Temple looks forward to draft day
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/05/2022 (1490 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Cole Temple’s big day finally arrives this week.
The 15-year-old forward, who played with the under-15 Brandon Wheat Kings team that won a provincial championship and then was called up to the U18 Wheat Kings for their playoff run, will likely be chosen early in the first round of Thursday’s Western Hockey League draft.
He can’t wait to hear his name called.
“It’s a great feeling,” Temple said. “I can’t stop counting down the days. It’s exciting.”
This year’s draft is aimed at 2007-born players, and it’s certainly a spectacular cohort in Brandon.
Somewhere between six and nine members of the team are expected to be taken, potentially making it the most successful draft in Brandon history.
The Wheat City had a previous high of five players picked in 2000, and four in 2017, 2015, 2009, 2008 and 2002. The city has gone without a local player taken six times.
The other players on this season’s U15 team who are most likely under consideration are forwards Easton Odut, Brady Turko, Kaeson Fisher, Colten Worthington, Loughlan McMullan and Ethan Stewart and defencemen Dustin Bell and Josh McGregor.
(To show how deep this year’s U15 team was, forward Jaxon Jacobson and defenceman Nolan Saunderson are 2008-born players who will both be drafted in 2023.)
“I love it,” Temple said. “I can’t wait to see all the boys who get drafted and how excited and happy they are. I’m proud of all of them and how hard they work.”
The Temple family has some experience with the WHL draft. While Cole’s grandfather Ted played with the Wheat Kings in the late 1960s — more than two decades before the draft began in 1990 — Cole’s father Jeff was selected in the third round, 48th overall by Brandon in 1993.
“They obviously know a lot about the league and all that stuff and they want the best for me,” Temple said of his dad and grandpa. “It’s pretty good to have those guys with experience to let me know about the league.”
The experience will be a new one in one notable way because there was no Internet when Jeff was taken. As a result, Cole plans to spend the day at the school and can monitor it from there.
Temple led the U15 AAA Winnipeg Hockey League with 108 points on 58 goals and 50 assists in just 28 regular season games, and then added 30 more points in 11 playoff games.
Still, he said it took him a couple of games to adapt to his surroundings after he was called up to the U18 Wheat Kings, where he had five points in six games.
“It was awesome playing with bigger, stronger guys,” Temple said. “The pace is way higher and everything was just a lot harder to play but I loved it, I loved the competition.”
The high-scoring U15 Wheat Kings certainly spread the offence around, with Turko (30g, 51a, 81p), Odut (36g, 39a, 75p), Worthington (27g, 35a, 62p), McMullan (26g, 28a, 54p). Bell (8g 21a, 29p), Stewart (10g, 17a, 27p in 18 games) and McGregor (5g, 22a, 27p) and Fisher (4g, 13a, 17p) all contributing to the team, which went 41-2-0-0 in the regular season and playoffs. Wheat Kings general manager Doug Gasper saw the local U15 squad a number of times and came away impressed.
“It varies from team to team on how many they feel could go,” Gasper said. “I don’t think it would be unusual to have as high as eight or nine guys go off that team. It’s a pretty deep team that did very well this year.”
A year ago, three Brandon players were taken, including forward Clarke Caswell, defenceman Owen Wallace and goalie Ethan McCallum, who played prep hockey at Notre Dame.
Temple said he’s spoken to a lot of WHL scouts this year, and he and his teammates talked about the draft a bit.
It made for a long year, but Temple tried to make the best of it.
“The nerves have been there,” Temple said. “Just thinking about it makes me a little nervous and excited as well. It’s always been on my mind but I tried to have as much fun as I can and not worry about it.”
PREVIOUS BRANDON PICKS
(Round number, overall pick, player, team that selected him.)
2021
1. — 6. Clarke Caswell (Swift Current)
2. — 39. Ethan McCallum (Medicine Hat)
7. — 138. Owen Wallace (Prince Albert)
2020
9. — 197. Carter Dittmer (Everett)
2019
2. — 25. Cayden Glover (Medicine Hat)
2018
None
2017
1. — 15. Daemon Hunt (Moose Jaw)
3. — 54. Ty Thorpe (Victoria)
3. — 56. Nolan Ritchie (Brandon)
7. — 134. Calder Anderson (Moose Jaw)
2016
4. — 76. Tristen Robins (Regina)
12. — 263. Dylan Halliday (Brandon)
2015
1. — 2. Calen Addison (Lethbridge)
6. — 123. Jacob Thomson (Red Deer)
9. — 194. Curtis Ireland (Everett)
10. — 211. Max Paddock (Regina)
2014
5. — 105. Connor Gutenberg (Brandon)
9. — 197. Sam Huston (Kootenay)
2013
2. — 25. Tanner Kaspick (Brandon)
3. — 47. Ty Lewis (Brandon)
4. — 74. Blake Jameson (Victoria)
2012
3. — 58. Tyson Verhelst (Spokane)
4. — 83. Jordan Stallard (Calgary)
9. — 192. James Shearer (Calgary)
2011
5. — 94. Brett Kitt (Brandon)
2010
None
2009
3. — 54. Landon Cross (Kamloops)
5. — 89. Brayden Cuthbert (Moose Jaw)
9. — 194. Tanner Jago (Brandon)
9. — 196. Hudson Morrison (Saskatoon)
2008
6. — 121. Joel Edmundson (Moose Jaw)
8. — 167. Josh Elmes (Brandon)
9. — 188. Austin Lewis (Brandon)
11. — 222. Derek Sobkow (Brandon)
2007
6. — 123. Wheaton King (Brandon)
2006
5. — 104. Brock Sutherland (Lethbridge)
6. — 112. Paul Bonar (Moose Jaw)
2005
1. — 17. Sanfred King (Brandon)
8. — 146. Shayne Wiebe (Kamloops)
2004
2. — 21. Alex Plante (Calgary)
3. — 47. Cameron Stevens (Kootenay)
2003
4. — 69. Ryan White (Calgary)
11. — 217. Devon Leblanc (Red Deer)
2002
3. — 53. Tyler Dittmer (Red Deer)
3. — 55. Tyler Plante (Brandon)
11. — 181. Ryan Halliday (Medicine Hat)
12. — 190. Dustin Colon (Brandon)
2001
4. — 62. Mike Nichol (Brandon)
8. — 141. Derek Leblanc (Brandon)
10. — 185. Cole Hunter (Swift Current)
2000
3. — 38. Riley Day (Medicine Hat)
4. — 63. Brett Boschman (Moose Jaw)
7. — 109. Travis Mealy (Portland)
8. — 131. Brett Koscielny (Brandon)
11. — 173. Tyler Stinton (Brandon)
1998
None
1997
4. — 68. Rhett Nevill (Red Deer)
4. — 70. Rob McVicar (Brandon)
1996
None
1995
None
1994
4. — 61. Derek Holland (Brandon)
1993
3. — 48. Jeff Temple (Brandon)
1992
None
1991
3. — 34. Jeremy Robinson (Brandon)
1990
2. — 17. Darren Lund (Seattle)
» pbergson@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @PerryBergson