By James Shewaga /

Keith Aulie couldn’t have imagined a better start to 2009.

The captain of the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings lived the dream when he helped Canada capture gold at the World Junior hockey championship with a 5-1 victory over Sweden in Ottawa on Jan. 5. As if that wasn’t enough, Aulie was also busy signing his first NHL contract, inking a three-year entry-level deal with the NHL’s Calgary Flames, who drafted him in the fourth round (116th overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

“It’s a pretty awesome feeling, knowing all the hard work and preparation that has gone into it,” said Aulie.

The 6-6, 218-pound Aulie teamed up with 6-7, 213-lb. Tyler Myers of the Kelowna Rockets to form a twin towers blueline pairing that proved to be one of Canada’s most dependable 
defensive duos.

“Ever since you are young, you dream of something like this and putting the gold medal around your neck, that’s something you dream about and to turn that dream into reality is quite the feeling,” said Aulie, a 19-year-old native of Rouleau, Sask., who had one assist and a solid plus/minus of plus-5 in six tournament games.

Originally Brandon’s first-round pick (11th overall) in the 2004 WHL Bantam Draft, Aulie became the first Wheat King to suit up for Canada’s Junior team since Jordin Tootoo in 2003 in Halifax and was the first Brandon player to win a gold medal since Peter Schaefer in Switzerland in 1997.

With gold medal in hand, Aulie also has a little extra coin in his pocket now after signing with the Flames, who worked on the deal during the World Junior tournament and announced the signing on Jan. 7, two days after Canada captured gold.

“Obviously the gold medal is something I will never forget and it was just an unbelievable experience, and then signing on top of that...it’s definitely awesome to get that done,” said Aulie, who had scored four goals and notched 21 points and 48 penalty minutes through 36 games with the Wheat Kings. “It’s good to get it out of the way. It’s something that would maybe be in your mind this year going into the last year before you can be signed, and now that it’s out of the way, I can concentrate on having a good end of the year with Brandon.”

BRANDON BITS
Wheat Kings LW Matt Calvert and C Brayden Schenn also took part in the Canadian junior team selection camp, but did not make the final cut...Schenn and Brandon RW Scott Glennie played in the CHL Top Prospects Game...Wheat Kings RW Mark Stone, 16, helped Team West finish in fourth place at the 10-team World Under-17 Hockey Challenge...The Wheat Kings did not make a deal at the WHL’s Jan. 10 trade deadline, but re-assigned D Ryley Miller, 16, to the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints...Brandon lost RW Sanfred King for the rest of the season with a broken leg suffered on Jan.17.

Schenn named CHL Player of the Week
The Canadian Hockey League announced this week that forward Brayden Schenn of the Brandon Wheat Kings is the Boston Pizza CHL Player of the Week for the week ending Jan. 18. Schenn scored one goal and six assists for seven points in two games.