EVERETT — Wednesday night will be special for Dario Winkler regardless of whether he’s wearing a suit in the stands or sporting an Everett Silvertips sweater on the bench as the defending WHL Eastern Conference champion Brandon Wheat Kings come to Everett for the only time this season.
Brandon is the team that selected the 18-year-old Austrian during the 2015 import draft before waiving him two weeks ago. The Silvertips scooped Winkler up October 13, but visa issues delayed his first Silvertips practice until Monday.
Now the team that brought him to North America is coming to see him at his new home. Faceoff is at 7:05 p.m. at Xfinity Arena.
“I’m very excited to see my friends and win against them,” Everett’s newest addition said with a smile.
Head coach Kevin Constantine had yet to determine which players would be active for Wednesday’s game, but said there was a “better than 50 percent chance” Winkler would play.
Winkler made plenty of friends during his extended time with Brandon. He was enjoying the Manitoba prairie town, but lost out in the European numbers game when the Wheat Kings elected to keep Latvian overage forward Rihards Bukarts and 18-year-old Russian defenseman Ivan Provorov to fill their two import slots.
Provorov was the first round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers and was sent back from training camp in September. Bukarts was sent back to Brandon from the Edmonton Oilers training camp.
“I knew the situation,” said Winkler, who did not record a point in two regular-season games with the Wheat Kings. “It’s hard to get the spot as a European there.
“I had a lot of friends there. It was hard to say goodbye to everybody — to my billets and everybody. But now it’s a new challenge and the guys are nice here too.”
The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Innsbruck native played for EC Salzburg in the MHL last season, and tallied two goals and an assist in 13 games. He also played in 10 combined games with Austria’s U-18 and U-20 programs, earning four points and four assists.
Winkler is considered a strong skater with good hands who moves well on the ice. So far he likes what he has seen of Everett — this week’s rainfall notwithstanding.
“Here it’s a big city and Brandon was a very small city,” Winkler said. “Here it is raining a lot, but in Brandon it’s (very cold) in the wintertime. I like it when it’s a big city so it’s better here.”
The Wheat Kings were in third place in the Eastern Conference standings and brought an 8-2-0-2 record into Tuesday’s game at Seattle. Brandon suffered a 5-0 setback at Portland Sunday when Winterhawks goaltender Adin Hill turned away all 45 shots.
“They were one of the best teams in the league last year and they were really young,” Constantine said, “so you can imagine a very good team from last year with a year more of experience under their belt (they have to) be considered one of the favorites to win our league.”
Many thought the Wheat Kings to be a year ahead of schedule last year when they advanced to the WHL Finals before falling to Kelowna in four games.
Brandon is an offensive juggernaut and is tied with Red Deer for the WHL lead with 55 goals as a team — an average of 4.58 per game.
It’s been a team effort. Seven different players are averaging better than a point per game. Jayce Haryluk (nine goals, 10 assists) leads the way, with Nolan Patrick (four goals, 13 assists), John Quenneville (seven goals, eight assists) and Macoy Erkamps (five goals, 10 assists) not far behind. Provorov (two goals, 12 assists) and Reid Duke (nine goals, four assists) are also key performers.
Everett will catch a bit of a break as center Tim McGauley, who finished third in the WHL in scoring last season, remains out with an injury and has appeared in only one game this season.
Goaltender Jordan Papirny boasts a 6-2-0-2 record with one shutout, a 2.28 goals-against average and an .899 save percentage. Rookie netminder Logan Thompson has been impressive in limited action with a 2-0-0-0 mark and a 1.88 GAA and .927 save percentage in three games.
Noah Juulsen, Patrick Bajkov, Remi Laurencelle and Carson Stadnyk all have two goals and three assists to pace the Tips. Goaltender Carter Hart is 5-3-0-0 with a 2.26 GAA and .928 save percentage.
Follow Silvertips writer Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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