Battle of Manitoba brewing

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/09/2021 (1777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The pandemic, destructive as it has been to all walks of life, has taken a big chunk of out junior hockey in the last 18 months.

In the spring of 2020, a premature end to the WHL’s regular season meant a dream first-round playoff matchup between the Winnipeg Ice and Brandon Wheat Kings, a rivalry stoked during eight regular-season meetings, went up in smoke.

During the 2021 Regina hub, Brandon swept the four meetings between the teams but the template had been set. There was bad blood, heart-thumping action and general loathing on both sides.

With any luck, the 2021-22 season will provide what many Manitoba hockey fans have been longing for: a post-season matchup between Winnipeg and Brandon, regarded by many as the top two teams in the East Division.

And so, on the eve of Friday’s regular-season opener between the Ice and Wheat Kings in Brandon, we preview what might be in store for fans in six East cities and a projected order of finish:

1. Brandon Wheat Kings (first, 18-4-2-0 in the Regina hub)

Second-year head coach Don MacGillivray has gone through a tumultuous pre-season with as many as nine players attending NHL training camps at one time.

“It’s a big number and, you know, quite honestly, it’s a really nice thing for the organization but it’s not a very good way to get organized to start the season,” says MacGillivray.

Fortunately, most of those players are already back but he’s still waiting No. 1 centre Ridly Greig (Ottawa) and blue-liners Vincent Iorio (Washington) and Mason Ward (Detroit).

Another complication is Belarusian import pick Zakhar Polshakov, a forward, is at home awaiting a visa and still hasn’t skated with his new team. The supporting cast is young but promising, highlighted by 17-year-old centre Nate Danielson, picked fifth overall in the 2019 draft.

“Go through our lineup — we’re missing six guys up front and our captain Braden Schneider on the back end, so yeah, we’re gonna look a lot different,” says MacGillivray. “That’s part of the hockey. We won when we were supposed to win last year and unfortunately didn’t get a chance to play any further than that but this is a new year and everybody is starting from zero.”

2. Winnipeg Ice (second, 18-5-1-0)

The league’s best player last spring, Peyton Krebs, has graduated to the pro ranks but the Ice should still be improved this fall.

Sixth-year head coach James Patrick has excellent forward depth and an improving D-corps at his disposal. And goaltending, considered an organizational weakness a year ago, is much improved with the tandem of Gage Alexander and Daniel Hauser. Alexander and Hauser were excellent in the hub but the small sample size leaves some room for doubt.

The club’s top two centres — potential first-round NHL draft picks Matt Savoie and Conor Geekie — will be tested nightly as they are matched up against the premier forwards in the Eastern Conference.

Bring on the Battle of Manitoba.

“They’ve got a very good club and they’re going to be the odds-on favourites for sure and we’re the defending East Division champions,” says MacGillivray of the brewing conflict. “I would expect nothing less and I think certainly it’s good for everybody. All those games get highly contested. Both teams are good teams and it will make for good spectator sport as long as there aren’t 18 power plays in the game.”

3. Regina Pats (fifth, 9-12-2-1)

Last spring, Connor Bedard played 15 games in the hub for the Pats, scoring an astonishing 12 goals and 28 points before heading off to play for Canada’s team at the U18 world championship.

It was stunning debut for a 15-year-old. Six months later, the uber-talented centre is an even scarier proposition for opposing defenders but is there a danger of the Pats becoming Team Bedard and losing their way?

Head coach Dave Struch says it won’t happen.

“There’s not going to be anything new for us other than Connor going to different cities and having the media attention in those cities,” says Dave Struch, who’s starting his fourth season as Pats head coach. “His media schedule, those types of avenues are going to be nothing new for him, but new for our organization… Now, how we handle that is easy. We go on about our business — Connor is very mature and he never lets any of that stuff into our dressing room…

“We’re very fortunate to have person and player of his stature at such a young age and to be a part of it. But we also like what we’ve created here to help everybody.”

Winnipegger Matthew Kieper, 17, has laid claim to the Pats No. 1 job in goal after an excellent showing in the hub last spring.

