Ginnell seeks steady improvement in game

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This article was published 26/03/2021 (1836 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Riley Ginnell knows where he is and understands where he wants to eventually get to one day.

Now the Brandon Wheat Kings forward has 16 games left to set that quest in motion.

The-18-year-old Calgary product, who is in his second season skating on the wing for the Brandon, simply wants to get better.

“I’ve been pretty happy,” Ginnell said. “I feel I’ve improved this year compared to last year. I’m not where I want to be yet but there’s a lot of hockey left and a lot of days. A steady improvement is what I’m looking for to get my game exactly where I want it to be.

“There will be nights where you’re on or you’re off, and you just have to battle through it and be prepared for the next game.”

Brandon returns to action on Sunday at 5 p.m., when it faces the Swift Current Broncos.

The Wheat Kings acquired the six-foot-three, 185-pound Ginnell from the Kamloops Blazers on Sept. 17, 2019 for a sixth-round Western Hockey League bantam pick in 2021. Ginnell, whose 20-year-old brother Brad is a forward with the Moose Jaw Warriors, appeared in 25 games with Brandon last season, scoring three goals and adding an assist and eight penalty minutes.

Riley, a grandson of WHL coaching legend Pat Ginnell, spent the 2018-19 season at Edge School playing prep hockey, where he posted 10 goals and nine assists in 24 games. In minor midget in his hometown of Calgary, Ginnell put up 37 points in 30 games.

He is still searching for that offensive side of his game at the major junior level.

Ginnell earned a pair of helpers in Brandon’s 6-4 loss to the Saskatoon Blades on Monday, the first multi-point game of his career. He has two assists after eight games.

“It’s good for the confidence to finally get on the scoresheet but that game is done,” Ginnell said. “I just have to worry about the next one and hopefully get on the scoresheet again there.”

Luckily for him, he arrived with a small Alberta advantage on Feb. 27 at the Regina hub that’s hosting the seven East Division teams.

While most players hadn’t skated for a while due to varying provincial COVID-19 rules, Ginnell had been on the ice before he started skating with the Wheat Kings.

“It was more about getting the rust off in that first week,” Ginnell said. “I was fortunate enough to be skating in Calgary as they opened up luckily a couple of weeks before we started here. Me and (Brandon goalie Connor) Ungar were skating just about every day together.

“Coming in, game shape is a completely different thing so it was definitely a grind at the beginning but we’re all settling in.”

He nearly had an even bigger advantage but some bad luck undid that opportunity.

His family owns a cabin near Flin Flon — the former home of his grandparents Pat and Wanda — and he and Brad were invited to skate with the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Flin Flon Bombers.

Ginnell ran into some carding issues in the SJHL and only got into one pre-season game, but he spent time on the power play with his older brother Brad.

The Bombers played a pair of regular season games in November before provincial restrictions shut them down for what proved to be the rest of the season.

“There are a lot of guys who unfortunately weren’t able to play or be in a team setting in a while and it does do things to you,” Ginnell said. “Being able to play in the SJHL for a couple of months there, I think was a great experience. One, I got to play with my brother, and two I got to stay competitive and I think it gave me another level of drive and motivation because you’re so close to playing.”

The SJHL’s last game was played Nov. 23, with the season officially cancelled on Tuesday.

That meant the next time the Ginnell skated in a meaningful game was March 12, when Riley’s Wheat Kings lost to Brad’s Moose Jaw Warriors 4-3 in overtime. Riley won the rematch on Wednesday in an 8-2 pasting of the Warriors.

“It’s always competitive,” Ginnell said. “It’s cool to get to see him out there. He’s on a different team and he’s enjoying that. It’s nice he got to stay in the same division again and stay competing for his last year in the league.”

Brad took an interesting route last season. He was traded on Jan. 8, 2020 from the Winnipeg Ice to the Spokane Chiefs for a pair of mid-round picks.

With an abundance of potential overagers in the organization, the Chiefs released the forward during the summer and he was claimed by the Warriors.

