WHL NOTEBOOK: Central Scouting weighs in on Wheat Kings duo, Stallard

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This article was published 20/01/2016 (3571 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kale Clague, Tanner Kaspick and Jordy Stallard are on NHL Central Scouting’s radar.

Brandon Wheat King defenceman Kale Clague was ranked 22nd and forward Tanner Kaspick was 76.

Stallard, a Brandon product who plays for the Calgary Hitmen, was ranked 84th.

“It’s just all hype right now,” Clague said. “It doesn’t mean much to me. I just want to keep playing hockey. What happens in June, that’s going to be the finalized rankings. I just want to play my game and hopefully keep climbing.”

Clague, 17, who has two goals and 14 assists in 44 games, has been selected to play in the top prospects game in Vancouver on Jan. 28. Central Scouting had earlier given the Lloydminster, Alta., product an “A” grade in its players to watch list, suggesting he is a candidate to be taken in the first round.

The National Hockey League draft will be held June 24-25 in Buffalo, N.Y.

Tanner Kaspick had 10 goals and seven assists in 35 games before he was injured in Brandon’s final game before Christmas. The 17-year-old, who turns 18 next week, has missed nine games.

“Any time you see your name on a prestigious list like that it’s a big honour,” Kaspick said. “It’s a big goal of mine to be drafted and there’s still a long way to go and still a lot to prove, but it’s nice to get the recognition for now.”

The 18-year-old Stallard played midget AAA in Brandon with current Wheat Kings Kaspick, James Shearer, Duncan Campbell, Ty Lewis and Tyler Coulter. He has 12 goals and 22 assists in 42 games.

Stallard said he was pretty excited after waking up to a Twitter notification that he was on the list.

“It’s a great feeling but as of right now it means nothing and it’s only going to make me work harder to reach my ultimate goal of getting drafted,” Stallard said by phone on Tuesday.

Former Winnipeg Jet Keith Tkachuk’s son Matthew was named the top-ranked North American prospect, with consensus No. 1 pick Auston Matthews tops among international skaters. The American is playing with Zurich in Switzerland.

The top-ranked Western Hockey League player is Stallard’s teammate Jake Bean at No. 13. The top North American goaltending prospect is Carter Hart of the Everett Silvertips.

TOP PLAYERS: Reid Gardiner of the Prince Albert Raiders was named the Canadian Hockey League’s player of the week after posting seven points last week. Meanwhile, Zach Sawchenko, who kept the Wheat Kings to one goal on 47 shots on Saturday, was named the CHL’s goaltender of the week.

SOLD OUT: The Wheat Kings announced on Tuesday that tickets are now gone for their annual Sportsman’s Dinner. The event on Feb. 4 in the Keystone Centre’s UCT Pavillion features Winnipeg Jets’ general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, TSN’s Dennis Beyak and comedian Dave Hemstad. The annual fundraiser provides money for the Wheat Kings’ Scholarship Foundation.

BAD BOYS: Apparently some players went home to lumps of coal in their stockings.

Since the Christmas break — play resumed 24 days ago on Dec. 27 — 15 players have been suspended and five teams have been fined. To put that in perspective, 25 players were suspended and four teams were fined in the 86 days between the start of the season and the final game before the Christmas break.

The latest two to be given some time off are Brayden Point (one game for clipping) and Tristin Langan of the Moose Jaw Warriors for incidents at a game on Saturday in Brandon. Langan received three games for a hit that left Connor Gutenberg out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

Elkhorn’s Taylor Sanheim of the Calgary Hitmen also had the boom lowered on him, receiving four games for an incident against the Edmonton Oil Kings on Saturday.

He also received a three-game suspension in October.