4 days Ago By By Perry Bergson
If adversity was baloney, the Brandon Wheat Kings would be making sandwiches for everybody. Read this article for free: Already have an account? As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support.
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If adversity was baloney, the Brandon Wheat Kings would be making sandwiches for everybody. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? If adversity was baloney, the Brandon Wheat Kings would be making sandwiches for everybody. The team lost around 225 man games to injury this season, and a couple dozen more to other absences like world juniors.
Still, they managed to compile a 38-23-4-3 record despite playing multiple nights with a short bench bolstered by callups. While their five-game loss to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals wasn’t what they had in mind, Brandon appears to be moving into its window of contention. In an annual Brandon Sun tradition, the Sun compiled thoughts on each player and then asked head coach and general manager Marty Murray to weigh in on every player’s season.
60gp, 20g, 37a, 57p, 56pim. SUN: Shipley exploded for 20 goals, which was tied for fourth best among defenceman, and was an integral part of the second power-play unit. He was the co-winner of the team’s top defenceman award with Quinn Mantei.
MURRAY: “Luke had an exceptional year. I think he established himself as a real top-end defenceman in the league and I think that was reflected with the voting in the all-star teams and with the league awards.” 67gp, 23g, 45a, 68p, 30 pim.
SUN: He was an underdog to even make the team as an overager and led the Wheat Kings in scoring with a career season. Always smiling, he was a popular teammate. MURRAY: “He had a real solid year, led the team in regular season and playoff scoring.
I’ve always thought he was a guy who had the ability to produce numbers and this year he did a pretty good job of that and had a pretty good 20-year-old season.” 68gp, 36g, 29a, 65p, 50pim. SUN: The Calgary product was acquired from Portland with the hope he would add offence, energy and speed, and he led the Wheat Kings in goals with 36.
MURRAY: “We brought him in from Portland and they made it to the final the previous year. I thought Marcus had a strong year. He was a little streaky with his scoring but 36 goals isn’t an easy thing to do in junior hockey.
He led the team in goals and was a great kid and a great teammate. He came as advertised.” R, 6-3, 208.
40gp, 2.93 gaa, .913 save %, 22-15-3-0 record.
SUN: While the playoffs didn’t go how he wanted — partially due to injury — the fourth-year netminder simply stole some games for his team during the regular season. He is expected to turn pro in the Philadelphia organization. MURRAY: “Barney had an interesting year with his world junior.
I know it was disappointing to go and I think everyone expected him almost to be number one and at very least get some ice, so that was disappointing for him. I thought he was good in the second half down the stretch and obviously in the playoffs, you need your best players to be your best players and I know Carson was battling a little bit of an injury, which people won’t recognize.” 64gp, 7g, 38a, 45p, 29pim.
SUN: He added offence and physicality and was one of his team’s most dependable players night in and night out. He also thrived as the team’s captain and showed a new willingness to carry the puck and produce offensively. MURRAY: “He’s a horse.
What can you say about him? He does everything you hope a captain and veteran defenceman would do. He played a ton of minutes, especially with injuries and his responsibilities. He’s one of those guys who doesn’t look like he tires.
There are guys who can play all day long, and Quinn is one of those guys. He’s a real key piece of our hockey club, both on and off the ice.” 52gp, 16g, 27a, 43p, 19pim.
SUN: The big power forward started the season with a hat trick and an injury, but was a physical force on a line with Flamand and Nguyen. He could score 30 as an overager. MURRAY: “Nick had a good summer last year.
You could see he came into camp with a little extra gear and put a lot of work in the off-season. He started off well, he had a hat trick in the second game and then broke his leg. You feel real bad for him after putting in the work, he’s going to have the injury jinx on him the last couple of years.
It was deflating for him and us when he went down in game two. He came back and I didn’t think he had the pace right at the start but to his credit, he fought through it and overall had a pretty solid year.” 55gp, 15g, 32a, 47p, 23pim.
SUN: The Czech forward won a medal with his country at the world juniors, but missed time due to a high hit. His numbers were almost mirror images of the season before. Will he be brought back as a “two-spotter” filling overage and import spots? MURRAY: “Dom is a guy with high IQ.
When he’s at his best, he’s a top-tier player in the league. He can dictate the play and he can make plays that other players can’t. I thought he was really good going into the world juniors, and went and got sick and found himself maybe being the 13th forward as the tournament wore on.
He didn’t really find his groove in the second half. He’s one of those guys that you need to lead the way being a 19-year-old and having a year under his belt. He went into a little bit of a funk offensively in the second half and just couldn’t seem to get out of it.
” 68gp, 20g, 35a, 55p, 16pim. SUN: The Texas speedster was finally able to explode offensively with career highs that were also helped along by his terrific shot. MURRAY: “He was a real pleasant surprise since we brought him from Regina.
He’s a bit of a Swiss Army knife where he can play up and down the lineup, wing, centre, kill penalties, power play. He did a pretty good job. He produced consistently through the season and had a breakout year.
We talk about team speed, and he’s a guy who drives offence through his speed.” R,5-10, 185. 25gp, 2.
85 gaa, .906 save %, 12-6-1-3 record. SUN: The second-year backup had some outstanding starts with success was reflected in his numbers.
He will have first crack to be the starter next season with Bjarnason likely leaving. MURRAY: “Ethan had a real solid year. I hate to use the term backup, it was like 1A, 1B situation.
He’s a guy who doesn’t get as many minutes and you just want the team to have confidence playing in front of him and I thought Ethan brought that and gave us a chance to win. It was disappointing with the timing of his injury when Carson was away at world juniors — I thought that was a real opportunity for him to really show that he can really carry the team as a number-one guy — but unfortunately you can’t control injuries. Overall, I thought he worked real hard.
It wasn’t the easiest position at times because we rode Bjarnason pretty hard down the stretch and he worked hard and didn’t say a word and was ready for every start that came his way.” 64gp, 5g, 19a, 24p, 32pim. SUN: The 18-year-old rookie from Alberta defended well, got the puck up the ice quickly and proved to be very, very dependable.
He was a steal as a list player who overcame a devastating knee injury at 16. MURRAY: “He’s a kid you root for. He had a real terrible injury previously and is a rare 18-year-old rookie in junior hockey.
It wasn’t the easiest transition and I thought he handled it real well. When we were decimated with injuries on the back end, I thought he played in situations where going into the season you wouldn’t have suspected he was ready for. Whenever he was called upon, he did an exceptional job.
If you look at his line (statistics), he had a real solid season.” 53gp, 3g, 14a, 17p, 36pim. SUN: The stocky Slovakian, who became a well-liked teammate, played defence and forward as needed due to injuries.
He’s not a beautiful skater but he’s real smart. MURRAY: “Coming over from Europe to North America, it’s a different game basically. I think it took Adam a little while to adjust to the pace of the game.
One thing that stood out was his hockey sense and brain. I thought he had well above average hockey sense and I thought he adjusted well to the North American game. He played a long stretch this season at forward when we had guys out with injuries and didn’t say a word.
He did whatever to help the team. Down the stretch, he played some good hockey for us on the back end and established himself as an every-day WHL player.” 36gp, 0g, 4a, 4p, 21pim.
SUN: The big defenceman showed immense promise after coming over from Tri-City in the Charlie Elick trade, but due to a family emergency and two injuries, played just five games in Brandon. He skated well and with that big frame, projects to be a strong physical presence. MURRAY: “It was obviously real frustrating.
We brought him as a part of the trade and expected him to eat a lot of minutes and be a big presence for us on the back end. Unfortunately we just never got to see it. He had a personal thing with a family illness that he had to deal with when he got here, and first game back he hurt his shoulder, and I think the second game back, he re-injured the shoulder again with a different injury and that was the end of him.
It was a real disappointing way to work his way in as a Wheat King, but injuries are out of our control. He’s a guy who is a wildcard. We’re still trying to get to know him as a player.
” 65gp, 25g, 17a, 42p, 57 pim. SUN: He built his game around hard work and was a dependable presence in the lineup every night. I doubt many people guessed he would be second in goals on the team.
MURRAY: “Every coach would love to have a guy like Hads on your team. He’s a worker and is all about the team success, not about personal accolades. He’s a guy we love having on the team.
Saying that, there is another level for Hads to get to in terms of consistency. We believe he can be one of the best 200-foot players in the league and I think at times he showed that. Coming in as a 19 next season, hopefully he can maintain that consistency and be a real hard, skilled, in-your-face type of player for 68 games.
” 17gp, 10g, 10a, 20p, 40pim. SUN: This was essentially a lost season for McQueen, who was expected to lead the Wheat Kings but instead missed nearly five months healing his back. He was still finding his game when the injury flared up again in the playoffs and sidelined him for the final two games.
MURRAY: “The hockey world knows his story. You feel bad for the player obviously. He is a guy we expect to be our first-line centre and carry us.
It’s no secret that you build around guys like that and to not have him at your disposal is hard to swallow. You feel for the kid and you feel for the organization because he’s someone we need in the lineup and to be a game changer. Long term, hopefully he gets this behind him and can be a great player for us next year and hopefully for 15 years at the NHL level .
.. He’s a guy you don’t replace and we only had him for 17 games in the regular season and two and a bit in the playoffs, and a lot of those games weren’t at his best health-wise.
He’s a franchise-type player, we just never got to utilize that this year.” 58gp, 14g, 14a, 28p, 50pim. SUN: The big Albertan plays a grinding style that wears on opponents and continued to come into his own offensively.
He has a great shot and skates well. MURRAY: “Just like Hadland, he’s a heart-and-soul guy. He uses his speed and is an old-school guy where he can be impactful in a lot of different scenarios.
Obviously scoring goals is one way, but he can get under the skin of other teams, he can play against the other team’s top line, he can get in on the forecheck. His work ethic is really, really strong ..
. He brings a lot to our team.” 68gp, 21g, 36a, 57p, 0pim.
SUN: The silky smooth Gavin came over in the Charlie Elick trade and had 27 points in 33 regular season games. He played a lot with Jaxon Jacobson and the two had almost instant chemistry. MURRAY: “His brain and hockey IQ are elite.
We want to see him get over that hump where he is an elite point producer. I think he has that ability. The one thing he’ll need to work on this summer is getting another half step.
That would be a huge addition to his arsenal. He’s going to have to put some work in this summer and I know he’s committed to that. I’m real excited to see him take it to another level next year.
I think he could be one of the top point producers in the league.” 59gp, 18g, 16a, 34p, 40 pim. SUN: The stocky youngster with the big shot dealt with different injuries that set him back, but he seemed to be gaining confidence.
He’s going to score a lot of goals one day. MURRAY: “Joby had 18 goals this year, which I think is pretty good for a second-year guy. I spent some time online with the analytics last week and if you look at Joby’s scoring chances, he could have easily had 30 goals this year.
He had a lot of chances so that’s good. I think the biggest thing with Joby is just that consistency in his game. When Joby is at his best, he’s a little pit bull who is hard on pucks and strong on pucks .
.. Joby at his best was very, very encouraging and hopefully having two years under his belt, I think Joby has the ability to be a 35-plus goal scorer.
” 68gp, 7g, 19a, 26p, 11pim. SUN: It took Turko time to find his way in the rough-and-tumble WHL after a highly successful couple of years with the under-18 AAA Brandon Wheat Kings, but he seemed to get better and better as the season went on. You can’t teach the offensive instincts he has.
MURRAY: “Coming from U18 is a big transition. It’s hard to score at this level and I think it took Brady a while to figure out what the Western Hockey League is all about with staying in battles and winning second and third opportunities. I thought as the year wore on, he got a lot better at that.
I know he didn’t score for a long period at the end of the season, but I did feel he figured it out as far as getting his nose in there a little bit more. Unfortunately the production didn’t follow that. I’ve always been one of those people who is concerned when the chances aren’t coming, and I thought Brady still produced chances and had chances of his own.
It’s a matter of having the confidence and hopefully he learned from this season because I believe he can be a real good player for us.” 20gp, 3g, 2a, 5p, 8pim. SUN: The truculent Dauphin product continued to annoy opponents, much to his delight.
Unfortunately, an upper-body issue required surgery and he never played after Dec. 14. MURRAY: “We missed Odie.
He’s a tenacious guy who is a selfless player who doesn’t care about stats per se. He can have an impact on a game by getting under the skin of the opposing team. He’s annoying to play against and his defensive game impressed me.
Getting pucks out on walls and making the right play, he has a smart hockey brain. He’s a guy we didn’t get to see very much of but with a year in the league, he would have been a pretty good player for us at the end. We missed him in the playoffs even though he hadn’t played in a long time.
” 36gp, 1g, 3a, 4p, 68 pim. SUN: The Calgarian showed an utter fearlessness, and was the lightest Wheat King to lead the team in fighting majors since Connor Gutenberg. He embraced the energy role and thrived at it.
MURRAY: “He’s a great kid. I called him before trying camp and told him ‘We need a guy who is going to work his tale off day in and day out and do little things like win faceoffs and be hard to play against. Overall, I thought Ben did a pretty good job of that.
Unfortunately, he was hit with some injuries on a couple of occasions and missed some significant time. He was one of those guys who made some big strides from the start of the year to the end of the year in making that transition to the Western Hockey League. He has to work on his skating a bit over the summer on his pace but you can never question his work ethic.
We wanted him to play with some chaos but within the system and I thought he understood that as the year wore on.” R,6-3, 165. Interlake (U18 AAA) 37gp, 3.
13 gaa, .917 save %. (Played one game with Brandon.
) SUN: He made his Brandon debut on Dec. 27 in the return from the Christmas break, and didn’t get much help in a 7-3 loss. Posting a .
917 save percentage on a seventh-place team is a strong indication of how good his U18 season was. MURRAY: “Dylan got a small dose of being a Western Hockey League goalie. He’s been up on occasion with injury trouble and Bjarnason away at world juniors.
He’s made some strides since we first drafted him. I think one of the biggest things we’ve talked about deficiency wise is his overall strength. People probably don’t think goalies need to be strong but just pushing off and getting to pucks is very, very important .
.. He played one game for us and it was probably the worst game of the year for him to play.
It was the first game after Christmas — Eskit unfortunately came back with an injury from Christmas break — and he was thrown into the fire. I think he got his eyes opened a little bit but it was probably one of the worst games our team played for 60 minutes.” 61gp, 4g, 6a, 10p, 25pim.
SUN: The rookie defenceman looked much older with his big frame and willingness to look for hits. He got better and better and more confident as the season went on. He could be extremely impactful in the future.
MURRAY: “We love Gio and what he brings to the rink every day as far as character. He’s kind of a care-free kid but he’s really competitive on the ice. I’m really, really impressed with what he did as a 16-year-old especially.
We moved Elick and then Arpin got hurt so Gio was thrust into a much bigger role and I think he handled it really well. He played against other teams’ top lines a lot of the night. If you look at the playoffs, he’s out there against (Lethbridge forward Brayden) Yager and company all the time and I thought he looked mature beyond his years.
” 61gp, 1g, 6a, 7p, 34pim. SUN: He just quietly went about his business, with a focus on defending his own net, and did it well at age 16. He got big minutes at times and thrived.
MURRAY: “Nigel came into camp last fall and wasn’t promised anything. He earned the opportunity to stick around and I thought he had a real strong 16-year-old year. It was probably a typical 16-year-old year where your minutes are up and down a little bit and there are some hiccups here and there but I thought overall he had a real strong year.
He’s a defence-first defenceman ...
If he can work on his puck skills over the summer and his confidence, that will go a long way. If you look at him and Gio as a pair a year or two or three from now, they’ll be dominant at this level.” Estevan (U18 AAA) 44gp, 6g, 30a, 36p, 24pim.
(Played 13 games with Brandon.) SUN: Allard was sent back to Estevan, where the eighth-round draft pick was named the top defenceman in the Saskatchewan U18 AAA league. He quickly looked at home in Brandon after multiple callups.
MURRAY: “He’s a guy we really like. We think we got a diamond in the rough as far as the draft goes. The way he moves the puck is quite impressive for a young guy.
He has a lot of poise. One of the things we talked about with him was making sure that poise doesn’t come across as being casual with the puck but his brain is really good. He’s another guy whose biggest deficiency, like a lot of 16-year-olds, is lack of strength, so in our exit meeting I said the first thing we’re going to look at when he comes back in the fall is his fitness tests, and we want to see some significant gains in areas of strength, and I think that would really translate to things on the ice.
” Brandon (U18 AAA) WHL: 51gp, 15g, 29a, 44p, 40pim. SUN: While he struggled with different injuries, he had the most points by a 16-year-old Brandon rookie since Nolan Patrick. He showed real chemistry with Jordan Gavin and also played with his U18 linemate Brady Turko a lot.
MURRAY: “Jaxon had a really good year. I think he had a better point-per-game season than me as a 16-year-old. Hopefully he can keep trending the right way.
Injuries plagued him a little bit. It’s not the easiest situation for him to walk into. Everybody knows his dad is the owner of the hockey club and he hears it from the opposing team.
I thought he handled it well for a young player. He did a lot of really good things. Unfortunately injuries hurt the second half of his season but I know he’s driven and hopefully he can make some major strides from where he was in his first year coming into his second year and really establish himself as a solid top-six player.
” Airdrie (U18 AAA) 36gp, 8g, 15a, 23p, 45pim. (Played seven games with Brandon.) SUN: The Albertan plays a simple game, with hard work and physicality at the centre of it.
He gradually seemed to become accustomed to the speed of the WHL game and was finding his way. MURRAY: “When we drafted him, we looked at him being a hard player but he’s probably the fastest skater on the ice whenever he’s out there or one of them. We just need to see it more.
I told him last year when he came and skated with us and at training camp that I don’t want to see that you’re fast once or twice a game, I want to see you’re fast every shift. He made some adjustments and we noticed a difference. There is still a ways to go as far as consistency within his game but I think he has the ability to be one of those guys who could be a 2025 Jordin Tootoo where he finishes checks really hard.
He has that ability. We haven’t seen it yet but I saw it at the youth level where he can go through people. Confidence is such a big thing, and having him around the last three weeks or month of the year will hopefully expedite his development.
” Regina, U18 AAA. 41gp, 28g, 45a, 73p, 8pim. (Played three games with Brandon.
) SUN: The youngster looked like a deer in the headlights in his early callups but gained confidence with more opportunity. He had an outstanding U18 season in Regina. MURRAY: “Chase is undersized a little but he plays so big and competes hard and has a lot of heart.
We love his brain and hockey IQ and ability to make plays. We only saw him three times. We would have liked to have him up a little more but we wanted to be respectful of Regina, they were in the playoffs en route to the Telus Cup.
We’re really excited about Chase. Not being a big guy, he’s going to need to have a good summer off the ice to come in and play a WHL schedule ..
. We’re a team that wants hard skill and I think Chase has that.” Wpg Thrashers, U18 AAA.
18gp, 13g, 10a, 23p, 6pim. (Played eight games with Brandon.) SUN: Bhathal looked like he could have played in Brandon this season, although an injury he suffered in a callup later led to surgery.
He could be impactful as a rookie. MURRAY: “He’s physically mature. You talk about the offensive spectrum, between him and Surkan they’re probably book ends.
He looked at times like an 18-year-old veteran. I felt like when he came up and played the first game, he looked really good. Then when he got hurt during his second game, I thought the next game he played a little bit reluctant, which is natural for a young player.
The third time he came up, I thought he was back to where he was from the get-go. He not only ate some minutes up but created some opportunities for himself. He had a shoulder injury but I talked to him at the POE (Manitoba’s Pursuit of Excellence camp) and he looks good and is excited to get underway in the fall.
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