“It’s mostly all business on the ice, unless I’m chirping him or vice versa,” Ginnell said with a chuckle of their matchups. “We try to keep it all business and then chat about it after the game.”

He added his mom cheers for whoever is on the ice. Members of his family showed up for a game last season in Winnipeg with jerseys split down the middle with Wheat Kings and Ice colours and GINNELL x 2 on the back.

Ginnell does have another advantage this season, which comes by simply suiting up for the first eight games.

As a frequent healthy scratch in his rookie season, the big winger wasn’t able to build a lot of momentum from playing night after night. Instead, he had to take the positives from his best games.

He’s understandably happy to be in the lineup.

“It’s good because you’re able to build off your last game,” Ginnell said. “You’re not too worried about if you’re in or out the next game and you’re almost nervous to play the game you’re in. It’s just slowly building confidence and getting your game to where you want it to be. I think that’s the best you can do.”

With the quick start after just a week of practice, many East Division players are continuing to search for that groove.

Wheat Kings head coach Don MacGillivray said Ginnell’s game is coming.

“It’s kind of a mixed bag with Riley,” MacGillivray said. “He’s trying to find his way in our lineup and some nights I’ve really liked him, and other nights he’s had some moments where he’s trying to do too much.

“I thought (against Saskatoon) he did a really nice job. He got pucks behind (Saskatoon’s defencemen), he was heavy on the forecheck, he created some offence for us and he was responsible.”

With those tantalizing flashes in mind, Ginnell has set his sights high.

Ginnell, whose Oct. 9 birthday is well after the National Hockey League’s Sept. 15 deadline, is eligible for this year’s draft in his 18-year-old season.

“As a late birthday guy, I’m not really sure what’s going on with the draft so you can’t be too focused on that by any means,” Ginnell said. “I’m just worried about being able to get experience and being a very big impact player next year as a 19-year-old and come in and do some damage for Donny (MacGillivray).

“It’s just getting the experience from these 24 games to be ready for next year.”

A big part of the experience is spending two months with his teammates.

Ginnell is living with Ungar, Lynden McCallum and Neithan Salame in the University of Regina’s Paskwaw Tower in a unique setup that has four bedrooms connected by a common area that includes a kitchen and living room.

While they can’t leave the residence, it doesn’t sound like Ginnell would be in a hurry to anyway.

“We have a lot of fun,” said Ginnell, who spoke this week after undergoing the players’ regular COVID testing. “It’s awesome. McCallum brought a little putting green in here and we’ve been doing that, and placing some bets on that. We started a puzzle last week, just little things like that to keep your mind going.”

The trick is to disengage from hockey, even for a little while. The players do their best to make that happen, but it isn’t easy.

“You try to but your mind is always worried about the last game or the next game with games every second day just about,” Ginnell said. “I try to play video games every so often or watch a movie or hang out with the guys and play some cards just to free your mind a little bit. There are times but it’s a little difficult to get away, which is almost good in that sense to stay focused on the goal.”

Fortunately for Ginnell, the chemistry of the team hasn’t changed much despite the introduction of eight new faces into the dressing room. He’s been impressed with both the rookies and the veterans.

“We’ve got a good strong group of young guys who are really good guys,” Ginnell said. “All of our rookies this year are great guys. We have older guys who have stepped into good leadership roles.

“Braden Schneider is an unreal captain and he’s not making many mistakes out there, if any at all. He’s just an unreal guy, and Ben McCartney too. He’s a great guy as well.

“We have a strong leadership group coming in and taking over because we lost some big players.”

What remains unclear is the prize the Wheat Kings are playing to win.

There is no word yet on whether a post-season will be held, but Ginnell wants to be victorious as often as possible. He said that’s where the team has to set its goal.

“We obviously want to win as much as we can,” Ginnell said. “It’s more about building experience and getting those young guys into some games and getting them prepared for next year, as well as developing everybody and getting some confidence in our game, and at the end of the day, trying to take home that banner.

“Why not? Every team in this division is a good team and we’re all competing so we might as well and try to take home that East Division banner.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson