Why 15-year-old Madden Daneault already is excelling within the WHL: ‘He’s an anomaly’

Ten years or so in the past, Dan Daneault and his spouse, Maurie, had been having what appeared like a reasonably typical day — sitting upstairs of their Red Deer, Alta., house whereas their three hockey-loving sons had been enjoying mini-sticks within the basement.

Youngest little one Madden, now 15, all the time was put in web by center brother Easton and oldest child Ty.

Easton — three years older than Madden and now a second-year ahead on the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes — and Ty — seven years older than the newborn of the household and now a senior ahead for the NCAA’s Merrimack Warriors, the reigning Hockey East champions — did not precisely take it simple on Madden.

But the latter wasn’t keen to easily concede defeat towards older, stronger competitors.

“All of a sudden we hear a cry. and we’re, like, ‘Oh,'” Dan Daneault recalled over the cellphone this week. “I get downstairs and there’s blood everywhere. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ and Ty had a big gash on his forehead, so we rushed him to the hospital.”

“Madden was sitting in his room (after the incident). And I’m like, ‘What’s going on, bud?’ He’s like, ‘(Ty) made me mad.”

Madden, it seems, “split (Ty) in the forehead for four stitches.”

While his mother and father clearly did not condone that kind of behaviour, this snapshot at an early age was a bit of signal of what has turn out to be a trademark of maybe probably the greatest 15-year-old hockey gamers on this planet — his fierce aggressive drive and deep want to, within the phrases of his minor-hockey coach, convey “everybody into the fight.”

This yr, Madden Daneault grew to become eligible to play as much as 34 video games within the WHL one season early after going first total to the Kelowna Rockets within the league’s draft. The high 5 gamers within the draft may enter the two-year-old Western Canadian Development Model, permitting gamers to separate seasons between the WHL and their minor-hockey squads.

Playing towards gamers as much as 5 years older than him, Madden hasn’t proven any indicators of backing down. The five-foot-11, 179-pound centre had three objectives and 7 assists for 10 factors in his first eight video games with Kelowna earlier than returning to Red Deer to affix his under-18 group final weekend. The Rockets, who hosted the Memorial Cup final season and misplaced lots of their star gamers, had been 4-2-2 with Daneault within the lineup.

“Obviously, it’s a huge change coming from U-15 hockey. But I feel like I’ve adjusted really fast,” Madden Daneault stated in a phone interview.

“Everyone in Kelowna, from the coaches to the management to the players, they’ve helped me out so much. It has made it that much easier and my billets (Harold Rempel and Ashley Klimpke) also, I feel I’ve got some of the best billets not only in the WHL, but the CHL. Can’t ask for a better spot to be.”

Daneault put up an Alberta league-record 149 factors (65 objectives, 84 assists) together with 68 penalty minutes in 34 video games along with his Red Deer under-15 group final yr, so his ability and willingness to get bodily weren’t any sort of secret. But the bounce to main junior will be enormous for 16-year-olds, by no means thoughts a participant one yr youthful than the vast majority of his fellow rookies.

Since first placing on skates at age 2, nonetheless, Daneault just about all the time has been enjoying up — whether or not within the basement towards his brothers and their friends or in minor hockey at an older age degree. Those experiences, he says, have served him properly with every step up on his hockey journey, particularly the brotherly battles.

“Just playing mini-sticks with (his brothers), that’s what made me so competitive,” Daneault stated. “They’d always put me in net, so I’d be giving it my all. I’d be drenched in sweat by the end of it. But it was fun, for sure. Anything we did when we were young, like road hockey, basketball, pickleball, anything, all of us wanted to win. My older brothers never wanted to lose to the youngest brother and I never wanted to lose to the older brothers.”

Added Dan, a former junior hockey participant in Manitoba: “Having his older brothers around kind of kept him on his toes, kept him competing with the older boys. He’s always the younger kid, always trying to follow the older brothers and keep up with them.”

Justin Jarmolicz, the coach of Madden’s under-18 Red Deer group and the previous coach of the under-15 group the place all of the brothers performed, stated Madden “has always been better than his age group.”

He too sees Madden’s upbringing as being a giant cause for his success, calling them “a great family.”

Dan, a building supervisor for a home-building firm and an assistant coach with the under-18 group, and Maurie, a speech-language pathologist and the group supervisor of Madden’s squad final yr, have guided their three sons by means of the advanced world of elite minor hockey.