Struch got some welcome news Thursday with the reassignment of Czech defenceman Stanislav Svozil, a third-round NHL draft pick who got a long look in training camp from the Columbus Blue Jackets.

4. Saskatoon Blades (third, 16-5-2-1)

The Blades have a first-year head coach (Brennan Sonne) but that inexperience will be offset by a veteran-laden defence led by Rhett Rhinehart and a likely all-star in net, Nolan Maier. Maier is poised to become the winningest goaltender in league history.

What’s missing is certainty up front, where overage centre Tristan Robins of Clear Lake would be a welcome addition. Robins, a second-round NHL draft pick, remains with the San Jose Sharks.

“I would have it as probably 50-50 right now in my conversations with everybody, but it’s out of our hands,” says Saskatoon GM Colin Priestner of Robins’ status. “Whereas, if you’ve got a 19-year-old or an 18-year-old, you’re pretty much certain they’re coming back but a signed 20-year-old is not as likely to come back.”

Earlier this week, Priestner dealt with a major off-season headache when he dealt power forward Colton Dach to the Kelowna Rockets for centre Trevor Wong.

Dach, a second-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks, had demanded a trade and eventually got his wish. In return, the Blades get an 18-year-old Wong, Kelowna’s leading scorer last spring.

“It became clear that we were going to have to trade him because he wasn’t going to report to our team when he was released from Chicago,” says Priestner. “So, it kind of put us in a difficult situation with a very limited number of teams that his agency said he would report to.”

5. Prince Albert Raiders (fourth, 9-11-3-1)

The Raiders will be competitive again but how good will depend on some high-end talent currently playing elsewhere.

GM Curtis Hunt is waiting on four veterans to return from NHL camps, including forwards Ozzy Wiesblatt (San Jose) and Reece Vitelli (Arizona) and blue-liners Nolan Allan (Chicago) and Kaiden Guhle (Montreal), who missed most of the Regina hub with a hand injury.

Wiesblatt, Allan and Guhle are all first-round NHL picks.

“Part of our depth and the strength of our team is in our (defence) and we’ve got (Landon) Kosior back from L.A. and we’re excited to get him in the lineup with his leadership and I thought Remy (Aquilon) had a breakout season last year, so we’re more than comfortable with the group we have,” says Hunt. “And when those other guys come, obviously we’ll be really excited.”

In past seasons, Hunt has successfully mined Belarus for an infusion of import talent and he’s hoping to do so again. Trouble is, goaltender Tikhon Chayka and forward Uladzislau Shyla, a pair of 18-year-olds, have yet to reach North America.

It’s not uncommon for visas to be caught in bureaucratic delays with prospects from Belarus. What does Hunt expect from Shyla and Chayka when they get here?

“I’m hoping for a top-six forward and someone to push my 19-year-old goalie (Carter Serhyenko),” says Hunt.

6. Moose Jaw Warriors (sixth, 8-13-3-0)

The Warriors, coming off consecutives sixth-place finishes in the East, could be on an upward trajectory this season and powering that surge will be 17-year-old defenceman Denton Mateychuk.

The Dominion City product, one of the top draft-eligible defenders in 2022, is an intuitive player who was the youngest player on Team Canada at the U18 worlds not named Bedard.

“He’s very stocky and strong and he has done a real good job of using a stick and angling to influence getting in the way of people, stripping pucks and going the other way in a hurry when he is on his game,” says Mark O’Leary, entering his third season as head coach. “He does that better than anybody in terms of transition. We like to look at him as a one-man breakout.”

Moose Jaw’s lineup will include only two 20-year-olds — forward Logan Doust and goaltender Carl Tetachuk — and O’Leary is in no hurry to reach the league maximum of three.

Prize draft pick Brayden Yager, a 16-year-old centre, appears poised for big things after an excellent debut in the hub. He supplements a roster with veteran forwards Eric Alarie, Jagger Firkus and Ryder Korczak and Brandonite Daemon Hunt, a defenceman.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14