WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Wheat Kings Choose 12

Published on May 2, 2013 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


Calgary, AB. - The Vancouver Giants may have had the first overall selection in Thursday's Western Hockey League Bantam Draft but the Brandon Wheat Kings did their very best to steal the spotlight by getting two of the top six players chosen.

The Wheat Kings began the day with two first round picks - 4th and 17th overall - but wound up dealing the 17th pick and veteran netminder Corbin Boes to Lethbridge in exchange for the Hurricanes first rounder (6th overall).

Brandon then used the two picks to select 6'1" 170 lb. power forward Nolan Patrick of Winnipeg and highly touted Lloydminster defenceman Kale Clague with the fourth and sixth round picks respectively.

Son of former Brandon Wheat King Steve Patrick, Nolan led Division I of the Winnipeg AAA Bantam Hockey League with 75 points this past season, despite playing just nineteen of the team's 30 games.

"Nolan is a tremendous player," Brandon general manager Kelly McCrimmon says. "He does possess a lot of room for development...but we think he's going to continue to improve and be a great junior and certainly a successful pro."

Patrick became the highest drafted Wheat King since Brandon chose Edmonton's Darren Van Oene second overall in 1993. Nolan's father played three seasons with the Wheat Kings - from 1978 - 81 - and was a first round draft choice of the Buffalo Sabres. The elder Patrick played six years in the NHL with stops in Buffalo, Quebec and the New York Rangers.

Moments after announcing the selection of Patrick, the Wheat Kings returned to the podium to announce the selection of Clague.

At 5'11" 173 lbs., Clague set an Alberta scoring record this past season when he scored 77 points in 33 games, shattering the previous record of 65 set by current Toronto Maple Leafs' captain Dion Phaneuf .

"What was interesting at this year's draft was how many guys at the top of the draft had the abilities to be a franchise player," says McCrimmon. "With Kale, you get a tremendous offensive talent...he's been a superstar for two years in bantam."

"Ever since I found out about the league I always thought it was one of the best leagues, if not the best for junior hockey," Clague recently told the Regina Leader Post. "My uncle played in the league...my dad played in the league. It was kind of a dream of mine to play there."

Kale's father Jason is a former goalkeeper that spent five seasons in the Regina Pats' organization before closing out his WHL career with the Rebels in Red Deer.

This marked the first time in 21 years that the Wheat Kings have had two top 6 picks in the WHL Bantam Draft. In 1992, Brandon opted for Wade Redden (2nd) and Justin Kurtz (6th overall).

After making a splash in the first round, the Wheat Kings used their second round pick (25th overall) to select local prospect Tanner Kaspick.

The 5'11" 183 lb Kaspick, who had 38 points in 42 games with the Brandon AAA Midget Wheat Kings this past season, entered the draft as the highest ranked western Manitoba product and became the third Manitoban to be chosen.

In round three, the Wheat Kings did something that they hadn't done in five years and that was to select two Brandon skaters when they opted for Ty Lewis. The 5'7" 135 lb center scored five goals and 15 points in eight games for the Brandon AAA Bantams in 2012-13.

The fourth round saw Brandon go back outside the province to select 5'10" 160 lb defenceman TJ Brown (69th overall) from the Red Deer Black Bantams. A native of Lacombe, Brown scored sixteen goals and 32 points in 33 games for the Black last season.

Round five (91st overall) saw the Wheat Kings select 6' 175 lb center Dylan Thiessen of the Winnipeg AAA Monarchs. In 30 games this past season, he had 74 points, including fifty goals.

Because of last October's trade with Red Deer that saw the Wheat Kings acquire Minnedosa product Chad Robinson, Brandon didn't have a sixth round pick but in the seventh they opted for 5'10" 150 lb left winger Linden McCorrister of the Winnipeg Hawks (135th overall). In 28 games this past season, he scored 22 goals and 55 points.

The Wheat Kings then turned their attention to south of the border with their eighth and ninth round selections. In round 8 (157th overall), they chose 5'11" 190 lb defenceman Ryan Lindgren from Lakeville, Minnesota and in the ninth (179th overall), Brandon opted for 5'10" 175 lb forward Joey Anderson from Roseville. As a member of Hill Murray High School last season, Anderson scored eight goals and 15 points while Lindgren had 88 points, including 24 goals with Shattuck St. Marys.

The Wheat Kings had two tenth round selections and used them to draft 6'1" 175 lb Grandview defenceman Branden Storey and 5'8" 145 lb right-winger Ben Dalke from LaSalle.

With their final pick, in the 11th round, Brandon chose 5'10" 153 lb right-winger Boissevain's Brayden Billaney of the Southwest Bantam Cougars.

Boes wasn't the only Wheat King to be moved on Draft Day. Second year forward Geordie Maguire, along with a third round draft choice were sent to Regina Thursday morning in exchange for draft day considerations. In 64 games in Brandon last season, Maguire scored four goals and 9 points.

A 20-year old Saskatoon native, Boes spent three seasons in Brandon and is coming off a season that saw him post a 13-23-2-3 record, a 3.76 goals against average and an .897 save percentage in 43 games. In 116 career games with the Wheat Kings, the former Portland Winterhawk draft choice compiled a 3.37 goals against average, a .900 save percentage and two shutouts.

Of the twelve players chosen by the Wheat Kings on Thursday, eight were Manitobans. There were four defenceman selected and eight forwards, including five centers.

The Vancouver Giants, who finished last in the WHL this past season, used the first overall selection to draft high scoring Tyler Benson of Edmonton.

Kaspick and Lewis, Storey and Billaney represented four of the ten western Manitobans chosen Thursday. Among the others chosen were Strathclair's Morgan Geekie (5th round; 90th overall) - son of ex-Wheat King Craig - by the Tri-City Americans, Dean Stewart of Portage, who went to the Saskatoon Blades (6th round, 127th overall), Tristin Langan (9th round; 183rd overall) by Moose Jaw, Virden product Tyler Kirkup, who was chosen in the 9th round, 190th overall by the Red Deer Rebels Oak River's Riley Shamray, who went to Calgary in the 9th round (194th overall) and two more in the eleventh - Grandview's Brett Evans went to Saskatoon and Edmonton chose Brenden Kokorudz of Brandon

A total of thirty-five Manitobans were selected in Thursday's draft, which was held in Calgary.

Check out the Brandon Wheat Kings Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from May 2, 2013


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