Wheat Kings name Brett Hyland team’s 41st captain

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This article was published 21/02/2024 (849 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings named Brett Hyland their new captain on Tuesday afternoon as they prepare to head out on an important road trip.

Hyland, 21, who is in his fourth season with the club, becomes the 41st captain in the team’s storied Western Hockey League history after the team dealt Nate Danielson to the Portland Winterhawks on Jan. 10.

“Honestly, I felt pretty honoured,” Hyland said. “I was hoping to get this sometime in my career, especially in a place like Brandon where they play hard. The culture here, I feel like it fits my leadership style, so I feel like I can uphold it.”

In 182 regular season WHL games, Hyland has 73 goals and 64 assists with 188 penalty minutes. The five-foot-11, 194-pound forward set a career high with his team-leading 30 goals this season, and a new mark in points with 51. His next assist will help eclipse his previous career high of 21.

He is tied with 17-year-old Roger McQueen for second in the team’s point race, two back of Rylen Roersma.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said the choice made a lot of sense.

“With the timing of it, I think it’s important to have somebody down the stretch leading the way. Brett has been a Wheat King for a number of years and exemplifies what a Wheat King is.

“His work ethic is second to none and he produces at a consistent level. He’s just an all-around great kid who is proud to wear the jersey every day.”

Caleb Hadland has served as an alternate captain at times in his 17-year-old season and was a captain earlier in his hockey career. He said Hyland’s promotion was a popular move in the dressing room.

“It’s unbelievable,” Hadland said. “With Danny gone at the trade deadline, we haven’t had that one guy to stand out as our leader and Brett shows every quality of being a captain. He knows who to play the BWK way. We’re all so proud of him.”

The alternate captains are Rylen Roersma, Jayden Wiens and Quinn Mantei, although Murray added they may add another player to that mix.

After Danielson’s trade, Hyland said it was understood the other leaders would all have to step up.

“Not one of us needed to fill Nate’s role, we just needed to each contribute something more and then we would collectively fill that void,” Hyland said. “After that, I think a lot of the older guys and the younger guys took a big step. We’ve all just sort of been moving in the right direction together.”

Hyland added that’s been key for the team this year. While leadership is traditionally reserved for older players, younger guys have been making important contributions.

“When they do things the right way, it ties everything together,” he said. “Older guys, we can hold them accountable, but they can also hold us accountable. It’s a two-way street but it starts with the older guys for sure, and it has to, because they’ve been here the longest and they know what needs to be done for success.”

Hyland has played under four captains during his WHL career: Braden Schneider in the Regina hub, Ridly Greig in 2021-22, Danielson and Nolan Ritchie. He said he can take a little something from them all.

“(Schneider) is obviously playing in the NHL now and an unreal player,” Hyland said. “It wasn’t hard to tell he did things the right way day in and day out, and then we get to Ridly Greig. He’s a pretty popular guy right now.

“He had a unique style. He played hard on the ice. I can’t say enough good things about him. He wasn’t the most vocal off the ice, but guys respected him.”

Last season, the team named Danielson and Ritchie co-captains, which was an unusual arrangement in recent Wheat Kings history. Hyland said both brought good things.

“Nate, like Braden Schneider, did things right day in and day out,” Hyland said. “And Nolan Ritchie … he was a helluva guy.”

Murray was an outstanding Wheat Kings captain in the early 1990s, so he understands the significance and the pressures it can bring. The captains are listed on a wall near the dressing room, and it’s an impressive group.

“It’s a big honour to wear the jersey and be recognized as a leader,” Murray said. “I think it’s tremendous honour and a big responsibility. You look at the wall and who wore that C before you and it’s an honour. For Brett, one of the things we made clear is to just be yourself.

“He doesn’t have to change who he is, and try not to put the weight of the world on his shoulders. He just needs to be Brett, and that’s what we love about him.”

While captains traditionally fit one of two stereotypes — the vocal dressing room style of Macoy Erkamps or the leave-it-all-on-the-ice example of a Connor Gutenberg — Hyland tries to be a bit of both.

“With regards to on-ice things, I like to set a pretty example for younger guys and the team,” Hyland said. “Off the ice, I just try and keep things light and sometimes when it’s time to get serious, you obviously get serious. I just want to be honest with the guys if they can be doing something better, and if they’re doing good work, I think honesty is one of the biggest things for a healthy team.”

The Wheat Kings have just 13 games remaining in the regular season, starting with another three-in-three stretch which kicks off Thursday against the Prince Albert Raiders. The club, which will be based in Prince Albert for the trip, head souths on Highway 11 to Saskatoon to meet the Blades on Friday, and then returns to play the Raiders again on Saturday.

Brandon (27-22-5-1) sits in sixth place, four points up on the seventh-place Raiders, and seven ahead of the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Calgary Hitmen. In their last outing, the Raiders pounded the Wheat Kings 7-3, but Brandon hosted Lethbridge the night before and then headed to northern Saskatchewan the next morning.

“They are four points behind us and we play them twice this weekend so they are big games,” Murray said of the Raiders. “It’s crunch time. It’s unfortunate we’re banged up the way we are but that’s hockey. I think the last time we went in there we were pretty tired coming off the night before and the travel day of, so I don’t put a whole lot of stock in the last game, but I do know they play hard in that building and they’ve been playing pretty good hockey lately.”

The short-staffed Wheat Kings, who are without injured forwards Nick Johnson, Roger McQueen, Hayden Wheddon and Joby Baumuller, will take 16-year-old callup Brady Turko of McCreary on the trip. The youngster, who is second in scoring in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League behind fellow Brandon prospect Jaxon Jacobson — scored his first WHL in a 5-2 loss to Saskatoon on Monday.

Brandon will also be without defenceman Charlie Elick on Thursday after he earned a one-game suspension for a kneeing major he took against Saskatoon defenceman Ben Saunderson of Carberry on Monday, while Blades forward Vaughn Watterodt earned one game off for a hit on Wheat Kings defenceman Quinn Mantei.

Meanwhile, Wheat Kings forward Carter Klippenstein has served his one-game suspension and will be back in the lineup.

“It’s very tight,” Hyland said of the trip, which Brandon left for this morning. “We could all panic, but if we just go in and stay calm and remember what we do to have success and play the way we want to play, we’ll have definitely be successful,” Hyland said. “We don’t need to get out of our game plan to try to win these games or get too fancy. We just need to be the Brandon Wheat Kings and we’ll be OK.”

ICINGS: Overage Wenatchee Wild defenceman Graham Sward of Abbotsford, B.C., was named player of the week after contributing two goals and four assists in two games last week … Overage Vancouver Giants netminder Brett Mirwald of Saskatoon earned the goalie of the week award for the fourth time this season after winning both his starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and .971 save percentage … The top rookie was Saskatoon goalie Evan Gardner, 17, who had a 16-save shutout in a 1-0 overtime win against the Lethbridge Hurricanes in his only start … Edmonton Oil Kings defenceman Ismail Abougouche will sit three games under supplemental discipline for his actions in a game against the Red Deer Rebels on Saturday … Vancouver Giants forward Tomis Marinkovic earned a two-game suspension for a game misconduct he took against Portland on Saturday.

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