Wheat Kings looking for rebound weekend

A Brandon Wheat Kings club looking for a bounce-back from an embarrassing loss at home on Sunday will face a pair of hungry division rivals this weekend.

The Wheat Kings visit the Regina Pats this evening at the Brandt Centre at 8 p.m. (CT) and then host the Saskatoon Blades at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Saturday at 6 p.m. In their most recent action, Brandon dropped a 7-2 decision to the Swift Current Broncos after an abysmal first period that saw them outscored 6-1 and outshot 15-6.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said the loss has to be an eye opener for his group, which is tied for second in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference with a record of 11-6-0-0.

“Especially at home, we were down 6-1 after one and that’s embarrassing,” Murray said. “That can’t happen at this level. I hope everybody is embarrassed, we should be. I know I was being around town this week. We’re better than that.

“That happens unfortunately from time to time but we have to bounce back and be ready to play (tonight).”

The weekend is a repeat of the start of the season for Brandon, which faced seventh-place Regina (7-6-0-1) on the first weekend and ninth-place Saskatoon (6-5-3-0) the second weekend in their first two games. The Wheat Kings won both games despite being badly outshot.

Since going 5-1-0-0 on their West Coast trip in early October, Brandon is just 4-4-0-0, and rookie defenceman Ethan Young said his club has to be better.

“We have a great group in there,” Young said. “The coaches trust their guys a lot and we know we can win with that group. The one-one weekends just aren’t going to cut it. The guys take pride in that and I think it will change over the next few weeks for sure.”

Tonight will be a memorable one for the 17-year-old Young, who grew up in the Queen City and will be making his regular season debut in Regina. Young played with the Wheat Kings at the Brandt Centre one other time, a 5-2 pre-season loss on Sept. 5, 2025.

“I’m super excited,” Young said. “I’ve got lots of family going to that game. I’ve been playing in that rink probably since I was five and I love it back home, but I’m excited to go against all the boys I work out with. There are no friends on the ice so I’m sure we’ll go at it.”

He most recently skated in the Brandt Centre when his under-18 AAA club, the Regina Pat Canadians, played there one weekend, but their home is the nearby Co-operators Arena.

The Pats will be without two of his former teammates, Liam Pue and Maddox Schultz, who like Brandon defenceman Cruz Jim, are away at the U17 World Challenge.

But Young also played with Pats goalie Taylor Tabashniuk, skates with forward Ellis Mieyette during the summer and sees defenceman Reese Hamilton at the gym.

He has high hopes going into the weekend.

“I think we had a good week of practices in order to get better,” Young said. “We practised what we need to work on and we should probably have a good bounce-back game.”

In their most recent action, the Pats were doubled up 6-3 by the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Sunday. Murray said they’ll be looking for redemption the same way his club is.

“Regina has a real good team,” Murray said. “They have a lot of layers to their team that can hurt you and some veteran guys and some real good young players and a mobile D corps. They’re going to be a handful for everybody every game this year. I know they’re missing their two young kids who are at U17 but they have a real solid team.”

On Saturday, the Wheat Kings face a Blades club that has enjoyed a lot of success in Brandon in recent years, and will have Boissevain product Josh Fluker in the lineup after a trade with the Wenatchee Wild on Oct. 28.

“If you look at their forward group, especially their top six, they are as good as anybody in the league,” Murray said. “Their D has some veteran presence to it and some big bodies and some guys who are pretty mobile, then they have an NHL-drafted goaltender (Martin Psohlavec).”

Saskatoon hosts the visiting Calgary Hitmen on Friday so both the Blades and Wheat Kings will be travelling for Saturday’s matchup. The puck drops at 6.

ON THE MEND

Brandon is slowly getting healthier.

Finnish defenceman Ilari Kapanen participated in practice in a red non-contact jersey, as did forward Aiden Foster, who suffered a lower-body-injury last Friday. He will be a game-time decision for this weekend’s action.

One player who is definitely good to go is forward Gunnar Gleasman, who is returning from an upper-body affliction. “It feels amazing to be back with my teammates and on the ice just helping out and competing in practice,” Gleasman said. “It’s great.”

