First impression a good one for Parker

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This article was published 07/06/2022 (1397 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If the Brandon Wheat Kings were looking to make a good impression on Quinn Parker, they’ve apparently succeeded.

The Wheat Kings picked the six-foot-one, 161-pound product of Winnipeg, 100th overall in the fifth round of the Western Hockey League draft in May, and eight days later he was on the ice in Brandon at prospects camp.

“It’s blown me away,” Parker said. “Everything is just amazing. The staff is awesome, the dressing rooms are amazing. If you ask for anything, they’ll get it for you. It’s just been an awesome experience.”

Hockey actually runs in the family for Parker, who began skating around four years old and was playing a year later.

He has played all over the ice during his time in the game but has settled in at centre recently.

“It’s the love for the sport and just getting out there on that cold surface with the breeze in your face when you’re whipping down the side,” said Parker, whose parents are father Wes and mother Kim. “And scoring goals is awesome and being part of a team and helping a team win. I love it.”

Quinn’s older sister Keara is also an elite player. The 16-year-old is a member of the provincial team who attends the Rink Hockey Academy and shares her brother’s ability to find the back of the net with 17 goals in 24 games last season.

In 30 games in the under-15 AAA hockey league last season, Parker scored 22 goals and added 17 assists, with 74 penalty minutes for the Winnipeg Wild. He added five more points in five playoff games, and after being called up by the U17 Wild, scored once in three post-season outings.

“Quinn is a bigger, 200-foot player who has a real knack for putting the puck in the net,” Wheat Kings director of player personnel Chris Moulton said after the draft. “He’s strong on pucks, he always plays with compete, he wins puck battles and he’s not afraid to get in the areas he needs to, to score.”

Parker, who shoots left, began to get some attention early last winter, but fortunately for him, he was close to somebody who just went through the process and was able to give him some advice.

“I got some attraction early on and my cousin went in the draft a couple of years ago so it’s always been on my mind a bit,” Parker said. “I tried to keep it at the back and not worry about it too much.”

His cousin is Grayson Burzynski, who spent last season with the Swift Current Broncos, the team that took the Winnipegger 44th overall in 2020.

“I’ve had a couple of conversations with him,” Parker said. “It was pretty funny.”

On draft day, Green was at school.

“Me and my friends had a free period so we were all sitting there on our phones,” Parker said. “I didn’t really expect it too much but it just kind of happened and then we all started freaking out and my friends came down the hallway.

“It was just an awesome moment.”

Interestingly, he said the happiness was mixed with the sensation that a journey was over and he was thrilled with the destination.

“It’s a sense of relief that it was finally over but it felt weird to say — we had been building up to it all year — to say that the draft is over and I’m finally part of a franchise,” Parker said. “It was just an amazing feeling.”

There was certainly a reason that Brandon selected him. Parker said the best parts of his game come on the offensive side of the puck.

“I think my playmaking, hockey IQ is probably one of my best attributes and I think I’m a pretty good skater all around,” Parker said. “I’ve been told that a couple of times, and I think I have a pretty hard and accurate shot.”

Like all good athletes, he actually considers his list of stuff to get better at much longer.

“There’s lots of stuff. You can always get better,” Parker said. “My strength in general. I’m pretty tall so growing into my body and getting that big leg strength and in my first couple of strides, getting up to speed quick is probably up there.”

With any new experience, there can be doubts. Parker was eager to see where he matched up against three years of Wheat Kings prospects — the team’s 2005-born, 2006-born and 2007-born players on their list were all at camp — and he was happy with the answer.

“I definitely had lots of questions for myself going into this but I think there is some wiggle room where I can breathe a little bit after getting on the ice and playing with some of these guys,” Parker said. “They’re all amazing players so the competition is just going to get harder.

“We’ll have to see what happens in August.”

A number of the 29 players at the camp — Charlie Elick, Roger McQueen, Teydon Trembecky, Evan Groening, Hayden Chaloner and Eastyn Mannix — have already made their WHL debuts. Parker said he enjoyed talking to them about it.

“There some players who have been through the experience and have actually played in the Dub, and it’s just nice to get on the ice with them,” Parker said. “I’ve got a couple of stories from them already. It’s just been great.”

Parker was suitably impressed with the talent around him at prospects camp and is hopeful he will be WHL teammates with many of them one day. While he’s too young to earn full-time work in the league next season, it’s certainly lit a fire under him to get to major junior.

“I keep saying this but it’s just an amazing feeling,” Parker said. “I could be called up next year, who knows? If the moment comes, it’s just going to be awesome to get up there and play with all these guys.”

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