eight games.

Biggest influence in career: “My grandpa. He passed away five years ago. I was at a Lloydminster junior camp, it was my first time ever at a Junior A hockey camp, and he was the one who sent me there. He always supported my hockey goals and growing up on a farm, he was also the one who showed me what hard work was.”

Impact of junior hockey:  “It helped me grow up … Yeah, you’re living away from home, but you’re living in another person’s house. You gotta show them respect and they’ll give you respect back. That carries on after your junior career, just the way you want to live your life and how productive you can be with it.”

What’s next? Wolter moved to Poland in February to finish up his junior career with Opole HK of Poland’s Molodezhnaya Hockey League, the highest level of junior hockey in the country.

 

CONRAD PHILLIPS 

D.O.B.: July 25, 2000 Position: Forward Height: 5’10” Weight: 170 lbs. Hometown: Camrose, Alta. Seasons in the MJHL: Three

Conrad Phillips is a two-way forward who likes to play a physical and chippy game. He spent three seasons playing junior hockey, all of them with the Waywayseecappo Wolverines. He also played for Harnett with Leduc. 

Philips was named an alternate captain for the 2020-21 campaign. He’s played more games for Waywayseecappo than any other Wolverines player currently on the roster. Philips contributed 47 goals and 35 assists, totalling 82 points in 127 regular-season games with the team. 

The forward collected eight goals in the 10 games he played this season, making him the second-highest goal scorer in the league. 

Being a team leader: “It’s nice to be viewed by your teammates as a leader. In my full hockey career, this was my first actual full year of having an ‘A’ on my jersey, so that was pretty special. We had a good group and we had a good leadership group so I felt like anyone could have gotten it, but it’s pretty special to get it.”

Favourite MJHL memory: “Getting the call to the MJ/SJ showcase was pretty special. I wanted to do it my first year but I just wasn’t quite there … There was a lot of high-end guys there, it was a good atmosphere and fun to play in … I wish I could’ve ended my career with actually playing junior this year, but I feel my overall experience was good. I met a lot of new people, made friends for a lifetime. That’s kind of my biggest pull from it, down the road I can call one of these guys in 15 years, talk to them and see how they’re doing.

What’s next? Philips is heading to Fond du Lac, Wis., in the fall to play NCAA DIII hockey for Marian University, where he’ll pursue a sports management degree. 

 

GERRICK RIPLEY

D.O.B.:  Sept. 19, 2000 Position: Forward Height: 5’9” Weight: 175 lbs. Hometown: Fort McMurray, Alta. Seasons in the MJHL: Three

Gerrick Ripley is a pass-first player who likes to create chances for his linemates using his speed. He spent part of his junior career with Harnett in Leduc. 

Ripley captained the 2020-21 Wolverines, contributing 53 points in his 108 career games with Waywayseecappo.

The forward netted nine points in the 10 games he played this season, putting him in the top-20 point scorers across the league.

Growing with coaches: “ I just loved playing for Wayway, the community. I played for Taylor (Harnett) and Josh (Lee) for three years there and they’re some really good coaches, I enjoyed playing for them and they’ve been a big help to me … Taylor intimidates a lot of guys, but he’s definitely one of those coaches you can go in and talk about anything with, even if it has nothing to do about hockey. His door is always open. I think with a lot of guys it takes time to build that relationship with him. Josh hates being called a players’ coach, but he’s just the biggest players’ coach ever. He’s for the boys.”

Overall junior hockey experience: “Obviously this season kind of sucked, but it’s been awesome playing junior for this long. Not a lot of guys get to do it, so I feel pretty lucky and pretty blessed to play as long as I did and just tried to make the most of it every day.”

What’s next? Ripley started working on his real estate licence after players were sent back home because of COVID-19 in November. He wrapped up his first course and is moving on to his second course soon, with plans to be finished by the summer. The 20-year-old is also talking to schools in Alberta about playing hockey while taking a few courses starting this fall. 

 

JAYMES KNEE 

D.O.B.:  Dec. 29, 2000 Position: Forward Height: 5’9” Weight: 170 lbs. Hometown: Brandon. Seasons in the MJHL: Four

Jaymes Knee is an offensive-minded forward who spent four seasons in the MJHL, nearly three of them with the Wolverines. He started his junior career with the Dauphin Kings as a 17-year-old, but also played one game as a 16-year-old when he was called up from the AAA U18 Brandon Wheat Kings.

Knee was named an alternate captain for the 2020-21 campaign. He notched 43 goals and 88 assists over 181 career MJHL games, totalling 131 points. 89 of those points came playing for the Wolverines. 

The forward had a solid start to the team’s most recent campaign. Knee netted three goals and three assists in the 10 games he played before the shutdown.

Dealing with the pandemic: “As a leader on my team, I just tried to make everybody as positive as I could. When guys were down … I’d just try to bring them up, took it as positive I could and tried to make the most of it … It’s been quite the ride, I guess. It’s been pretty crazy. Junior hockey is probably the most fun time of our teenage lives, Wayway has been awesome.”

Biggest influences in career: “My dad and grandpa, probably. I play for them every night, I know they’re watching at home … My dad and my family got me into the sport. I’ve been around the game for so long, since I was about three years old.” 

What’s next? Knee wants to continue playing hockey for as long as he can. He’s keeping an open mind when it comes to opportunities and is hoping to connect with a hockey team once things start picking up again. 

