Wheat Kings' Roger McQueen Re-joins Team, Records Assist In Second Game Back
Scramble Studio // Brandon Wheat KingsAfter four and a half months away from the team, Roger McQueen has returned to the WHL. One of the most intriguing prospects of the 2025 NHL Draft, THN's Dawson Petryshen had the opportunity to sit down with McQueen and catch up on how his recovery went and look ahead to the remainder of the regular season.
DP: Roger, it's been a pretty extended absence for yourself, nearly six months away from away from the rink. What was the road to recovery like for you?
RM: Yeah, obviously it was quite some time. It was a four and a half months from game to game so there's quite a bit that went into it. More so, it was just a lot of rest just because of how the injury was. So just kind of waiting for that to heal. It was a weird, weird one to heal. Just, not a lot of blood gets there. So that's why it took took quite some time there.
But yeah, it was always always tough to sit out at the games and not being able to play for one another. You just kind of lean on your teammates there and help them out as much as you can, especially the young guys that that really, really need it. It was a long recovery, but went well.
DP: You mentioned how it kind of sucks not being able to play those games and, you know, sitting on the sidelines, you've been kind of thrown into the fire a little bit here in the home stretch of the regular season, playing the back to back against Red Deer and Edmonton to kick off the return. What were the first couple of games like back out there for you?
RM: Yeah, it was always the best feeling to get back on the ice after such a long time. Obviously, your lungs and legs aren't aren't completely there the first first few games, which which I expected and it was good to be back with the guys and being able to battle for them again and in the same lineup as everyone and just getting back into the into the feel of the WHL.
It's a grind. There's so many games. So being able to get back on the road with the guys and back on the bus, just back into the rhythm of it. Red Deer, we lost four two, but battled hard. Our team played hard. That's always a hard barn to go into. They play real hard there so you gotta respect them. Then we caught one out in Edmonton, won 3-2. I think Caleb Hadland got the last one with like 10 minutes, left that really bumped us up and yeah, that was awesome. It was just so nice to be back.
DP: You got your first point as well, since coming back: an assist on new teammate, Jordan Gavin's goal. What's that addition been like, getting a couple of reps in with him early?
RM: Yeah, he's an amazing player. He's such a smart player and it was an awesome pickup for us. He's got as big a brain of anyone in the league and I think he's one of the smartest guys in the league and makes it so easy on me to play with, especially being in the right spots and being able to find me in good spots. And I think, just playing with each other throughout the season and building into playoffs or chemistry is going to get a hell of a lot better.
And obviously we haven't played, we haven't played together in our lives yet. So it might take a little bit of time, but he's an awesome guy and off the ice. He's amazing and that kind of helps on the ice. So yeah, he's a great teammate and an unreal player.
DP: Getting into the summer a little bit, obviously you still have playoffs to worry about, but going into your 2025 NHL draft eligible season, or at least what's left of it: since you had so much time off, what's one thing that you would like to work on in the rest of the year before June hits?
RM: Yeah, I think probably the biggest thing is just mental toughness and just knowing it's going to be hard coming back, especially missing 50 games. So just coming back knowing it's going to be a it's a tough road trip especially to get thrown into. Four games in six days and central teams aren't easy teams to play against either. They're doing really well this year so but it's the best time to get thrown in and I think just staying positive and knowing that it's obviously going to be a grind. I love hockey and that's kind of all I've done so just enjoying the moment, and just keeping positive and staying with the guys and leaning on them.
DP: Doing that whole (Alberta) road trip by bus, I mean, you were able to, (I don't know if I call it luckily), but you were able to miss out on the long BC road trip that you guys would have done. What's that like, coming from Brandon, the easternmost city in the league and doing a road trip like that when you're on the road for six, seven, eight hours at a time?
RM: Yeah, I did miss out this year, but almost the same road trip as the the one to the United States for us, it's kind of a similar road trip. The bus is a little bit of a grind, traveling five and a half hours last night after a back-to-back is not ideal but it's the way it goes. It's awesome to spend time with your team, it's easy to bond there and learn about them. The road's tough, that's why home's such an advantage and especially being out in Brandon there's not a lot near us for teams especially since Winnipeg moved to Wenatchee.
DP: Last thing here, running into a red-hot Calgary Hitmen squad tonight, what are you guys kind of thinking, especially when you're most likely going to be facing a goaltender who is on a historic run right now?
RM: Yeah, yeah, Daniel Hauser, he's I think he's four shutouts in a row right now. So that's awesome for him.
Obviously respecting Calgary, they're great team this year and have had a lot of success, especially in their building. So I think just coming in and playing our game and trying to get them to play to our level, and letting us dictate to play and not having them dictate how we're going to play; Sticking to our game and being confident in ourselves. We know we can come out of this game with a win and it'll be a really big win for our team. And yeah, just sticking to each other and leaning on the guys to grind out that last game of a big, big road trip for us.
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