The WHL may need to reaffirm that the W in its name stands for “Western” and not “Winterhawks” following the league’s bantam draft held Thursday and Friday.
Three of the top five picks in this year’s Western Hockey League draft played for the same North Shore Winter Club bantam A1 Winterhawks team this season. All told, seven players from that Winterhawks team — winners of this year’s Western Canadian Bantam Championships — were taken in the draft, all going in the first seven rounds.
“I’m just thrilled for them,” said Jim Dinwoodie, the team’s head coach. “They’re just great young men, they really are exceptional young people. We’ve spent two years together so we know each other really well. They’re just great kids and I know they must just be thrilled today.”
Team captain Jordy Bellerive was the first Winterhawk to be picked, the 15-year-old centre from North Vancouver going second overall to the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Bellerive was at home watching the draft unfold online and he knew not to take his eyes off the screen once his name popped up lest he miss his teammates getting their due. He didn’t have to wait long. North Vancouver’s Nolan Kneen, the first defenceman drafted, went third overall to the Kamloops Blazers while forward Justin Almeida, a Kitimat native, was picked fifth by the Prince George Cougars.
“They’re both great players, I knew that they wouldn’t be far behind me,” Bellerive said.
“It was great to see those guys picked so high. It’s definitely something amazing — I guess our coach is doing something right.”
Other Winterhawks getting the call included defenceman Conner McDonald in the second round, 24th overall to the Kamloops Blazers; goaltender Dorin Luding in the third round, 66th overall to the Kelowna Rockets (traded to Saskatoon); goaltender David Tendeck in the sixth round, 130th overall to the Edmonton Oil Kings (traded to Vancouver); and centre Brett Stapley in the seventh round, 151st overall to the Calgary Hitmen.
Two Hollyburn Country Club players also had their names called as defenceman Jake Christiansen went in the fifth round, 105th overall to the Medicine Hat Tigers (traded to Everett) and centre Kyle Kaufmann went in the eighth round, 171st overall to Medicine Hat.
The big story, however, was all the Winterhawks flying off the board. The success of the team and its players may very well stem from heartbreak the club suffered last season. In 2013, with a team made up of mostly first-year bantam players, the Winterhawks battled all the way to the final of the Western Canadian championships but fell one win short of gold. That loss stuck with them as they went through a remarkable 2013-14 season, winning 68 of the 72 games they played while allowing an average of less than one goal per game.
“It was disappointing obviously making it that far and just coming up a little bit short,” Bellerive said of the ‘Hawks loss last year. “It was always in the back of our heads, wherever we went, whatever we were doing. It was really the main thought for us because we didn’t want to feel that same way again.”
Dinwoodie said he used it as motivation for the team this year. “I poked them with that fact as we went along this season. I said we know what those tears are like, we know how close we were. We looked at each other at the end of it and we said we’re coming back.”
They did make it all the way back and they did gain full redemption by claiming the title, although it was far from a sure thing. In this year’s Western Canadian final the ‘Hawks jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead over the Lloydminster Heat and then carried a 3-2 lead into the dying moments of the game, but the Alberta champs scored with just 12 seconds left to send it into overtime.
“We were dominating that game, we gave up a late goal and lesser teams would have crumbled and probably lost that game,” said Dinwoodie. “But that team had resilience and resolve. They didn’t panic, they looked at each other and said let’s go to overtime and get the next one.”
One overtime period passed with no score but in the second overtime Kneen pounced on a loose puck and pounded in the championship winning goal.
“It was a perfect ending,” said Bellerive.
The recent draft results prove that the team had a lot of talent, but that championship win proved something more, said Dinwoodie.
“You can have all that talent but you know what? It doesn’t guarantee that you’ll win anything,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of talent at the North Shore Winter Club over the years. This type of team only comes around once in a while. They all bought in, they played hard for each other and played for the right reasons, and that’s why they were successful. . . . What a wonderful memory. I keep telling them over and over: this is something you’ll take with you for life. It’s bonded you for life and you will talk about this for life. It was pretty special.”
Jeff Oldenborger, the Winter Club’s director of hockey operations, said that all of the boys likely helped each other climb the draft board because of the success they had as a team.
“It’s kind of a circular argument,” he said. “When the team starts to succeed more and then goes deeper into the playoffs and wins things like provincials and the westerns, their stock only goes up because now they’ve played in those big games and scouts and teams have seen them in those big games. . . . Individually they’re all very good but it was the success of the team at the end of the day that ended up pushing those kids higher and higher in the draft.”
Placing three players from one team in the top five of the draft may be unprecedented. WHL teams put a lot of work into scouting those top picks on and off the ice, said Dinwoodie. “These are franchise guys, guys that they see in long-term plans for them, so they’re pretty careful.”
Bellerive, the captain, has always been out front. He put together a stellar season, notching 76 goals and 82 assists despite missing the first seven weeks of the season with a bad case of mononucleosis.
“Jordy is a special player,” said Dinwoodie. “He from a young age has been a dominant player. He really epitomizes leadership — he’s a true leader, but an exceptional talent. When you see him play you’ll first be blown away by how hard he can shoot the puck. That’s easy to see. I think it’s what he does off the ice, his will to win, his competitive nature is just unbelievable. . . . Physically he’s a big kid, an imposing player, but a real competitive kid. Just a strong, strong will to play and compete. It’s not just raw talent — because there’s no denying that — but it’s everything else. The way he practices is the other thing that really makes him special. He loves to practice and he loves to compete in practice.”
Dinwoodie described Kneen, the overtime hero, as a talented skater with a bit of an edge. “What really got him noticed was that the tougher the game, the better he played. That’s a rare, rare quality to have. He loved the big moments.”
Almeida, meanwhile, packed a formidable 1-2 punch with Bellerive, his linemate for the past several years.
“Justin is sneaky good, that’s the best way to describe him,” said Dinwoodie. “He’s not a physically imposing player, he never will be nor ever should be, but just incredibly smart. His hockey IQ is his weapon: he thinks, reads and anticipates well ahead of players his age. It’s funny to watch people process him over time: ‘Yeah, he’s pretty good. No, he’s really good. Holy crap, he is amazing.’”
The Winterhawks windfall can be attributed to a number of things, including the ample ice time and professional-style training that the kids get as members of the Winter Club.
Bellerive chalked it up to the coaches who have guided the players over the years.
“I think we’ve had great coaching,” he said. “We’ve had two great coaches with Billy Coupland and Jim Dinwoodie throughout the past four years. . . . They really influence us and teach us a lot about the game. I think that was probably the biggest impact.”
Oldenborger also tipped his hat to the coaches, noting that they work on honing the kids as people, not just players — something that comes into play when WHL teams are making draft picks.
“The program that Jim is running here really teaches these young men that it’s not good enough just to be a really good hockey player. Jim really excels at the development of the character as well as the development of the hockey player,” he said. “All of them are exceptional guys. I think we’ve got to tip our hat to Jim and the way he runs that Bantam A1 team. That’s a byproduct of the kind of program he runs.”
