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Brandon Wheat Kings head coach Dwayne Gylywoychuk diagrams a drill in front of his team during practice at Westman Place on Thursday.
Alessio Bertaggia pulled off a hat trick in the Brandon Wheat Kings’ season opener last year.
So what does the Swiss speedster have planned for an encore?
"I just want the team to win," Bertaggia said with a smile when the question was posed after practice on Thursday. "If I score three, one or two goals it doesn’t matter. It matters what’s on the jumbo screen at the end of the game."
The Wheat Kings host the Regina Pats in their Brandon Sun Home Opener tonight at 7:30 at Westman Place. The Wheat Kings don’t need a hat trick from Bertaggia every night, but with nine rookie forwards on the roster, the club is counting on a big season from the 19-year-old from Lugano, who is the highest scoring returnee up front after potting 24 goals and 50 points last season.
Bertaggia wasn’t sure what to expect a year ago as he entered his rookie season in the Western Hockey League. His awareness of his surroundings has grown greatly since then, but it hasn’t dulled his excitement about opening night.
"I think it’s going to be a lot different, but I’m really looking forward to it," said Bertaggia, who practised on a line with fellow veterans Tyrel Seaman and Jason Swyripa this week. "I’m so excited. I was waiting for this moment for five months."
If Bertaggia is wired about pulling on the jersey for the first time in anger, imagine how the Wheat Kings’ rookies feel about their impending debuts.
"I’m beyond excited," said 17-year-old Winnipegger Geordie Maguire, who is thrilled about being able to play close to home in front of family and friends after being acquired from the Everett Silvertips last month. "I’ve been here since August 27th and all I’ve wanted to do is play my first game."
The Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League’s scoring champion, with 40 goals and 77 points in 42 games last season, Maguire is adapting to the higher level of play in the WHL. He knows that tonight’s game will be an even bigger challenge.
"It’s going to be more physical, a lot more physical, which I’ve got to be ready for. I’ve got these new shoulder pads so hopefully they help a bit," he said with a grin while tapping his shoulder pads. "But I know it’s going to be faster, it’s going to be more physical and I’m going to have to be working that much harder to get shots and get scoring opportunities."
Wheat Kings head coach Dwayne Gylywoychuk said there’s room for improvement from the Wheat Kings’ 1-3 pre-season, during which the club was short-handed 20 times in the final two games.
"I think we can play a better team game, a better five-on-five game," Gylywoychuk said. "(If) you wanna break that down a little bit more, we want to play better defensively than we did. The first two games we didn’t give up a lot of shots. The second two games we gave up a lot of goals. We didn’t play strong defensively and that right away led to the penalties we took."
ONE-TIMERS: All 26 players on the Brandon roster practised on Thursday, although rookie C Jayce Hawryluk was in a non-contact jersey … As of Thursday afternoon, the Wheat Kings had sold 2,502 season tickets and 3,551 tickets for tonight’s game … LW Dominick Favreau, who was released on Monday by the Wheat Kings, has officially joined the Dauphin Kings, the MJHL team announced yesterday ... Former Brandon RW David Toews has signed with Bakersfield of the ECHL … Winnipegger Michael St. Croix scored the first goal of the WHL season Thursday night as his Edmonton Oil Kings hosted the Kootenay Ice. Edmonton went on to win the game 5-3.
» rhenders@brandonsun.com
BRANDON WHEAT KINGS ROSTER:
(26 players)
GOALTENDERS (2) Ht. Wt. Age
Corbin Boes 6-3 216 19
Curtis Honey 5-11 172 18
DEFENCEMEN (8) Ht. Wt. Age
Rene Hunter 6-1 205 19
Ryley Miller 6-0 177 20
Ayrton Nikkel 6-1 195 17
Ryan Pulock 6-1 211 18
Eric Roy 6-3 190 18
r-Riley Van Horne 6-1 180 16
r-Colton Waltz 6-1 194 17
Tyler Yaworski 6-4 205 20
FORWARDS (16) Ht. Wt. Age
Daniel Asham 6-2 201 18
Alessio Bertaggia 5-9 165 19
Nick Buonassisi 5-10 188 20
r-Taylor Cooper 6-0 180 17
ir-Jayce Hawryluk 5-10 186 16
r-Ryley Lindgren 5-11 165 16
r-Quintin Lisoway 5-10 185 17
r-Geordie Maguire 6-0 165 17
r-Tim McGauley 6-0 177 17
Jens Meilleur 6-1 190 19
r-Richard Nejezchleb 6-2 212 18
r-Jack Palmer 6-2 178 17
r-Kord Pankewicz 5-10 197 16
r-John Quenneville 6-0 194 16
Tyrel Seaman 6-2 217 18
Jason Swyripa 5-7 165 19
r — rookie; i — injured.
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition September 21, 2012
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Alessio Bertaggia pulled off a hat trick in the Brandon Wheat Kings’ season opener last year.
So what does the Swiss speedster have planned for an encore?
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Alessio Bertaggia pulled off a hat trick in the Brandon Wheat Kings’ season opener last year.
So what does the Swiss speedster have planned for an encore?
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