In a year that was their last in Kootenay, the ICE struggled heavily. They went 13-45-7-3, finishing second last in the Eastern Conference.
Luckily, that was then, and not one single statistic from last year rolls over to this year. Not even the fact that the club played their games in Kootenay, as they relocated and are now the Winnipeg ICE.
“I really think we developed some resiliency to the adversity we went through last year,” said James Patrick, head coach. “We had a very unique year. We acquired a few players, and they decided they didn’t want to play in the league anymore. Some other players left because they weren’t happy with their roles.”
“As the season went on, we saw a ton of improvement. We laid a footprint for the culture of the organization in the second half. The guys worked, and they expected more from themselves,” added Patrick. “There were positives and all of our returning players will have learned a ton from last year.”
Playing out of the Wayne Fleming Arena for the next two years, the buzz around the organization seems to be at an all-time high.
In their final four seasons in Kootenay, the team didn’t qualify for the playoffs once. Again, that doesn’t matter whatsoever now.
So, is the team’s first year in Winnipeg the key to success? Will the die-hard Winnipeg fans help push this team over the edge? Will they win the Manitoba battle against the Brandon Wheat Kings? Let’s take a look into the 2019-2020 Winnipeg ICE and find out.
Just before we get to the upside — and there seems to be a lot — let’s take a quick look at some of the team’s deletions from last year.
The Kootenay ICE didn’t score a lot last year. But, when they did, there was a good chance it came off the stick of Jaegar White. He led the team with 28 goals and was second in team scoring with 52 points overall. White will now be playing for Carleton University (USports) this season.
Another big piece to the puzzle last year that won’t be back is Martin Bodak. From the back end, Martin had 25 points (11G), which was good for eighth in team scoring. He also had the second-most points by a defenceman on the team.
Between the two, that’s 77 points (39G).
“They both played really big roles for our team and they had big years,” said Patrick. “With that being said, I totally believe we have a lot of guys to make up for those two guys.”
Losing White and Bodak may be the bad, but the rest seems to be good.
The Good:
Of the players who had at least 26 points last year (with the exception of White), each one of them is returning. The big question is when will Peyton Krebs return? When asked that question, James was unable to confirm when that would happen after Krebs put up a team-high 68 points last year, culminating in his selection by the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL Entry Draft back in June.
Brad Ginnell had 41 points, while Jakin Smallwood (30), Connor McClennon (29), Cole Muir (27), and Chase Hartje (26) will all return to the team this year. That’s five of the team’s top seven scorers that will start the season on the roster. Add Peyton at some point and this is a team that could score a ton of goals.
Additions:
The ICE organization was extremely busy in the summer, and if I had to rank their summer success, I’d say it’s hard to find another team that added more talent.
Most notably, the team announced that Matthew Savoie will play at least 30 games this season. The guy is only 15-years-old, and he has already started off his WHL career with a bang. Albeit in the preseason, he still had two assists and was a plus-two in one game. With plenty of time to develop and mature, as everyone already knew, the sky is the limit.
“He’s a very special young player that we’re just getting to know,” said Patrick. “You don’t become the first pick overall by accident. He’s very highly skilled, and he just wants to play, learn, and get better. He’s very coachable, and he’s solid. It’s going to be really exciting having him on the team. He’s been really good for me so far in camp, and at the same time, he has things to learn.”
It didn’t stop there, however. The team also drafted Conor Geekie second overall in this past May’s WHL Bantam Draft. Just like Savoie, Geekie is expected to do special things.
Through the CHL Import Draft, Winnipeg inked Michal Teply — the fourth-overall selection. From the Czech Republic, Teply started his training camp with the Chicago Blackhawks. He has since been reassigned and will report to the ICE immediately.
“We’re expecting him to contribute a lot to this club. He’s been drafted in the NHL, and I think a lot of people forget that,” said Patrick.
With their second selection at the CHL Import Draft, Winnipeg picked Nino Kinder. He made his preseason debut last Saturday against Brandon and was a +1 as the team won 5-1.
“Nino is really good, and we think he’s going to do great things for us just like Michal,” Patrick continued.
The ICE also acquired 20-year-old Isaac Johnson this offseason. He played the past two seasons with the Tri-City Americans, where he showed off his great skill set. He had 48 regular season points in the 2017-18 season, adding 13 playoff points in 14 games.
Last year, Johnson was better than a point-per-game player with 32 points (12G) in 31 games played. Standing at 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, Johnson also brings a physical edge to the ICE.
“We’re going to count a lot on him to produce for us this season,” said Patrick.
A few key returnees:
We touched on it before, but now it’s time to take a deeper look into some returning players that should and need to play big roles on this year’s team.
Most notable is certainly Connor McClennon. After a 29 point (14G) campaign last year, the 17-year-old is back, and he’s better than ever. That fact is supported by his selection to Team Canada over the summer as he played in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where he had two points.
In his first preseason game against Brandon last weekend, Connor had a great start with two points (1G).
“He knows how hard and competitive this league can be, and he knows the players in the league,” said Patrick. “He looks really good right now. He’s skating with a lot of confidence. The last 20 or so games of last year he was outstanding.”
“He played against top pairings from the other team because we had a short bench, and that’s not easy, and he was very good,” he continued. “He grew last year, and he’s really confident in his ability for this season.”
Another key returner is a guy who also had two points in his first preseason game against Brandon. With a goal and an assist, Brad Ginnell started things off very nicely after putting up 41 points (16G) last year. This year will be his third full season in the league. He played 51 games with Portland in the 2016-17 season and 25 in the next season before being traded to Kootenay. He’s now played in 104 games with the ICE organization, tallying 49 points (19G).
Again, when asked about Peyton Krebs, James wasn’t able to give a timeline on his return. He is currently in Vegas taking part in his rehab, which Patrick did say was going very well.
Main headlines:
Good start – Winnipeg plays seven of their first 12 games on the road to start the season, including a three-in-three through Saskatchewan. If the team can get off to a good start in those games that go through October 25, they have a good chance to jump up the standings. The ICE play four straight games at the Wayne Fleming Arena beginning on October 30.
Home cooking January – The team plays 12 times in January. Nine of those contests come at the Wayne Fleming Arena. With a team that has some top-end talent offensively and gritty defencemen, if Winnipeg can get to January with somewhat of a good record, this is a month that the ICE could give Winnipeg a ton to cheer for.
“Manitoba Battle” – Many hockey fans in the province have been waiting for a provincial rivalry to call their own. Now, they can. After two preseason games against Brandon, they will play against each other for real on September 20. That’s when Winnipeg makes the short trip down the Trans-Canada Highway to play their new provincial rival. The two teams will meet 10 times in the regular season.
Last year, the ICE played Brandon four times, going 1-2-1.
The first two of the ten meetings come next weekend. Friday night’s game is at Westoba Place in Brandon at 7:30. On Saturday, the two teams invade the Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg.
Don’t forget:
You can listen to next weekend’s games on 680CJOB. The club and Corus Radio have signed a five-year broadcast partnership.
