Thompson thrives in unusual season

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This article was published 23/05/2021 (1820 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ryder Thompson couldn’t have dreamed two years ago how unusual his rookie junior hockey season would be, but he is eager to build on every bit of it anyway.

The 16-year-old Russell product started the campaign close to home with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Waywayseecappo Wolverines and ended a long ways away with the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks.

“I’m just trying to take everything that I’ve learned from the coaches, and along with that, what I need to do in the off-season to come back as an effective 17 year old,” Thompson said. “I was just trying to learn as much as I could and soak it all up and try to work on all that and build off that going into next year. I just want to be a really impactful player for my team next year.

“It was definitely a big learning experience, and it was super awesome.”

Wayway acquired Thompson’s rights when they auto protected him as an area player prior to the 2019 MJHL draft. In his major bantam draft year, Thompson had three goals and 20 assists in 29 games of prep hockey in the first of two years he spent at the Rink Hockey Academy in Winnipeg.

The five-foot-11, 177-pound Thompson shared the jump to the MJHL from the under-18 level with another highly touted young forward, his friend Tyson Zimmer of Russell, who later joined the Brandon Wheat Kings.

“It had its ups and downs for sure but the coaches and all the players in Wayway made it super smooth for my transition,” Thompson said. “Zimmer and I were both on that team and we both really enjoyed our time there in Wayway. It was just super awesome getting to play at home and live at home, and just the competition in the practices and the team bond overall was just a good experience.

“It was definitely a big help for jumping into the Western League.”

Thompson said he had to learn some new systems from Wayway head coach Taylor Harnett, but added other parts of it were refreshers on what he had picked at Rink. That awareness, combined with his aptitude for listening, certainly helped.

“I felt like I caught on quite quickly and just came to the rink with an open mind, willing to learn,” Thompson said. “I think that’s what helped me to learn it really quickly and helped me with my success in Wayway.”

In eight games with the Wolverines, Thompson posted three assists as the team went 7-3-0-0 to lead the four-team Northwest Division.

Unfortunately for Thompson and players around the league, provincial restrictions shut the league down in November. Their final game was a 6-1 victory over the Neepawa Natives on Nov. 7 as they crafted a season-ending, four-game winning streak.

“That was super disappointing,” Thompson said. “We were starting to heat up there so once the news came out everyone was pretty devastated that we had to go home. It was tough to leave like that right at the start of the season, especially with the momentum that we had. That was really tough. No one wanted it to end like that.”

Still, the experience was a valuable one. He said it made the move to major junior much easier than it would have been than to go straight from U18.

“The size, the speed and the strength were all huge factors,” Thompson said. “I never really played against guys that were that big and that physically mature so that was definitely a big jump going into the MJ compared to midget hockey. There were definitely some bigger boys. It was more physical and rougher, everyone was fast and super strong in the corners on the puck so those were some things I took away from the MJ.”

The Winterhawks let him know the previous May he would be joining them whenever the WHL season started, so he was expecting to head to Portland at some point. With Manitoba rinks closed, he and Winnipeggers Nick Cicek and Dante Giannuzzi flew down in late November, allowing them to enjoy more than three months of on- and off-ice training before the U.S. Division launched its season on March 18.

It wasn’t Thompson’s first trip to Oregon’s biggest city. He was selected by the Winterhawks in the fifth round of the 2019 draft with the 105th overall pick, and went to their main camp in August 2019.

He signed with Portland on Aug. 29, 2019, and stayed around for a while, attending the pre-season showcase in Everett. After being sent back to Rink, he returned to Portland in December to practise with the team for a week and watch some games.

Thompson thought he adjusted fairly quickly to the WHL this season, in part because the overager Cicek took him under his wing.

“He was pretty much guiding me the whole way,” Thompson said. “I was just following his footsteps and his role in what to do, and that made it super easy in my opinion for the transition to the Western League. I just tried to take as much away from him and ask as many questions as I could, and that really helped. I really appreciate that from Nick.”

Thompson said the Winterhawks had good leadership with strong internal competition that had players pushing each other to be better, which also helped.

And while Thompson only dressed for 14 of his team’s 24 games, the simple act of practising against WHL players every day also helped his game.

“The practices were just as competitive as games in my opinion,” Thompson said. “That’s where all the work gets put in. It’s a lot of tough work, it’s a grind for sure. Practices are super tough with the size and the speed and the strength and the smarts. You can see yourself getting better every day playing against those top-level players.”

Thompson also had the chance to learn from an exceptional coaching staff in former Brandon University Bobcat Mike Johnson, along with Don Hay and Kyle Gustafson, who handled the defence.

“The whole coaching staff there, Don, Kyle and Mike, they were super great to me and the team,” Thompson said. “They try to help everyone every day and they push you to get better on and off the ice. They are just tremendous coaches.”

But Thompson also had to do his part to earn their trust.

He said his personal expectations were that he would perform to the best of his abilities every day.

“I just tried to put my head down and work, whether it was a practice or a game,” Thompson said. “I just wanted to learn as much as I could and take it all in and give it my all every night and try to impress the coaches and just try to help the team win.”

He’s gaining confidence in the offensive side of his game at major junior, adding he sees the ice well and makes a good first pass. He put seven shots on net this season, with a plus-minus of -3.

“I like to think I can play in all situations on the ice,” Thompson said. “I think I can eat up some minutes, whether it’s (penalty kill) or power-play time. That’s something I’m going to have to prove in the future and try to get onto those special teams.”

Thompson earned his first and only WHL point on March 27 when he assisted Seth Jarvis’ game-opening goal against the Seattle Thunderbirds in a 3-2 loss in Kent, Wash.

After the season ended, Thompson stayed in Portland a while longer to get more work in, finally flying home last Friday.

He said the fact that he had already lived away from Russell to attend Rink in Winnipeg helped a bit, but he usually went home every month or two. Heading to Portland was a much bigger step, and much lengthier.

“That made it easier but at the same time it wasn’t easier because it’s not easy leaving your family and all your friends behind,” Thompson said of living in Winnipeg. “It was definitely a good stepping stone for me and a good learning experience so I knew what to expect, but I had never been away from my family this long a time. I’ve never been away for this long.”

It was certainly an unusual year well beyond the shortened and oft-delayed season.

Since the Tri-City Americans were the only team that was able to have some fans, Thompson hasn’t yet had the chance to fully experience the rowdy U.S. Division supporters. He was also restricted from spending time with his teammates away from the rink.

He chuckled that naps and keeping in touch with his family and friends became priorities in his spare time by himself.

“That was a smart thing to do,” Thompson said of the restrictions. “All the players followed that rule because we wanted to play hockey, we didn’t want to be sitting at home for two weeks quarantining. It was a sacrifice we had to make. It was a tough one but it was well worth it.”

The only time he saw a teammate away from the rink was when Reece Newkirk picked him up at his billets to give him a ride to the rink every day.

The time alone certainly paid off in another way. He was also able to devote a lot of attention to his schoolwork, and won Portland’s scholastic player of the year award for high school students. (Mason Mannek won the college division.)

“It was pretty meaningful,” Thompson said of the award. “I just try to take a lot of pride in whatever I do, whether it’s on the ice or off the ice or in the classroom, I try to do everything 100 per cent. I knew it was something that had to get done and I was lucky enough to win.”

 

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