Unbeaten Flyers soar to top of MJHL

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This article was published 19/10/2023 (1073 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winkler Flyers haven’t won an MJHL championship since 1997-98.

Could this be the season they end the drought and hoist the Turnbull Cup?

Early indications are the latest edition of the Flyers has a chance.

They’ve bolted from the gate with a 7-0-0-0 record to lead the MJHL’s East Division, remain the league’s lone unbeaten team with a healthy plus-26 goal differential. Earlier this week, the were ranked No. 1 overall in the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s top-20 poll.

General manager and head coach Justin Falk, starting his third season at the helm, is quick to temper expectations in the wake of the early season hype. He very much likes his team but admits it’s a work in progress.

“It was a highly competitive training camp,” said Falk on Thursday. “We wanted to make sure that (we replaced) some of the pieces that graduated from a program and we did our best throughout the off-season to bring in a good crop of players to compete for those spots and then fill in some of the holes that we felt were missing last year. It’s still very early in the season and although we’re undefeated, there’s a lot of good teams in this league with records not too very far off from ours.”

A solid foundation, including Malachi Klassen, a 20-year-old goaltender, and overage right-winger Trent Penner, leads a group of 13 players returning from a team that finished third in the East before being eliminated in the post-season quarter-finals.

Klassen and Penner, both playing in their hometown, are keenly aware of franchise’s 25-year championship dry spell.

“People definitely bring it up a lot,” said Klassen, in his third season with the Flyers. “I mean, in Winkler we kind of eat, sleep and breathe hockey during the winter — there’s not much else in a small town like this. People are really committed to this team and invested into what we’re doing. So us having the promise we’re showing early on here really gets the buzz up in town.

“I grew up being a fan of the Flyers and dreamed of one day playing for them. Then I got an opportunity to join the league and I get to be a part of it this year, which is a big deal to me.”

Although Winkler’s last champions accomplished the feat before they were born, Penner said his teammates can draw inspiration from the ‘97-98 team, which was led by current Neepawa Titans GM-head coach Ken Pearson.

“It’s been a little while but we were lucky enough last season when the ‘97-98 team came in and did a little reunion,” said Penner. “They came in and talked to our room last year and that was pretty cool to see.”

A primary off-season focus for Falk, whose 12-year pro playing career ended in 2019, was rebuilding a defensive corps that lost five 20-year-olds to graduation, including Kyle Crewe, Zach Brault, Trent Sambrook, Cole MacKenzie and Owen Lugowski.

Enter blue-liners Brandt Young (Winnipeg Blues), Isaiah Peters (Notre Dame Hounds, SJHL) and Blake Matheson (Olds Grizzlys, AJHL), who arrived via trade and new recruits James Richards and Ty Pratte. Falk also beefed up his goaltending with the addition of Liam Ernst, an 18-year-old from White City, Sask.

“There’s still so much room for growth in all of them,” said Falk. “We tried to make sure that our back end was maybe a little bit more mobile and a little bit better with the puck in executing coming out of our end. We wanted to play a little bit more possession (game) through the neutral zone and so we made a few acquisitions there in the off-season.”

Up front, the Flyers have displayed a balanced attack with five forwards averaging at least a point per game.

“We’re really deep up front,” said Penner, who leads the club with four goals and 10 points in seven games. “I guess if you look at our stats, we have all four lines contributing, so that’s nice to have.”

Winkler’s next test comes Saturday when the OCN Blizzard visits Centennial Arena. Game time is 7 p.m.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca