Frustration once again for Whistle after injury robs him of chance to shine on the world stage
TO miss out on playing at a World Championships for your country once through injury is bad enough. For it to happen two years running is just down to the worst luck imaginable.
Once again Sheffield Steelers’ Brandon Whistle will have to consign himself to watching Great Britain pit their skills on the world stage from the comfort of his own living room.
A lower-body injury that saw him miss a chunk of the 2023-24 Elite League campaign has also robbed him of the chance of taking on the world’s elite when Pete Russell’s team return to the top tier of international hockey to face-off against the likes of Canada, Finland and hosts Czechia from May 10 onwards in Prague.
It would have been a dream come true for 26-year-old Whistle but he will have to wait another 12 months for such an opportunity.
In the meantime, he will be able to reflect on a grand slam season with the Steelers, one that was completed on Sunday when they added the EIHL play-off trophy to the league and Challenge Cup titles they had already lifted in a historic campaign.
It was a season which did finally see Whistle make his GB debut, joining fellow Steelers’ Robert Dowd, Sam Jones and Cole Shudra as they cruised through the Olympic PreQualifiers in Cardiff in February.
It could likely be for GB that Whistle will actually make his first return to action following a summer of recuperation, doctors having told the right-hander that he needed to rest for around 10 weeks in order to give himself the best chance of a recovery on an injury that saw him require a mid-season operation.
GB contest the final round of qualifying for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy in August against Norway, Japan and hosts Denmark.
“It just sucks,” admitted Whistle. “The injury I had from halfway through the year that I had surgery on, it’s almost at the point in terms of pain where it was before I had the surgery.
“So, I’ve basically been told that I’ve got to do nothing but rest for about 10 weeks.
"If I did it after the worlds it would be too close to the start of next season and, after not training all last summer, I figured I didn’t want another summer of that, so I thought if I start my rest now then it will give me that bit more time to be ready for next season.
“Last year was extremely frustrating. It was the second tier of the worlds, but it was the first time to have actually made the team and then I got hurt before the tournament.
“This year, there was a cut still to be made, but I had a good chance to be on the team again and to play in the top division which might turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it is just really frustrating.
“Hopefully, I can be ready for those Olympic qualifiers in August. I’ve been battling with it all year, to be honest. It takes a couple of days to walk without pain again, so I figured it was time to get it sorted.”
As a result of Whistle’s injury blow, forwards Sam Duggan and Logan Neilson have been added to the GB squad by head coach Russell.
As part of their preparations for Czechia, GB will take on Poland twice this weekend, first at Elland Road in Leeds on Friday (face-off 7.30pm) and then in Nottingham the following night.
It means Whistle also misses out on a chance of playing at a rink very familiar to him having played for Leeds Knights in the first half of the 2021-22 NIHL National season.
“It’s a blow to lose Brandon so late in the process and I know how disappointed he is not to be with us,” said Russell.