Tonight the WHL final begins with the Eastern Conference champion Swift Current Broncos hosting the Western Conference champion Everett Silvertips at the Credit Union i-plex.
The two cities are over 900 miles apart and because of the way the WHL sets their schedules, they only see each other once a year with the teams trading visits to each other’s barns.
The one game that they played against each other this year came on a Sunday afternoon with both teams having just played Friday and Saturday nights. Everett took that 4-1, but one game, especially under the circumstances did not give the team’s much knowledge of each other.
However, there are several key members of the Swift Current Broncos who are more familiar with the Silvertips and the faraway U.S. Division, a nearly 16 hour bus ride away.
One of those is a former first round pick of Everett’s chief rival in the Pacific Northwest.
On November 10th, 2015 the Seattle Thunderbirds dealt 1998-born forward Kaden Elder to the Broncos for Owen Seidel and a fifth round pick in 2016.
Elder played against Everett seven times during his 16-year-old season with Seattle and once more the following year before he was moved.
Elder remembers his time with Seattle fondly.
“There were some really good guys there and the coach was really good. The biggest thing there though was the crowd and that atmosphere. Playing in a suburb there outside of Seattle, they knew what they were cheering for sure. They were very excited.”
With the Bantam draft directly preceding the WHL final this year, Elder was reminded of the day when Seattle chose him 22nd overall in 2013.
“It was really exciting. I was just sitting in school. Everyone was watching on their Ipods and when I saw my name go up I was so excited. It was such an honor to be drafted by Seattle. It was a fun day.”
After being acquired, Elder had four points in 47 games with then head coach Mark Lamb running the team, but saw his numbers go up when new coach Manny Viveiros came in for the 2016-17 season. Elder scored 15 goals and added 12 assists in 67 games.
Elder then had 18 goals and 14 assists for 32 points this year and has seven points in the postseason so far.
Elder has tried to make sure the Broncos stayed a cohesive unit even with eight different players coming to the team during the season.
“Everyone on our team shares a special bond. No one gets excluded from anything. We are all involved in everything. For the guys that were traded in this year, they felt like they were at home very quickly. It was definitely good to get them on board and make sure they felt supported when they did not know something. It was a quick bond between all of us.”
Taking a very different route to Swift Current was 1998-born forward Tanner Nagel. He did not hear his name on Bantam draft day in 2013, but still found his way onto the Portland Winterhawks after a strong camp and preseason in 2015.
“I remember that day pretty well. Obviously not being picked at the time it seemed like a really bad thing. It turned into a positive though as it just made me work harder. I still found my way into the league. I’m here today even though I didn’t get drafted. It just made me work harder,” Nagel said.
Nagel played a depth role for Portland in the 2015-16 season and played in four games against Everett. He then got into two games in the 2016 playoffs, as Portland was swept by the Silvertips in the first round. Nagel earned his ice time under former Winterhawks coach Jamie Kompon.
“Everyone has to work hard to get what they want in life. I knew that if I showed up every day and put in the work, good things were going to happen for me. You can’t take any days off.”
Nagel’s one point tallied against Everett was an assist in a preseason game at the Everett tournament prior to the 2016-17 regular season.
Soon thereafter, Nagel was moved to Lethbridge for the rights to goalie Shane Farkas.
“Lethbridge was unbelievable. They gave me a great opportunity there and I’m forever grateful to those guys.”
Nagel got more ice time with the Hurricanes and had 10 goals and six assists for 16 points with Lethbridge during the 2016-17 season. He then had two goals and two assists as the Hurricanes got all the way to the WHL final before falling to the Regina Pats.
“We went on a pretty good run last year and I was glad to part of it. They let me go out there and do my thing and do whatever I could to help the team. Last year I was in that shutdown role and we played against top-end guys. I played some good minutes and I’m just grateful that I got to be a part of that.”
Nagel was then moved again this year at the trade deadline as part of the massive move that saw Stuart Skinner and Giorgio Estephan go with him to Swift Current in exchange for four players and three draft picks.
Nagel, Estephan and Skinner took the next step in the playoffs, getting past their former team in six games and finally getting to the WHL final. They are not done though.
“There is still more work to be done. We came up short last year and we were able to capture the East this time but there is still a lot more hockey ahead. It’s going to be a lot of fun, but it’s going to be a lot of hard work too,” Nagel said.
Another player who has played quite a few games in the Pacific Northwest is 1998-born defenseman Sahvan Khaira, who played 77 games with Seattle over two seasons, before being traded to Swift Current.
He has been an integral part of their defensive corps and should get a lot of ice time against Everett’s best players in the final.
He also has some familial ties with Everett as his older brother Jujhar played for the Silvertips in 2013-14, piling up 16 goals and adding 27 assists for 43 points in 59 games. Jujhar also had three goals and an assist in five playoff games.
MacKenzie Wight also came to Swift Current from Seattle after playing six games with the Thunderbirds in 2016-17.
With so many former Thunderbirds watching their former team win the WHL last season, it is not lost on them that they have a chance to do the same this year with Swift Current.
“We all were brought here because they wanted us to make a team like this. We weren’t there last year and they won it so this year we are going to do whatever we can to make sure we are in that position too,” Elder said.
