McClennon the Ice’s little big man

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/05/2023 (1123 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Height doesn’t measure heart. And there’s no question Connor McClennon is a major reason the Winnipeg Ice have a strong playoff pulse.

He may stand just 5-8 and clock in at only 164 pounds, but the 20-year-old winger is having a huge impact in the Western Hockey League post-season. McClennon has scored a team-high 13 goals in 14 games as the Ice have rolled through the first three rounds and are on the cusp of a Memorial Cup appearance.

“Anytime you’re in the playoffs, you’ve got to find your game a little bit because it’s so much different than the regular season,” McClennon told the Free Press on Friday.

“I think our group has done a good job, and I’ve been fortunate enough that pucks are going in for me. So it’s been real fun.”

The Ice are now awaiting the winner of the Seattle Thunderbirds-Kamloops Blazers series to see who they’ll meet in a best-of-seven WHL final which begins next Friday in Winnipeg. Seattle, which includes Winnipeg Jets first-round draft pick Brad Lambert, is up 3-1 and can finish it off on home ice this weekend.

The winner of the next series will go the Memorial Cup as WHL champion.

“When you come into the league, that’s what you want to do. But we’re trying not to look too far ahead. We’re just focused on the task at hand here, the next round,” said McClennon.

The product of Wainwright, Alta., got his first taste of junior action during the 2017-18 season, appearing in five games with the Kootenay Ice. He didn’t have a point. The next year, in what would be the team’s final season in British Columbia, he had 14 goals and 15 assists in 46 games.

“When you come into the league at 16 and, you know, I went through a tough year there my first year. To where this franchise is at now and having a chance to do that. It would obviously mean the world,” said McClennon.

His points-per-game totals have been steadily rising with each passing year. He had 49 in 42 games with the Winnipeg Ice in 2019-20, 33 in 24 games during the COVID-impacted 2020-21 campaign, 81 in 62 games last year, and a career-best 92 (46 goals, 46 assists) in 64 games this year.

That was third on a loaded Ice roster, with only Zach Benson (projected to go early in the first round at this summer’s draft) and Matthew Savoie (selected in the first round, ninth overall by the Buffalo Sabres last summer) edging him out in the team scoring race.

McClennon has taken yet another big step in the playoffs. His 13 goals rank second in the WHL (only Seattle’s Dylan Guenther, who began the year in the NHL with the Arizona Coyotes before being returned to junior) has more. He’s also tied with Guenther for fourth-overall in points, with 21.

“My goal was to have a good playoffs and help his team win and so far, so good, but definitely the job’s not done,” he said.

Not too shabby for a guy who currently has no ties to any NHL organization, as strange as that might sound. McClennon was drafted in the sixth round, 178th overall, by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2020. The team opted not to sign him by last summer’s deadline, relinquishing his rights.

No doubt that’s added a bit more fuel to the fire that burns within McClennon. He’d rather not talk about the past, but believes the future is very bright.

“I’m just excited and blessed with this team right now. And whatever happens after this year is something I’ll think about in the summer. Right now, I’m just focused on the task at hand,” he said.

McClennon was invited to a rookie development camp last year with the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, soaking in as much as he could and using that memorable experience to assist in his final year of junior. It’s possible another team reaches out with a similar offer in the coming weeks. Other options might include starting on an American Hockey League contract, or perhaps going over to Europe.

Maybe he follows the lead of Winnipegger Nigel Dawes, with whom he already shares some symmetry and recently announced his retirement from pro hockey after spending the last 12 years overseas.

Not only is Dawes also 5-8 and a Kootenay Ice alumni, McClennon just passed him for third all-time in franchise points (Dawes had 272, he finished this past year with 284). Dawes still holds the Ice record for goals, at 159, while McClennon is second with 138.

McClennon credits coach James Patrick, who played 1,280 games in the NHL and spent more than a decade as an assistant coach at that level, for the role he’s played in his career.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have him as my coach for the last five years,” he said. “Just the knowledge he has and how much he’s he’s helped me develop into the player I am, I’m definitely super fortunate that we have him. Obviously we want to win this for him, too.

McClennon has been fighting an uphill hockey battle for much of his career due to the fact he would be considered extremely undersized. He’s encouraged, however, by the fact the pro game, especially at the highest level in the NHL, has been shifting to more of a speed and skill game in recent years.

One of his role models is Ottawa Senators forward Alex DeBrincat, who is just 5-7 but has become a dynamic scorer.

“He’s a shooter. Shoot-first mentality and a super good skater who works really hard. And obviously he’s known for his goal scoring and I’d say that’s kind of what my biggest asset is,” said McClennon.

“So I’d say that’s definitely someone I’ve modeled my game after.”

There are plenty of others as well, including a Hall of Famer like Marty St. Louis (now the coach of the Montreal Canadiens) and current players such as Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Johnny Gaudreau of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“I think that is kind of where the game’s transitioning. There’s very small guys in the league now and you know, you can’t use that as an excuse to be a smaller guy. You’ve just got to add different tools to your toolbox,” said McClennon.

“Obviously, skating is something you can always work on so that’s something I’m always trying to work on. And when you’re a smaller guy, you’ve got to be really good at something. So scoring goals is what I try to make mine and when they’re going in, they’re going in.”

It takes a village, as the saying goes, and McClennon says his has been especially supportive. From his parents back in Alberta routinely driving long distances to watch Ice games in person, to longtime local billets here in Winnipeg in Val and Ritchie Miller.

He’s savouring these finals days in his adopted home, hoping to finish his junior career with a storybook ending.

“The city of Winnipeg has been great to us. I can’t say enough good things about my time here,” he said. “Hopefully we can keep this going. I want to stay here as long as I can right now.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg