DeSouza eager to make Wheat Kings debut

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This article was published 05/12/2023 (707 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s better late than never for Jackson DeSouza as the big American blue-liner prepares to make his debut with the Brandon Wheat Kings.

After a trade from the Kelowna Rockets late Thursday afternoon, the six-foot-five, 207-pound DeSouza hopped on a plane Friday morning with the intent of being in the lineup with his new club for their 7-1 victory over the Regina Pats. As it turned out, life — and the Canadian aviation industry — had other plans.

“I woke up at 4:30 to get to the airport in Kelowna and then ended up getting stranded in Calgary for a bit,” DeSouza said. “I was pretty devastated. I wanted to play that night.”

As it turned out, he didn’t arrive until Saturday afternoon, and was picked up at the airport by his former Rockets teammate Nolan Flamand.

“It’s awesome,” DeSouza said. “All the guys are really welcoming and the coaching staff is awesome. I’m really excited to be here.”

Flamand played in Kelowna with DeSouza for the 2021-22 season and half of the 2022-23 campaign before he came to Brandon at the 2023 trade deadline. He’s a fan of what the big defenceman can bring to the Wheat Kings.

“When I was in Kelowna, we clicked pretty well and had lots of fun off the ice,” Flamand said. “On the ice, he’s a really good player and really good leader. He definitely leads with his energy and moves pucks really well. He can see the ice really well. He has a big body so not many guys can knock him off the puck.

“He’s probably one of the best guys at eating pucks (blocking shots). It’s definitely a good energy booster for us so it’s going to be huge to see him on the ice finally.”

DeSouza, who was selected by Kelowna in the fourth round of the 2018 WHL draft with the 84th overall pick, has a goal, six assists and 31 penalty minutes in 15 games this season.

In 159 career regular season and playoff games since he made a two-game debut during the 2018-19 season, DeSouza has nine goals, 30 assists and 165 penalty minutes.

“I’m not one of the flashiest players out there,” DeSouza said. “I just hone in on the little details of boxing out net front, being tough to play against, taking away time and space, quick and easy first passes and blocking shots. That’s what I like to do. I’m just a big stay-at-home defenceman.”

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray was impressed with his first look at the big defenceman, who he acquired Thursday in a one-for-one deal involving another overage defender, Kayden Sadhra-Kang.

“He’s a presence out there for sure,” Murray said. “The thing I like is he does everything hard. He seems like a great kid. He’s getting involved and asking questions. It was a good first impression for sure.”

DeSouza is from Erie, Colo., a community of 30,000 located north of Denver and east of Boulder. He becomes the 15th American player — not including dual citizens — to skate for the Wheat Kings since it joined the WHL for the 1967-68 season.

After missing Friday’s game, he’s certainly eager to take to the ice with his new teammates for tonight’s matchup at Westoba Place against the visiting Red Deer Rebels. “I’m really excited,” DeSouza said. “It’s going to be a great time for the fans (tonight) with a big game against Red Deer.”

The Wheat Kings have met the Rebels once this season, narrowly missed out on earning at least a point in the second outing of their recent four-game road trip.

Ollie Josephson scored with less than 20 seconds remaining in regulation and Kai Uchacz added an empty netter eight seconds later as the Rebels emerged with a 2-0 victory on Nov. 24.

“They’re a hard-working team,” Murray said. “They make you fight for every inch of ice. They compete hard: It’s a man’s game, not a little boys’ game, so you have to be prepared to go to the dirty areas and go to war. The team that does that the best will get the two points.”

Brandon lost 6-1 to the Medicine Hat Tigers a night later, but finished the trip with a victory over the host Prince Albert Raiders, and with the win over Regina on Friday, are now riding their fourth two-game winning streak of the season. They haven’t managed to win a third consecutive game yet.

“It’s definitely something we’ve been wanting to do this whole year,” Flamand said. “Having another shot at it, we’re definitely not going to take this opportunity for granted, and we’ll battle hard for it.”

The Eastern Conference race couldn’t be much tighter as 11 teams fight for eight playoff spots.

While the top three teams, the Saskatoon Blades, Medicine Hat Tigers and Moose Jaw Warriors, have a bit of a lead, there is only an eight-point gap between the fourth-place Prince Albert Raiders and the 10th-place Regina Pats.

Brandon (12-11-4-1) currently sits in seventh, two points ahead of eighth-place Red Deer (12-10-0-3), which has three games in hand.

While it might seem a little early to declare that Brandon’s current home stand could have a lasting impact on its season, it’s hard to deny. The Wheat Kings have a six-game home stand in January as well, so 14 of their 34 home games will be played at Westoba Place between Dec. 1 and Jan. 21, with just two road games in the middle.

Later this week, the Moose Jaw Warriors visit on Friday and the Kamloops Blazers are in Brandon on Saturday for the first time since Dec. 6, 2019.

“This is a big month for us,” Murray said. “We started it off against Regina, and now we have to continue it on. Red Deer is a hungry team, they’re in the same spot as us in the standings. It’s so tight that every game is crucial. You don’t have too many of these home stands during a year so you have to take advantage of it when you do.”

Flamand agreed.

“It’s extremely important,” Flamand said. “It’s not too often you get an eight-game home stand. Definitely being at home is a huge advantage for us so we’ll take that into our hands and perform really well in all eight games.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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