The long road back to Wayway

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/09/2020 (1721 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On March 9th, 2020, the Waywayseecappo Wolverines won their first Manitoba Junior Hockey League playoff game in over eight years, as they evened up their series against the Swan Valley Stampeders at one game apiece.

The atmosphere in Waywayseecappo’s rink was palpably euphoric that night; however, mere days later, the rink lay dormant and silent, as their historic season ended due to no fault of their own.

Kieran Thiessen, a 19-year-old forward from Landmark (18 at the time) remembers feeling “shocked” when he and his teammates received the news that their season was going to be postponed due to the influx of COVID-19 in North America. Although, to Thiessen, it was not entirely unexpected: a game the previous night—on March 12—between the Winkler Flyers and Virden Oil Capitals, was postponed before he and his teammates heard the news of their game’s postponement on March 13.

 “So,” he says, “we kind of realized it was gonna happen.” And as the days dragged on, the earnestness of the safety precautions regarding COVID-19 heightened, and the MJHL playoffs that were initially just postponed were cancelled.

When asked about how disappointing it must have been to have his season cut short, Thiessen took a noble approach, stating that he mostly “felt bad for the 20-year-olds,” who were playing in their final games as Wolverines without knowing it. It was also disheartening to cease play for Thiessen himself, as this was the best team Waywayseecappo had put on the ice in many years: the Wolverines beat every team in the league at least once during the MJHL regular season (including the Steinbach Pistons), and he feels “we could’ve gone far.”

Despite the premature ending to Waywayseecappo’s playoff run and the subsequently postponed starting date of the 2020-2021 season, Thiessen still finds ways to stay in hockey shape. 

Generally, he works out about five times a week with the aid of a personal trainer. These workouts mainly consist of exercises specifically oriented to higher performance on the ice. The key areas that Thiessen’s trainer has him focus on are his legs (to improve lateral quickness, speed, and agility), and his upper body (to make him a formidable force in the corners). 

Thiessen also plays in the Dakota Summer League in Winnipeg with a few of his friends who play high-level hockey as well. The Dakota Summer League is more or less beer league hockey for older, ex-junior hockey players; however, due to the lack of an MJHL season, he has been making do with any hockey he can get at. And if that means playing against 40-year-olds, so be it. 

The Dakota Summer League is no leisurely Sunday skate, though: “The competition is still pretty good,” says Thiessen, “some of those older guys are still pretty fast,” he said with a smirk. 

Another thing Thiessen does is skate at Seven Oaks Area in Winnipeg about two times a week to improve all aspects of his stride. At Seven Oaks, he also hones in on the technicalities of hockey, as he works on the more intricate parts of his game. “It’s basically stuff you don’t do in a regular practice when all of the guys are there.”  

In Thiessen’s first season in the MJHL, he registered three goals and seven points in 27 games played. He admits that the jump from playing for the Eastman Selects (where, in his final year, he amassed 64 points in just 49 games) to the MJHL was “a big one.” He notes that the most significant difference between the AAA 18U Manitoba Hockey League and the MJHL is the physical speed of the game, but also the mental quickness which one has to have in order to make a solid decision time after time. 

This coming season, Thiessen hopes to make a larger impact on the offensive side of the game for the Wolverines, and “just contribute more!” He likes their chances heading into the new season and hopes they can build off some of the success they had last year. 

Thiessen is scheduled to return to Waywayseecappo with his teammates on September 8th, for the start of the Wolverines’ training camp, where he will stay with his billet family in Russell. Waywayseecappo will play three exhibition games before—tentatively—starting the season on October 9th.