A young Carson Bjarnason was blessed with either foresight, or powers of manifestation.
As a child growing up in Carberry, just 50 kilometers from Brandon, the future Wheat Kings star would attend games of the team he would one day be a star with. And even then, he knew where his hockey destiny would lead him.
“I always told my parents and myself I’d be playing for the Wheat Kings and I’d make the NHL one day,” said Bjarnason. “To think that the journey has just begun, hopefully, is very special to me and my family.”
After four seasons, over 150 games played in Black and Gold, and three international tournaments representing the Wheat Kings, Bjarnason’s long, storied, and celebrated Wheat Kings career has likely come to a close with the professional ranks beckoning. It ended in full-circle fashion, with the Carberry native becoming to other young goaltenders what the Wheat Kings’ netminders of the past had been to him.
“My favorite goalie was Jordan Papirny and I loved watching (Logan Thompson) too,” Bjarnason said. “I watched (Ethan Kruger) a couple of times, and lo and behold I got to play with him. I hope kids around the area look the same way at me, and hopefully we’ll see them in the league too.”
As impossible as it seems now, especially after he was selected in the second round of the 2023 NHL entry draft by the Philadelphia Flyers, Bjarnason was, at one time, a long-shot to make the Wheat Kings as an undrafted goalie. But he arrived at camp determined, and with a key figure in his corner: Wheat Kings goaltending coach and former Wheat King Tyler Plante.
“I owe everything to him, he’s been my coach since I was 11 or 12 years old,” Bjarnason said. “We worked from the ground up, he’ll say himself I wasn’t the greatest, he definitely got me to where I needed to be.”
Bjarnason made the team at just 16 years old, remarkably jumping to the WHL without playing a single game of U18 hockey, and though he’d spend that season largely backing up the veteran Kruger, he’d be the fixture between the pipes for Brandon for the next three seasons. While he’s made massive strides over his four year career, Bjarnason’s mind turns to his teammates when he reflects on his years in Brandon.
“Every group of guys I’ve had here, especially in the past two years, we had the most glue-guys in the league on every team,” he said. “It was an exceptionally well-balanced team in the way we handled ourselves on and off the ice. The guys we had in that room were unbelievable. Quinn (Mantei) has been my day-one guy since four years ago. It’s been a fun ride for sure.”
As much as Bjarnason focusses on the team, however, there’s no denying how far he’s come as an individual. His save percentage in particular has risen steadily over the course of his career, culminating in the third-best save percentage in the league this past season at .913, and a 2.93 GAA that was the lowest of his four seasons.
“Now that I’ve been drafted and played in a couple of preseason games, the coaches (in Philadelphia) have changed my game a lot for the better,” said Bjarnason. “I’m a lot more calm, with my feet I’m not as scrambly. I’ve become more and more well-rounded and I’m hoping to work on that at the end of the season and throughout the summer.”
So Bjarnason’s time with the Wheat Kings comes to its probable conclusion. He is signed by the Flyers, and seems destined to turn pro next season or even sooner. But he leaves Wheat Kings fans, of which he once counted himself one of the most avid and whose ranks he now rejoins, with some parting words about the team he leaves behind.
“It’s definitely a bright future,” he said. “The young talent on this team is just absurd. I think we have the most depth in the league this year, let alone in the years to come, especially with hopefully all the guys returning and the young guys coming up. It’ll be great to watch for sure.”
Bjarnason will now travel to Philadelphia where the Flyers will decide what he’ll do for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign. The Flyers are eliminated from the NHL playoffs with five games to go but their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, has clinched a playoff berth with four games to go.
