This is the season preview in today's paper. It's long. Like really long. If you have a doctor's appointment in an hour you might want to save this for later.
Larry Wintoneak doesn’t mind admitting that his team has thought about what it would be like to win the Credit Union Cup.
The Kindersley Klippers will open the season on Saturday in North Battleford with that goal in the cross-hairs.
“We haven’t even played our first game yet, but we’ve talked about winning a championship and getting to the dance,” said Wintoneak, who enters his fifth season behind the bench fresh off a two-year contract extension. “We may not be the star-studded guys, but we build from within and we want to be able to prove that that’s the right process to win.”
The Klippers were one goal away from the league final last season and had their dreams shattered in overtime of Game 7 against the Yorkton Terriers.
“When you lose Game 7 in overtime, you understand how close you really were,” said the coach. “We were five wins from going to the Royal Bank Cup. We’re one of a handful of teams in the country that can say that.”
The team’s biggest strength is undoubtedly up front, but the Klippers’ top four on the back end is nothing to sneeze at and last year’s backup, Scott Hellyer, is out to prove he can backstop an SJHL contender.
Forwards
The Klippers enter the season boasting what is arguably the deepest forward group in the SJHL. They also have the league’s top line in the 20-year-old trio of Andrew Dommett, Johnny Calkins and Braeden Adamyk.
Most coaches, including Wintoneak, talk about a top six forward group. This year, he’s talking top nine, and the decisions don’t get any easier after that.
As of Saturday, six spots were still up for grabs, with returning forwards Beau Taylor, Ryan Benn and Taylor Wasden, along with newcomers Pearce Gourley, Justin Gerwing, Brett Penner, Brennan Bosovich and Tanner Kissick, in the mix.
The unit expected to dominate the SJHL this season features newly named captain and resident sniper Dommett, playmaker Calkins and jack-of-all-trades Adamyk.
Wintoneak described it as a puck-possession line, with Calkins’ vision and puck distribution complementing the skill sets of both wingers.
“They want to be the best line in our league and they also want to have the opportunity to be one of the best lines in this country,” said the coach.
All three players have seen the success Kellen and Connor Jones have reaped with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. That team won back-to-back national championships thanks largely to the Jones twins, who also played for Wintoneak at last year’s World Junior A Challenge.
“These guys want to have that opportunity,” he said.
Beyond the big line, the Klippers will start the season with basically two second lines.
One features Taylor Duzan and Jordon Hoffman, who developed some chemistry last season, along with bruising right winger Jesse Mysiorek. All three are 19.
“That Hoffman line is real good down low, going to the net, creating some havoc. They’re so quick on loose pucks,” said Wintoneak.
He said you could “flip a coin” between that line and another one including 20-year-old Sanfred King and right winger Tanner Exner. Gourley has been tried out on that unit. However, Exner injured his shoulder in Saturday’s exhibition game in Humboldt and his status is unclear.
King is expected to play a much larger role this season. He broke his femur in early 2009 and was still getting his game back when the Klippers acquired him last November. Now he says he’s 100 per cent.
“He’s got good hands and I think he’s a smart, intelligent kid who can really distribute the puck, similar to what Calkins does,” said Wintoneak.
As for the final cuts, the coach said each player has done everything asked of him and that one of the biggest factors will be whether a player can move up a line in the case of injury or poor play.
When it’s all said and done, the Klippers feel they can ice four solid lines capable of wearing down opponents with “our tenacious forecheck and our ability to work hard,” Wintoneak said.
Defence
The Klippers have quality on the back end, but lack the kind of depth they would like to have.
All-star defender Kurt Leedahl and hard-hitting John Sonntag, both 20, will anchor the blueline.
“Kurt has been an all-star in our league and I think Sonntag can now become that same thing,” said Wintoneak. “I think our back end is going to surprise some people.”
Although Sonntag’s all-around play took major strides last season, the Klippers want to see even more toughness from the Goodsoil product. He also added a noticeable offensive dimension to his game last year and should continue to improve in that regard.
Leedahl will play with 18-year-old Sean Flanagan to start the season. Sonntag’s partner has not been decided.
Flanagan is earning his share of attention in the hockey world, with Hockey Canada scouts watching him in two pre-season games last week. The smooth-skating blueliner is a strong candidate to be invited to the training camp for Team West’s entry at the World Junior A Challenge.
Lance Tabin, 20, rounds out the top four. The Regina native, acquired with Exner for Travis Eggum last season, lost some weight over the summer in an effort to improve his mobility. He impressed Wintoneak at training camp.
Kindersley’s Riley Down played almost exclusively on the wing last season, and that’s where the Klippers feel he is more effective, but with the logjam up front and a shortage on the back end, he will start the year as a rearguard.
Two fresh faces will start the season on the Klipper blueline, both 18-year-olds.
Jeff Bartel, 18, was forced to play single-A hockey in Manitoba last season after breaking his arm. Former Klippers head scout Jim McInnes noticed him and recommended the player to Wintoneak.
“He’s a kid that I think sees the ice pretty good, moves the puck well, he’s efficient. What he needs to do is continue to work on his feet and he’ll get better at every level,” said the coach.
