Highet knows his effort is key

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This article was published 29/08/2019 (2393 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

William Highet knows exactly what it’s going to take for him to stick with the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The 17-year-old Winnipeg product is one of a handful of young forwards looking to earn a spot in an intriguing battle to make the Western Hockey League club’s roster.

“It’s always be physical, get into the corners, be first on pucks, beat guys in the corner battles and show that I’m a big dominant player out front of the net as well,” Highet said of his strategy for success.

Highet, along with fellow 17-year-olds Bode Hagan, Nolan Ritchie and Davis Chorney, plus 16-year-olds Jake Chiasson, Brett Hyland and Jaxon Dube, are among the rookie frontrunners to make the team. With 10 returning forwards and the addition of Marcus Kallionkelli of Finland, the competition promises to be fierce.

General manager Darren Ritchie said the club will likely carry 13 forwards.

“Every game and every practice, I have to be a big body out there and show that I can grind it out,” Highet said after practice on Wednesday morning. “I can also get the offence going if I have to, but also be in the corners battling.”

The six-foot, 185-pound forward picked up the game around age three, playing with his older brother’s team before his father, who was in the military. Highet was also a competitive baseball player, attending a western Canadian championship before giving up the sport a couple of years ago.

After first moving to a higher level of hockey when he played peewee AA in his minor year, Highet spent two years in bantam before joining the Winnipeg Bruins of the Manitoba AAA U18 Hockey League for the last two seasons.

After scoring nine goals and adding 13 assists with 28 penalty minutes in 44 games as a rookie, he boosted his totals in every category last season, with 16 goals, 15 assists and 84 penalty minutes in 48 games.

“It was an OK season I guess,” Highet said. “It could have been better.”

Last season, the eighth-place Bruins went 22-20-0-6, managing just 161 goals, ninth best in the league, but holding their opposition to 159, tied for sixth best in the league.

“I take pride in the defensive zone and protecting my net,” Highet said. “Obviously my teams in past years were never offensively successful so playing D-zone was a strong area that we practised a lot because it had to be.”

That’s an ability that Ritchie has noticed. To earn a spot in Brandon, Ritchie said he’ll have to put his strengths to the forefront at camp.

“He needs to play with pace, and he needs to play hard,” Ritchie said. “He needs to be consistent, and get to the hard areas. He’s a big body, he’s smart, he sees the ice well, so if he does that, he’ll complement his linemates real well and he’ll be a hard guy to play against. That’s how he has to play, a heavy game and cycle the puck. He did a real good job on the PK (penalty kill) the last couple of years as well.

“I think he does a good job of reading the play and seeing how plays are developing and gets into the right spots.”

Highet, who was picked nine spots after Hagan in the eighth round of the 2017 WHL bantam draft, plans to continue to work every day on getting quicker feet. He notes that although he’s not the best starter, he arrives in good time after he gets going.

If things don’t work out in Brandon, his Plan B is to look for a spot with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Neepawa Natives. But he remains hopeful he’ll find a place in Brandon.

“It would be exceptional for me to be a Dub player,” Highet said. “I just never thought that I would be in this spot, ever.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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