Madden, after all, is coping with distinctive challenges.

“He’s an anomaly,” Jarmolicz stated. “He’s got that whole package and that competitiveness and that will to do what it takes. It’s something you don’t see, even at the highest level, with some of those guys. Some of the great guys, that work ethic and competitiveness will come through but he’s different than some of those top guys too because he’s got that willingness to slam his nose in it and get after it with whoever is willing.”

This previous summer time, Dan stated, Madden labored as onerous as ever off the ice.

He spent no less than 5 days per week at The Dome Red Deer with power and conditioning coach Kristjan Frederickson.

“When I saw him this summer right before he left and saw how big he got, I was like ‘OK.’ I was waiting for everybody in Kelowna and all that to realize what they had there,” Jarmolicz stated.

Said Dan: “Madden really dedicated himself to off-ice training this summer because he knew the 34 games were in play and he knew he needed to get stronger, which he did, to be able to compete.”

The improved bodily conditioning additionally ought to assist Daneault take care of a busy schedule.

Unlike the 2 Western Canadian Development Model standouts from final yr — Liam Pue and Maddox Schultz of the Regina Pats, who’ve the identical agent as Madden — Daneault is not enjoying for a WHL group and a minor-hockey group in the identical metropolis.

Along with splitting time between two provinces and taking on-line college programs, Daneault was chosen as the one 2011-born participant for the 2 Canadian groups competing on the U17 World Challenge beginning Nov. 1 in Oakville, Ont., after not being invited to the U17 summer time camp.

Daneault additionally is anticipated to play for Team Alberta on the Canada Winter Games under-16 event later this winter in Quebec.

“If you ask the coaches and I think the fans and probably his teammates, they’d all want him for all 34 games. But we’re going to have to take it trip by trip now and manage it as best we can so he’s not running out of steam,” Kelowna basic supervisor Curtis Hamilton stated. “That’s kind of the only thing we do worry about with him is how many games he’s going to play and the travel, and try to keep that in mind when making decisions.”

The early returns are excellent.

After watching the Rockets rookie play a sport on Sept. 26 with Kelowna, scout Larry Fisher of the Pro Hockey Group wrote: “Daneault is a dynamic forward with all the tools to become a star. He is already producing as a 15-year-old and shining on a nightly basis as an offensive catalyst for Kelowna. His hockey sense and playmaking abilities are elite. He is a very capable scorer, too, with good habits and drive to complement his confidence and swagger.”

Hamilton stated Daneault can do “a little bit of everything.”

“We call him like a one-percenter. He’s mature, he’s polite, he’s very competitive,” Hamilton stated.

“… When you see him, he’ll be messing around with the 20-year-old guys on our team, but he also spends time with the younger guys. He’s a leader, he’s a complete player. But, more than anything, he’s a good teammate.”

Daneault stated he likes to observe “all the greats like Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby” to have a look at “what they’re doing in their game and try to take it to my game.”

Those two in all probability may relate to what Daneault goes by means of after being phenoms for a lot of their youth.

McDavid additionally entered main junior, within the OHL, a yr early for a full season after being certainly one of 9 gamers to be granted distinctive standing by Hockey Canada. Daneault and his household determined to stay with the half-season choice, which is simply obtainable within the WHL, and never apply for distinctive standing.

“I do my best to try to ignore (the outside attention and hype), but I kind of just take the pressure,” Daneault stated. “I feel like I do really well under pressure. I feel like I just take the pressure to fuel me and prove people wrong who are saying I’m overrated or something.”

Dan Daneault, who has made a number of journeys to Kelowna and in addition can be in Oakville to observe his youngest son, stated Madden is “a very grounded kid.”

That appears to assist him within the highlight.

“I’m surprised but not surprised,” Dan stated of his fast begin. “I’m surprised how well he’s adapted to the league and stuff. But, again, every time you think that it’s going to be a challenge for Madden, which it is for Madden (in the WHL this year), he always steps up and always seems to rise to the occasion. He’s done it again, and that’s just his willingness to want to compete and want to win.”

Daneault will not be eligible for the NHL Draft till 2029, and far will change in his life earlier than then.

Will he go to the NCAA earlier than the draft? Can he take it to a brand new degree in his first full yr within the WHL? It will all be fascinating to observe.

“The sky’s the limit for Mads,” Jarmolicz stated. “It’s just how far he takes it. The opportunities he’s been provided, he’s seized every one of them. So look out, he’s coming.”