Cody Thiel, 17, had stuck with the team out of camp but decided this week to return to midget AAA.
Wintoneak picked up 18-year-old David Haaf, who is from Medicine Hat, on Monday. He said he hasn’t seen him play but needed the depth. Haaf totalled two goals and 17 points in 34 games with the AAA Tigers last season.
“In the perfect world, I would get two defencemen,” Wintoneak said last week. “We would get an older power play guy with some experience and a steady younger guy.”
Goaltending
The loss of last year’s SJHL rookie of the year Josh Thorimbert has some wondering whether the Klippers will have the goaltending to go far.
Wintoneak is determined to put those questions to bed.
“I’ll put this to rest right now. I’ve been fielding this question from not only you, but everybody else,” he responded. “Scotty Hellyer is our guy right now. He’s our guy. It’s for him to lose that position. He’s earned the right to have that opportunity. He’s worked hard in the summer.
“I know Joe Blow might say, well, he’s this. The armchair coaches might not see what I see in Scotty Hellyer.”
For many, it’s simply a case of not having seen Hellyer, 20, play much last season. The Brandon native was acquired on Dec. 1, 2009, and saw limited action behind Thorimbert, not getting his first start until Jan. 17.
With only four starts in the league, Hellyer’s stats were inflated by a few cases of mop-up duty. He finished the year with a 2-2 record along with a 3.93 goals-against average and .888 save percentage.
That said, Hellyer was spectacular in three of those starts, stopping about 40 shots on two occasions. He also looked solid during training camp and in Tuesday’s pre-season game in Brooks, where he made 41 saves in a 5-2 loss.
“He was a top-end goaltender in midget AAA and I had a chance to watch him play. I liked him then, we tried to recruit him here to Kindersley, he made a choice, the choice wasn’t Kindersley,” Wintoneak recounted.
When Hellyer became available last season, he was “the perfect fit” because he had a year of eligibility left and was already familiar to the coaching staff, Wintoneak said.
“Scott Hellyer right now is our guy and our guys believe in him and it’s his job right now.”
Backup Justin McDonald, 18, comes from the Beardy’s Blackhawks. Wintoneak described him as a well-conditioned athlete and a hard worker in practice.
“I think he just needs some experience. Around his net, he’s gotta clean up in that area and look for pucks. Those loose pucks are important. Every goaltender at this age has to understand how to control a rebound and where to put it.”
Room for improvement
It’s no secret the Klippers weren’t happy with their penalty kill last year, which ranked eighth in the league at 80.4 per cent.
That said, Wintoneak wants to take advantage of his team’s speed by shooting for lots of shorthanded markers this season.
“If you’re sixth in the league in penalty killing, but you lead the league in shorthanded goals, that’s a pretty good give and take,” he said. “We feel we have the personnel and speed to go after teams and we’ll see how they react to the pressure.”
Meanwhile, a major priority will be improving on the team’s road record, which was just 10-17-1-1 last season.
“That’s not good enough. We were fortunate that we had a great, great, great home record.”
Around the Sherwood Conference
The Sherwood is a difficult conference to predict this season.
The Klippers and Estevan Bruins - who are planning to move into their new arena mid-season - are the early conference favourites.
Estevan cashed in on several futures deals from last season, adding a pair of 20-year-olds in centre Ben Findlay and goalie Joel Danyluk from the defending champion La Ronge Ice Wolves, as well as 20-year-old right winger (and new captain) Troy Hunter from Dauphin and 19-year-old winger Ward Szucki from Battlefords. The additions add to a strong young core already in place.
Experienced head coach Karry Biette is clearly tired of his team’s lack of success in recent years.
“Fire me by Christmas if we’re not in the top three,” he told SJHL.ca last week.
After Kindersley and Estevan, it gets a little murky.
Certainly the Weyburn Red Wings can never be counted out, especially not with an attack boasting Drew George, Brock Appleyard and brothers Shawn and Rodney Cowie. That said, the Wings have lost a lot of talent on the back end and in goal.
The defending conference champion Yorkton Terriers will again have stalwart Devin Peters in goal, but the club’s blueline recently took a double whammy with the loss of Clark Byczynski to a trade and Austin Bourhis to the WHL. Torey Stott, Rylan McDonell and Brent Struble highlight the returning forward corps.
The Notre Dame Hounds have their second new coach in as many years, with Kevin White taking over the reins. He has a decent core to work with.
Rosetown’s A-Jay Moore will get support from fellow forwards Trevor Cameron and Patrick Thompson-Gale. The team lost several 20-year-old blueliners and this year’s version figures to be led by James Howden and 18-year-olds Carson Grolla and Troy Murray. Both goaltenders, Russell Abbott and Matthew Smidt, are back.
The Melville Millionaires are less than a year away from opening their new arena, though it’s not clear what kind of a team will play in it.
Go-to players include Brayden Metz and Michael Desjarlais up front, Justin Hollinger and Craig Karius on the back end, and 20-year-old newcomer Kyle Jahraus between the pipes.
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