 

MACKENZIE BELINSKI 

D.O.B.: March 1, 2000 Position: Forward Height: 5’10” Weight: 180lbs. Hometown: Vista. Seasons in the MJHL: Four 

Mackenzie Belinski is a speedy forward who generally enjoys being a playmaker instead of a scorer. As a local to the area, he grew up watching the Wolverines.

Belinski joined the MJHL as a 17-year-old, playing for the Neepawa Natives his first two seasons. Last campaign, he played for the Portage Terriers. This year was Belinski’s first in a Wolverines uniform, which had an ‘A’ stitched on. 

The forward scored 62 goals and 82 assists, totalling 144 points over a career 182 regular-season MJHL games. Belinski was more than a point-per-game player in the 2020-21 campaign, racking up nine goals and seven assists in 10 games to lead the league in goals scored.

Favourite MJHL memory: “In Portage (in 2019-20), that was the first time I had made playoffs. It’s a different energy, going into those games. That’s something I’ll never forget, but too bad we never got to finish it off, we were shut down because of COVID.” 

Dealing with the pandemic: “It was tough in a way, especially this year. Going out like that I never got to finish off my career the way I wanted. But that’s just how it goes, you gotta just take the positives out of things and keep on moving on … I just want to thank my parents for all the support they’ve given me over the years and all my teammates and the people I’ve met. They’ve made (junior hockey) a positive experience. It’s something I’ll remember for a long time.”

What’s next? Belinski is staying busy by helping out on his family grain farm and plans to attend post-secondary in the fall.

 

RAYMAN BASSI

D.O.B.: May 2, 2000 Position: Forward Height: 6’0” Weight: 185 lbs. Hometown: Lake Country, B.C. Seasons in the MJHL: Two

Rayman Bassi is a quick-footed forward who joined the Wolverines in his 19-year-old season. He played three games as an affiliate player in the British Columbia Hockey League over his 16 and 17-year-old seasons, splitting time between the AJHL and SJHL in his 18-year-old campaign. 

Bassi made the move to Waywayseecappo because of his friend, Nick Doyle, who spent two seasons with the Wolverines and captained the team last year. Bassi was named an alternate captain for the team this season.

The forward notched 18 goals and 38 assists in his career with Waywayseecappo, totalling 56 points in 68 regular-season games. Eight of those points were scored this season (3G, 5A) over the 10 games the team played prior to the shutdown. 

Biggest influence in career: “My sister, Chanreet.  She’s actually a year younger than me, but we grew up playing hockey and always neck and neck with each other. She plays at hockey at UBC for the women’s team.”

Dealing with the pandemic: “I think for a lot of us it was a pretty big year … it was probably one of the best teams Wayway has ever seen. I think a lot of people can say, ‘Oh yeah, we have the best team,’ but honestly, I think we had the best team in the league, for sure. The group of 20-year-old guys we had were talented, they could be playing or having different opportunities somewhere else, but the opportunities they’re looking at now is a lot different because of the pandemic.”

What’s next? Bassi is exploring his options for post-secondary schooling. Once decided, he’ll look into his hockey options from there.

 

COACH REFLECTION:

Waywayseecappo Wolverines head coach and general manager Taylor Harnett is appreciative for the 2020-21 graduating class, as they showed a tremendous amount of respect for the organization and carried themselves with class. 

“Everybody had different reasons for playing for the Wolverines, but everybody kind of had the same common goal and that was to have a lot of fun and have as much success as we could,” Harnett said. 

“With this group of guys, they were able to help the rest of the younger players buy into that goal. Without great leadership and those veteran players, that’s really hard to achieve … We’ve been building this program for a few years and it’s those veteran players that stick around and play hard that are helping us accomplish what we want, so we truly owe them a lot.” 

This group of seniors was also special for another reason. Harnett and assistant coach Josh Lee also coached many of them in their 2016-17 campaigns — Gerrick Ripley, Colby Wolter and Conrad Phillips — as AAA U18 coaches for the Alberta Elite Hockey League’s Leduc Oil Kings. 

People didn’t expect much of Leduc’s team that year, as the organization had never won a championship. Harnett and Lee saw a group of players who were all hard working and trying to do things the right way.  

The Oil Kings won the league championship that year, as well as the Pacific-Canadian championship. They went on to compete in the Telus Cup, missing out on the semifinals on goal differential. 

When Harnett and Lee secured coaching positions in Waywayseecappo a year later, it seemed natural to recruit as many kids as he could from their championship-winning season. 

“I coached most of these guys with the Wolverines for three years, but I also coached some when they were much younger,” Harnett said. “Just being able to see them grow into adults has been an amazing experience. We’ve developed a different type of respect for each other. When you’re 16 years old, you look at your coach a lot differently than you do when you’re 20.” 

Harnett is hoping the MJHL is able to start its training camps at the beginning of September and complete a full 60-game regular-season schedule by next March, as it was in a pre-COVID era. 

It’s never easy saying goodbye to a group of graduating players, but Harnett said they can reach out any time, whether it be for advice, a reference, or just a chat.

“Yeah it’s tough,” Harnett said. “ … But even though the season is done and they won’t put the jersey on again, once a Wolverine, always a Wolverine.” 

 » dshewchuk@brandonsun.com 

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