Yellowhead Chiefs looking for consistency in second half

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This article was published 05/01/2022 (1538 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Yellowhead Chiefs have been all over the place since the 2021-22 Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League season got underway in late September.

Although the 12-11-3 side found themselves holding on to the seventh playoff spot going into their first game since the holidays on Tuesday night, head coach Thomas Heapy feels the Chiefs haven’t quite reached their potential.

“I thought we would be a little bit higher in the standings quite honestly, but we’re in that playoff spot right now, which is good to see,” Heapy said of the club, which was three points ahead of the Winnipeg Bruins and held a five-point advantage over the Pembina Valley Hawks going into a home matchup with the sixth-place Southwest Cougars that was in progress at press time.

“We dropped some early games (to the Parkland Rangers and the Cougars) that put us behind the eight-ball a bit and we’ve really been working on trying to find some consistency here in the second half. Once we get on a bit of a roll here, I think we’ll be able to get things going.”

One aspect of the Chiefs’ play that Heapy wants to see improved is their goal scoring.

As they headed into the Christmas break on the heels of a 5-0 road loss to the Winnipeg Wild on Dec. 19, the Chiefs had only lit the lamp 74 times.

That put them just ahead of the Kenora Thistles (72 goals) and the Interlake Lightning (68 goals), who are both at the bottom of the league table.

“Some days we have certain lines that are producing more than others and then you get other games where all four lines are doing things out there,” Heapy said.

“We’re just working away at our systems here and tweaking things a bit as we go along. It’s important for the boys to have the right mindset, especially when they are at this age, for a whole game.”

Red Deer Rebels draft pick Ben Roulette leads the team in scoring with 27 points in 26 games, with Cole Topham a marker behind him.

The pair have lit the lamp 13 and 14 times respectively and are only the members of the Chiefs to crack the double digit mark in goals.

OCN Blizzard prospect Owen Riffle (22 points), Cooper Kasprick (19 points), Rylan Gage (18 points) and Kurt Rookes (13 points) are also among the team scoring leaders.

“We’ve been moving guys around the lineup a bit this year to get things going and I think all the guys are used to playing with different combinations,” Heapy said.

“That’s shown up in the scoring at times … you get guys that are hot for you on some nights and you go from there.”

Foxx McColl and Rylan Bray are leading the way on the backend as the pair have each recorded nine points in 26 contests.

McColl, who is from Elkhorn, was a draft pick of the Western Hockey League’s Winnipeg Ice and the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Swan Valley Stampeders in 2020.

He suited up with the Chiefs U15 program for two years before joining the Rink Hockey Academy Winnipeg’s U16 squad during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign.

“Foxx had played with all of these guys before so there wasn’t really a big change for him when he came to play for the Chiefs again,” Heapy said.

“He’s a very gifted, offensively minded defenceman. He loves to jump into the play and he picks his holes every now and then to get things going.”

Bray’s strong rookie season allowed him to be picked in last month’s WHL prospects draft, as the 15-year-old Neepawa product was a seventh-round selection by the Rebels.

“It’s always exciting when you get to see someone from your program get drafted by a WHL team,” Heapy said.

“Rylan’s really developing into a solid defensive defenceman. If he keeps working on that portion of his game, I think things are going to work out fine for him as he moves up to the next level.”

If there’s one part of his team’s play that excites Heapy the most, it’s been the performance of netminders Jase Wareham and Nathan Braun.

“They’ve given us a chance to win night in and night out,” Heapy said. “They’ve been strong through the whole season, which has made them a very good tandem.”

The 16-year-old Wareham, who calls Rivers home, has a 6-6-2 record and a shutout to go along with a 3.19 goals against average and a .918 save percentage that’s the fourth best in the league.

“He just competes all the time,” Heapy said. “Jase doesn’t like to be beaten, whether that’s in a game or during a practice.”

Braun joined the Chiefs from the Portage la Prairie-based Central Plains Capitals — who have taken a leave of absence from the U18 circuit this season — along with Kasprick.

The 17-year-old from Gladstone has compiled a 6-5-1 mark with a 3.40 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage.

“Nathan’s been a real nice pickup for us,” Heapy said. “He’s a bigger goalie and is a little more structurally sound than Jase, but I think that’s what helps to make them such a good pair.”

The Chiefs have also been fortunate to have only had one major injury thus far, as Kalum Caswell was unable to suit up until Halloween weekend.

“After that, I think we’ve only had maybe three or four injury games combined for our entire team,” Heapy said. “We’re hoping that continues in the second half, along with hopefully having no major COVID concerns, especially with everything going on at the moment.”

As the Chiefs prepare for a home-and-home series with the league-leading Brandon Wheat Kings this weekend, Heapy expects the competition in the provincial U18 AAA loop to only get tougher as teams gear up for the playoffs.

“This is a league where anyone can beat anyone on any given night,” Heapy said. “The top two teams (the Wheat Kings and Wild) are running away with things right now, but I think three through eight (the Eastman Selects, Rangers, Winnipeg Thrashers, Cougars, Chiefs and Bruins) can really be ranked anywhere right now.

“I think you are going to see a lot of movement in the standings during the second half. That’s really the nature of the beast when you get to this part of the season.”

 

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