New season brings fresh hope for veterans

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This article was published 30/08/2019 (2462 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new day dawns for the Brandon Wheat Kings this morning as the team’s main camp begins, but recent disappointment will flavour how its players face it.

The Wheat Kings return two goalies, six defencemen and 10 forwards from last year’s team that narrowly missed the Western Hockey League post-season five months ago. With a new head coach in Dave Lowry and a new general manager in Darren Ritchie, the squad will look to rebound from a disappointing 31-29-4-4 season that saw them fall two points shy of the Red Deer Rebels for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

“Especially with the way that last year went, things are changing,” overage defenceman Zach Wytinck said on Thursday afternoon prior to fitness testing. “There’s a whole new staff here and there’s going to be a whole new way of going about our business each and every day. Just with that, I think the intensity goes up for us, and there are new eyes and new people to impress and opportunity that us older guys want to take advantage of, and obviously lots of good young players coming in.

“There will be lots of intensity for us and the young guys too.”

Vinny Iorio, who will be 16 until mid-November and was one of the youngest players in the league last season, will be attending his second main camp. The six-foot-three, 195-pound defenceman is ready for hockey to start after growing an inch and losing 10 pounds in the off-season.

“Testing so far has been a grind but it’s been good,” Iorio said. “All the boys are really eager to actually play and to see what Dave Lowry is like in practice and to see what kind of style he likes to play. We all just want to play. We want it to be regular season already. We’ve had quite a while off so we’re all eager and ready.”

Ritchie said the players have tested well so far in their fitness training, which suggests they took advantage of their extended off-season by working hard. He is eager to get an early look at the team as main camp runs today and Saturday, with the annual intrasquad game on Sunday at 2 p.m.

“It’s exciting,” Ritchie said. “Just watching our veterans work out here and their testing, guys have come back here in really good shape. I think it’s going to be real competitive. They know what is expected of them, and they know there is competition all around … It will be great because the pace will pick up and the game will be a lot harder to play. It will be good.”

With rookie camp wrapping up on Thursday evening after a second intrasquad game, all of the members of the entire 2017, 2018 and 2019 draft classes who have been in action at Westoba Place this week moved into main camp with the older players.

“It’s very exciting,” veteran winger Jonny Hooker said. “There’s a good feeling around the room. I think everyone is excited to get into games and into the pre-season and get the season going.”

Hooker, who looks noticeably thicker in the upper body at six-foot-one and 186 pounds, said he put plenty of work in at the gym and on the ice. After a 17-year-old season when he scored just three times, he’s looking for some personal redemption in his third year in the league.

“I think everyone has something to prove from last year,” Hooker said. “We’re coming in with a new mindset, new expectations and one goal, and that’s to win. I think everyone is very excited for this year.”

It will also be a big year for one of the team leaders, 17-year-old defenceman Braden Schneider, who turns 18 on Sept. 20. The six-foot-two, 210-pound veteran will finally be eligible for the National Hockey League draft next June.

“We’re coming in with a bit more fire in our bellies for sure and a lot more to prove with all the changes and new faces,” Schneider said. “I don’t think it changes too much. I’m coming in to work hard and make the team.”

He said it’s become part of his routine to prepare for the season in Brandon, and he’s eager to get going with his old friends and the new challengers for spots on the team.

Forward Lynden McCallum, who is recovering from off-season shoulder surgery, won’t be part of any games, just practising instead. The Wheat Kings are also without 18-year-old Finnish winger Marcus Kallionkieli, who is rehabbing an injury in Las Vegas with the Golden Knights, the team that selected him in June’s National Hockey League draft.

The six-foot Wytinck, who gained six pounds in the off-season and is now up to 176, said the large group of rookies players who could break through this season isn’t a huge change.

“I think this year there are a ton of good young guys but I think that’s the case every year,” Wytinck said. “Guys are in good shape every year, the young guys included, and they come in ready to work and want to be a part of this team. It’s not different for us older guys. We want to be here and want to contribute more each year.

“I think it’s a healthy thing to have that kind of competition. It only makes it better when you have so many good young players.”

• ••

The free agents and non-drafted list players who will continue into main camp include:

•2001-born players (18-year-old season) — Drayson Collyer.

•2002-born players (17-year-old season) — Davis Chorney, Mitch Thiessen, Blake Samida, Blake Moroz, Carter Bateman, Cody Blight, Caiden Gault, Connor Ungar.

•2003-born players(16-year-old season) —Taggart Plouffe, Cole Plowman, Jared Chapel, Hunter Wallace, Riley Borody.

•2004-born players(15-year-old season) — Conyr Hellyer, Liam Foley.

• • •

In the final matchup of rookie camp on Thursday evening, Rylan Hossack and Owen Weihs each scored twice as Team Black beat Team White 7-4. Nolan Ritchie, Logen Hammett and Tyson Zimmer also sniped for Black, with Bode Hagan notching a pair for White, and Jesiah Bennett and Liam Foley sniping once each.

• • •

Souris product Landon Roberts has signed a standard player contract with the Tri-City Americans. The 17-year-old forward was selected in the sixth round of the 2017 WHL draft.

• ••

In a deal on Thursday, the Swift Current Broncos acquired local player Hendrik De Klerk, a 2002-born defenceman, from the Spokane Chiefs for a fifth-round draft pick in 2022.

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