For the Brandon Wheat Kings, it was the most competitive training camp they’ve put together in years. For sophomore defenseman Nigel Boehm, however, it was the first camp that’s really felt normal.
The 2008-born defenseman missed camp in his first season with the team as he was recovering from an injury. Last season, he was in a dogfight on a crowded blueline, trying to make the team as a 16-year-old. By comparison, this season’s training camp and exhibition series felt relatively routine for the bruising blueliner.
“This one has felt great,” Boehm said. “We’ve got lots of new guys in, lots of young guys with lots of talent. It’s looking good for our future…This year, we had a really good group of guys and it was very competitive especially compared to previous years. We had a lot of new talent in too.”
In both the future and the present, Boehm will be relied upon to play a heavy, steady defensive game. As a 16-year-old, he regularly faced match-ups well above his age and experience level for the Wheat Kings as injury forced plenty of young guys into new roles.
“We’re looking for him to take some big steps,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “I thought he had a pretty solid 16-year-old year and being another year older and having the confidence of year two, we expect him to be a big part of our back end.”
While he modestly defers to team accomplishments when it comes to expectations for the season, Boehm obviously expects big things from himself as well. He packed on 15 pounds of muscle over the offseason and came to camp just under 6-foot-2 and at 190 pounds, meaning he’ll fit right in on a big, mobile Wheat Kings blueline.
“As of right now, our biggest strength (on defense) by the looks of it is our size,” said Boehm. “We’ve got lots of big guys, strong guys, so we should be able to move the puck well and take over from the blueline.”
“He’s a defense-first defenseman, so adding that muscle to his frame gives him the opportunity to be strong in front of the net and ward off forecheckers and be harder to play against,” Murray said. “We always talk about our D separating people from the puck and having that extra strength and size will hopefully allow him to kill plays in the D-zone as quickly as possible and get the puck moving north.”
Like so many of his teammates, Boehm has recognized this as a pivotal season for the Wheat Kings, one in which they are among the favourites in the Eastern Conference. No longer a rookie, and after playing like a veteran much of last season, he’s now among the guys that will be counted on to make those expectations a reality.
“There are large expectations from both the new guys and the returning guys,” Boehm said. “Hopefully we can take the game over this year.”
Boehm and the Wheat Kings will wrap up their preseason with a double header against the Swift Current Broncos on Friday and Saturday night. The game on Friday night will air on Q Country 91.5.
