McCorrister growing into a key frontline player for Brandon

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This article was published 21/04/2018 (2910 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As Linden McCorrister flowers into a frontline player, he hasn’t forgotten the guys who helped put him there.

The third-year Brandon Wheat Kings forward was a rookie on the team as it powered its way to a Western Hockey League championship in the 2015-16 season through the efforts of players like Ivan Provorov, Jayce Hawryluk, Macoy Erkamps, John Quenneville and Tim McGauley.

All of them graduated after that year, but they left a lasting legacy with McCorrister and the team’s other rookies.

“My first year here I was 17 and I did a lot of watching the older guys and learning from them,” McCorrister said. “I think they paved the way for all the young guys like me and Guty (Connor Gutenberg) and Lewy (Ty Lewis). They were good for us.”

After scoring five goals in 71 games over a pair of injury-marred seasons to start his WHL career, McCorrister exploded for 20 goals in 59 games this season.

He followed up that fine play with five goals and nine assists in the team’s 11 playoff games, leading Brandon in scoring.

“He’s somebody who is a difference maker,” head coach David Anning said. “He’s been excellent for us here down the stretch and into the playoffs. He’s had an impact on the game shift after shift. It’s those small details within the game like doing a good job with the puck, making sure that you get the first puck out of the D zone, all those small details that do make an impact on the game.

“He’s also been a physical presence and finished the obvious checks and does a good job of being hard to play against. He’s won a lot of stick and puck battles and has scored some very big goals for us. He’s a guy who is now producing offensively as well and doing a great job with his minutes. He’s been a big part of our success.”

McCorrister certainly came up big in the Eastern Conference quarter-final series against the Medicine Hat Tigers.

No goals were bigger than his overtime winner in Game 6 that clinched the series after he tipped in a Braden Schneider shot.

“It was a big goal for the hockey club to move us to the second round,” McCorrister said. “Good things happen when you go to the net. I just tried my best there and the puck found its way in.”

McCorrister always knew what his first role would be with the team. As a 17-year-old prospect trying to make a highly skilled squad in 2015-16, he said his focus was on providing a physical presence and defending his side of the ice. He’s never lost sight of that.

“I try to be a 200-foot player,” McCorrister said. “I’ve tried to do it my whole career. It’s defence first.”

The six-foot, 185-pound forward from Peguis hasn’t enjoyed this level of offensive success since his last year of bantam AAA when he scored 22 goals and added 33 assists in 28 games with the Winnipeg Hawks.

After a year of midget AAA with the Interlake Lightning, McCorrister joined the Swan Valley Stampeders of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League for his 16-year-old campaign.

He’s quick to share the credit for the 20-goal, 23-assist season he enjoyed.

“I played with some good players this year and I’ve been going to the net hard and pucks have just been finding their way to me throughout the year,” McCorrister said. “I couldn’t be happier about it.”

McCorrister, a seventh-round bantam pick by Brandon in 2013, played with Luka Burzan and Stelio Mattheos until he and Lewis swapped spots. McCorrister was on a line with Gutenberg and Evan Weinger in the playoffs.

“I’ve had a good season,” McCorrister said. “I’m pretty happy with it. I’ve had some ups and downs but I couldn’t be any happier with it.”

After a brief time away due to illness in late February, McCorrister saved his best hockey for last.

The stakes certainly couldn’t have been be higher.

“In March and through the playoffs I started feeling good,” McCorrister said. “It was a perfect time for me.”

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