‘More complete’ Geekie tearing up WHL after return from Coyotes

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This article was published 05/12/2023 (1030 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Junior hockey careers can often seem very unpredictable.

There are injuries, fluctuating ice time, trades, coaching drama and in Conor Geekie’s situation, franchise relocation, to complicate the process.

So far in 2023-24, the 19-year-old from Strathclair seems to be handling the upheaval just fine thank you after the Winnipeg Ice, a team he spent his first three WHL seasons, was hastily sold and relocated to Wenatchee, Wash., last spring.

The franchise, renamed the Wild, has been rising steadily in the Western Conference standings by winning 18 of 25 games since Geekie’s return from the training camp of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.

Last week, Geekie broke out with six goals and 13 points in four games to improve his season totals to 20 goals and 49 points in 25 games, which is tied for third in the league scoring race.

The highlight came Saturday in Portland when Geekie, with the Wild trailing the Winterhawks 5-2 in the third period, struck for four consecutive goals, including the OT winner on a solo rush, in Wenatchee’s 6-5 triumph.

Geekie, centring a line with fellow first-round NHL draft pick Matt Savoie and Japanese import Kenta Isogai, has been lighting it up. He missed Wenatchee’s first five regular-season games while with the Coyotes — avoiding the suspension and eventual firing of disgraced head coach Kevin Constantine for “derogatory comments of a discriminatory nature” — and appears to be thriving under new bench boss Roy Sommer.

“My game’s the same, it’s just more complete,” said Geekie earlier this week. “I think I’m better in the D-zone. I’m not physical all the time. I still have that skill set to my game, it’s just that I’m using my body in the corners and protecting the puck and holding on to it a little longer instead of trying to make that pass through three guys.”

The Wild, currently 19-8-3-0 and one point behind the first-place Prince George Cougars, have a sturdy base of talent from the Winnipeg days to work with. The 6-4, 197-pound Geekie set a career high of 35 goals and 77 points in 2022-23 while his close friend, Savoie, who had an extended stay with the Buffalo Sabres, has been red hot with 11 goals and 23 points in 10 games since returning to junior.

“It’s kind of all coming together,” said Geekie. “I’m scoring and I’m getting some pretty good goals just from playing with my linemates but the big thing is our whole team’s rolling right now.

“I mean, the other game (he scored once and added three assists in Sunday’s 7-4 win over the Tri-City Americans) it just seemed like every time I touched the puck or would pass the puck, they would score on the rush and I wouldn’t even really be involved in it but I still get an assist. We’re really excited to see where it goes.”

What would make and even more perfect scenario for Geekie and Savoie would be a chance to reunite with former Ice teammate Zach Benson, an 18-year-old currently playing a regular shift with the NHL’s Sabres.

There is a reasonable expectation Benson could be reassigned to Canada’s world junior team in the coming days.

“He’s played his nine games (in the NHL) and I’m not sure how the whole thing works but I hope he comes,” said Geekie of Benson. “I think it’d be fun for three of us to kind of be on the same team again for one last time and see how things go.”

On Tuesday, both Geekie and Savoie were invited to Canada’s upcoming selection camp that begins Sunday in Oshawa, Ont. Dominion City’s Denton Mateychuk, a defenceman with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors, also received a call from Hockey Canada.

MILESTONE FOR SPILLER: Portage GM and head coach Blake Spiller and assistant coach Paul Harland have been working together so long they make a little history every time the Terriers play.

On Sunday, the former teammates reached a major milestone by coaching their respective 1,000th MJHL regular-season games in Sunday’s 3-1 win over the visiting Steinbach Pistons.

Spiller, who was an assistant to Don MacGillivray for five seasons prior to assuming command of the team in 2006-07, is now within eight wins of breaking the MJHL’s all-time record of 670 regular-season coaching wins, held by the legendary Doug Stokes.

Now in their 18th season together, Spiller, Harland and goaltending coach Jim Tkachyk have combined to win one national championship, eight MJHL titles and two ANAVET Cups. Spiller has been the league’s coach of the year four times while winning the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s coach of the year award three times.

He credits the club’s long-time head scout, Frank Harding, who recently retired and his successor Angus Moar and his son, Robbie, the club’s video coach, for helping preserve the Terriers’ winning tradition.

“My best attribute is surrounding myself with quality people,” said Spiller. “Paul knows the game and is a great communicator and Jim has an excellent feel for dealing with both the physical and mental aspects of goaltending.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca