In a league where players at all positions put up high-flying offensive numbers, it can be hard to stand out solely on the strength of your defensive game. Sometimes it takes an offensive outburst for a player to get that league-wide recognition in the WHL.
For the Brandon Wheat Kings, the value of captain Quinn Mantei has been no secret for some time, but his recent surge of points has the rest of the league paying attention to him as well. Mantei was recently named the WHL’s player of the week after posting eight points in three road games.
“Anytime you can get some recognition for individual stuff it’s always nice, but the team comes first,” Mantei said. “The wins are more important, that’s top of my list, but it’s still pretty cool.”
Mantei’s scoring streak actually started before the three-game run that earned him player of the week honours, and it’s continued since. He had two goals against the Everett Silvertips on January 17 immediately prior to that stretch, then picked up a goal and an assist against the Red Deer Rebels on January 29, including the game-winner.
“I’m playing with a little more confidence and poise, holding onto the puck a little bit longer than normal,” said Mantei. “It just kind of happened to be this week that guys I was passing the puck to were passing it on to the next guy and it was going in. I was a little lucky on a few.”
His own self-deprecation aside, Mantei’s coaches know full well how valuable he really is, and his current point streak has only served to emphasize it. The Wheat Kings’ captain now has 12 points in his last six games, and his goal against the Rebels established a new career high in that category.
“Wheat Kings fans and our organization know what he brings to the table night in and night out,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “It was nice to see him get that recognition. He played very well on the road trip, I think he had 11 points in seven games which tied for the lead on our team. He was exceptional and played a lot of minutes.”
For the team-oriented Mantei, the road trip was a bittersweet experience. In addition to his own personal success, the team put together some good efforts but had to content themselves with a 3-4 record in seven games. Just their ability to consistently keep up with the top teams in the opposing conference was cause for confidence however.
“It was a pretty good trip overall but I don’t know if our record showed how well we played,” Mantei said. “We stuck with the top dogs and we took Everett there late into the game up one… Every single game we gave ourselves a chance to win.”
The Wheat Kings will face more familiar opponents as they travel to Moose Jaw and Regina for a back-to-back against the Warriors and Pats.
