Calling Brandon Wheat Kings goaltender Jayden Kraus the WHL’s goaltender of the week feels like burying the lede.
Yes, the Prince Albert native did win the WHL’s weekly award with a 2-0 record, a 1.45 GAA, and a .947 save percentage. And yes, with numbers like that, there’s no doubting he earned it. But perhaps the award, while a nice accolade, is selling Kraus short. The 19-year-old netminder has been heating up since well before this most recent week, but he’s quick to defer credit to his teammates.
“Just as a whole team, we went in there (to the United States) and we wanted to be over .500 and that’s what we came out with,” Kraus said of his weekly honour. “As a group, it shows the character we have and to get those points, which are kind of essential going down the road here into the playoff stretch is great for the team.”
If you want to retrace Kraus’s elevated play to its origins, the post-Christmas schedule is probably the best place to start. Since the holiday break, Kraus has put together several stellar performances in his ten games played, during which he’s posted a .942 save percentage. Highlights include his second shutout of the season in Swift Current, and a 28-save performance in a 6-1 win over his former team, the Victoria Royals.
“It was outstanding,” said Kraus. “The one game this year that was marked specifically on my schedule was that game. It just meant so much for me to get the win and, on the other side of it, to see all those familiar faces that were part of my life for so long. So many people on the other side mean so much to me, and to go in there and get a win means the world. I couldn’t have drawn it up better.”
That was Kraus’s final game before the team hit the road to the United States, and that was where Kraus found yet another level. He started the trip off with a 50-save performance in Everett, then won his next two starts in Wenatchee and Tri-City. As one of the few Wheat Kings familiar with those rinks, he seemed to feel right at home.
“The last couple of years, I’ve been used to seeing those rinks every game,” Kraus said. “Just to go back with a new group that, for the most part, hasn’t really played in and seen those rinks, it was pretty cool. I kind of got to show the guys some things here and there. And playing in the States is a wonderful experience, they have such great fanbases there.”
Speaking of right at home, one of the things that excited Kraus most about a trade to Brandon was the chance to play closer to his friends and family in Prince Albert, and he’s had a chance to play in front of them twice already. With the third and final trip of the season to the Art Hauser Centre ahead, there seems every chance Kraus will get a third shot at it.
“When I was a kid, that was the building I dreamt myself being in,” said Kraus. “Just to get that experience of playing there, it’s pretty special. I was there once when I was with Victoria. You have tons of excitement, but you have nerves too and now that I’ve gotten the opportunity to play there a couple of times, I just need to go play my game and enj0y the experience and soak it all in.”
Kraus and the Wheat Kings welcome the Calgary Hitmen in a pivotal Eastern Conference clash on Friday night before traveling to Prince Albert on Saturday for a game against the Raiders.
