Thiessen finding his game in WHL

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This article was published 23/04/2021 (1784 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rylan Thiessen’s confidence has come a long way.

The homegrown Brandon Wheat Kings defenceman, who turned 20 in February, was an offensive star at the under-18 level. Now in his second full Western Hockey League season, Thiessen scored his first WHL goal on Wednesday and added an assist in a 6-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos, signs he’s rediscovering his game in major junior.

“A big part of my game is my skill and first pass out of my zone so playing more and getting more opportunity definitely helps with my confidence,” Thiessen said. “With that comes making more of those plays and making them more often and more consistency. I feel like I’ve done that this year. There are still parts of game I have to work on but I thought I made a couple of good strides this year in the right direction.”

The six-foot-one, 192-pound defenceman made his Western Hockey League debut in 2018-19, playing three games with the Lethbridge Hurricanes during an extended stay with the Alberta club before returning to the U18 Wheat Kings, where he scored 12 goals and added 18 assists in 30 games. The Wheat Kings eventually beat the Winnipeg Wild in the final to win the Manitoba AAA U18 Hockey League title.

Last season, he played 22 games in Lethbridge, earning three assists before a deal on Dec. 4, 2019, when Brandon general manager Darren Ritchie traded a sixth-round pick in 2020 for him.

As one of seven defencemen on the Wheat Kings blue-line and a frequent healthy scratch last season, he saw action in 14 games in Brandon, earning three more assists.

He has also played 14 games this season, with a goal and eight assists. He said experience has played a big role.

“I was on two good teams last year with good D corps so I learned from them watching what they do every single night,” Thiessen said. “That helped a lot and now this year when I know I’m playing more often, I just have to bring it to the table every single night.”

He had one advantage this season over many of his teammates, although it may now be a distant memory.

Thiessen was one of the major junior players who headed back to Junior A, earning an assist in two games in November with the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Flin Flon Bombers. He said it was good for him just to be back in a team atmosphere, and to play with his close friend Mason Kaspick of Brandon.

“It was nice,” Thiessen said. “That was probably what I missed the most, not being in the team atmosphere, being in the dressing room, practising every day, having a set plan and a routine to get back into was nice going back up there. And obviously getting into a few games with a couple of my best buddies and obviously the Ginnells (Wheat Kings forward Riley and Winnipeg Ice forward Brad) were up there as well.”

Unfortunately, Manitoba teams got shut down by provincial COVID-19 regulations in November, so then the waiting game began again for the WHL season. Thiessen said it wasn’t easy.

“We were waiting for a long time and when you hear about this, you get excited but none of us wanted to get too, too excited because we didn’t know if it would be a for-sure thing,” Thiessen said. “Once it was finally announced for sure, everyone was pretty excited and it’s made this season pretty awesome. Having sat around for however many months we did and finally getting to play with our best buddies again, it’s been great.”

The team arrived on Feb. 28, and were promptly placed in their dorm rooms at the University of Regina’s Paskwaw Tower with three roommates.

After the initial quarantine, Thiessen has enjoyed it.

“It’s been good,” Thiessen said. “Obviously coming in we didn’t know what to expect. We have a pretty good setup with our residential spot here in our dorms. My roommates are very good and the coaches have obviously done a real good job of planning our meals and giving us stuff to do to keep us busy.

“On the hockey side, it’s just good to be back on the ice. None of us are complaining about that aspect of sure. We’ve been waiting a long time.”

Thiessen hadn’t met rookie Tyson Zimmer, but he got to know goalie Ethan Kruger last season. Nolan Ritchie is another matter entirely.

“He’s one of my best buddies,” Thiessen said. “It’s nice to have him around all the time.”

Thiessen is one year older than Ritchie, but the pair played every second year together growing up in Brandon until the under-18 level, when they spent two consecutive seasons together.

When Thiessen doesn’t have team activities filling his time, he’s one of many poker players on the team. He’s FaceTimes with his family every day, watches some Netflix and also keeps his mind busy in another way.

He’s registered in a pair of courses at Brandon University, fitness theory and practice, and psychology. He also took a class in Lethbridge prior to the trade, and another class before Christmas in 2020.

“It’s big,” Thiessen said. “Especially before this bubble even happened, there was a lot of time just sitting at our house so having something like that to keep us busy there, and in here, it’s nice to get away from hockey and focus on stuff like that.”

He writes tests every two or three weeks, so he picks certain days and focuses on his schoolwork.

Thiessen said he did a good job packing, although he brought more clothes than he needed because the team gave the players branded apparel. Food is another matter.

“We’ll have quite a bit of food to bring home,” Thiessen said. “I’d rather have too much than too little.”

He’s had three or four care packages delivered to him, including a couple from his parents.

The coaching staff was honest with the eight defencemen before the season started, explaining that for all of them to play, they would have to take their turns sitting. Thiessen has played in 14 of the team’s 21 games, and was thankful the situation was laid out at the beginning the season.

“It helps a bit,” Thiessen said. “It’s not everyone’s ideal situation to being sitting in the stands but we have two good young guys who are going to be a part of this team in the future when our older guys are done so you definitely have to get them into games and show them what the league’s like.”

The two youngsters, Logen Hammett and Jacob Hoffrogge, are both in their 17-year-old seasons and new to the league. Thiessen learned a year ago how tough the WHL is to play in as a rookie, and has done what he can to help out.

“They came in and have done a really good job,” Thiessen said of the duo. “They look up to all of us and especially (Braden) Schneider, and I think everyone has done a pretty good job of taking them under their wing and helping them every single day on the ice, whether it’s teaching points or just answering any questions they have.

“They’re both really good players and they’re going to help this team a lot in the future.”

If they have questions, a much-improved Thiessen will be answering them. Ritchie said he’s noticed a big difference in his friend on the ice.

“I feel like he has a lot more confidence out there with the puck,” he said of Thiessen. “You can see he’s a real good player and makes the right play every time. He is just a lot more confident this year.”

Head coach Don MacGillivray has also noticed a difference. While MacGillivray noted Thiessen has things to work on, he is much improved.

“He’s been in a tough spot,” MacGillivray said. “He’s been in and out of the lineup a little bit but I like how he moves the puck. When he moves the puck hard, he’s a very effective player. He has a good shot, he sees the ice, he always has his head up. In his case, we just want to see him compete a little harder on the defensive side of things, but for a guy coming in and out of the lineup, he’s done a nice job.”

The Wheat Kings (16-3-2-0) certainly head into their last three games with lots on the line. While they won’t be competing for a WHL crown, they can win an East Division banner. They play the Prince Albert Raiders Saturday at 7 p.m., Regina Pats Sunday at 9 p.m., and wrap up against the Saskatoon Blades Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Thiessen said it’s easy to get up for games.

“At this point we know there is no championship but I think it’s just a Wheat Kings culture thing,” Thiessen said. “The teams we’re playing every night are our six biggest rivals in the league so getting to play them every single night, you want to play your A-game. You never want to lose to these guys. You love playing them and they’re the best games. It’s pretty easy to keep us all motivated.”

He noted the team’s game has gotten better as they zeroed in on the style of play sought by their coaches, which include things such as going in hard on the forecheck and blocking shots.

The entire experience has been a good one for Thiessen, even if it didn’t exactly start off with a bang as the players quarantined as their COVID-19 test results were examined. He said it’s been an absolute blast ever since.

“I think all of us at the start in the first couple of weeks found it pretty slow and tiring and were almost counting down the days,” Thiessen said. “But as time went on, it’s flown by, to say the least. It’s crazy that it’s almost over. We’ve had a lot of good times so it’s going to be pretty sad to see it end.”

 

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