Brandon missed the physical presence provided by the six-foot-four, 215-pound Colorado product, who has 18 penalty minutes in the four games he’s skated in this season. He was injured on Oct. 6 during a game against the Vancouver Giants.

While he’s missed significant time after also suffering an injury at training camp, Gleasman thinks he can build on the experience.

“It was tough,” Gleasman said. “All you want to do is help out the team but I do think it was valuable and I do think I learned a lot from up top. I got to watch a lot of hockey. I’ll benefit from what I can.”

Goaltender Ryley Budd also returned to the lineup from injury after being replaced on the bench last weekend by two Manitoba Junior Hockey League call-ups, Micky Gross of the Virden Oil Capitals on Sunday and Hudson Hunnie of the Selkirk Steelers on Friday.

“We’re getting there,” Murray said. “Hopefully we don’t take any steps back this weekend.”

That leaves just two missing pieces. Jim is expected back from the U17 World Challenge on Sunday. His Team White was in the quarterfinals last night in a game that ended after deadline after going 1-1 in the round-robin.

The only player who remains out completely is defenceman Josh McGregor, who suffered an upper-body injury against the Prince Albert Raiders on Oct. 28.

With Kapanen, Jim and McGregor missing from their eight-man defensive corps, 15-year-old call-up defenceman Marko Malbasa will spend another weekend with the team after debuting against the Lethbridge Hurricanes last Friday.

Murray is hopeful the club can start to show some of the promise it did in British Columbia when it started to roll.

“It’s frustrating, win one, lose one, so I think there needs to be a sense of that isn’t good enough,” Murray said. “We’re going to play a team that got beat pretty bad in their last game too. There’s never a night when you’re going to have a team that isn’t prepared or not hungry to play. “Both teams have had the week to recoup and get ready so we have to come out with a bit of a snarl in our game and be ready against a hungry Pats team.”

ICINGS — The WHL announced on Wednesday that an expansion franchise has been granted to Chilliwack, B.C., with an ownership group led by Jeremy Colliton, Brett Motherwell, Mason Raymond, Mario Amantea and Patrick Lathrop. Former Prince Albert Raiders forward Colliton will serve as governor, general manager and head coach for the team, which will begin play in the 2027-28 season at the 5,000-seat Chilliwack Coliseum. The club’s name will be unveiled at a launch event in Chilliwack, which previously played host to the Bruins for five seasons from 2006 to 2011.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

 

WHEAT KINGS

Record: 11-6-0-0, 22 points.

Players to watch:

Kris Muissu (17gp, 11g, 8a, 19pts).

Chase Surkan(17gp, 8g, 11a, 19pts).

Jaxon Jacobson (17gp, 5g, 11a, 16pts).

Joby Baumuller (17gp, 9g, 5a, 14pts).

Colin Grubb (17gp, 3g, 8a, 11pts).

Aiden Foster (9gp, 7g, 2a, 9pts).

Goalies:

Filip Ruzicka (7-5-0-0, 3.38 gaa, .898 pct).

Ryley Budd (4-0-0-0, 2.49 gaa, .931 pct).

Key absences: Ilari Kapanen, Josh McGregor

Power play: 19.1 per cent (12th in WHL).

Penalty killing: 77.1 per cent (19th in WHL).

Total goals for/against: 55-55.

Home record: 5-3-0-0.

Last 10 games: 6-4-0-0.

Head to head vs. Regina: 1-0-0-0.

Head to head vs. Saskatoon: 1-0-0-0.

FRIDAY

Brandon Wheat Kings at Regina Pats

8 p.m. at Brandt Centre in Regina.

7:30 p.m. (91.5 FM): 8 p.m. (YouTube)

PATS

Record: 7-6-0-1, 15 points.

Players to watch:

Matt Paranych (14gp, 5g, 10a, 15pts).

Zachary Lansard (13gp, 7g, 6a, 13pts).

Ellis Mieyette (11gp, 3g, 9a, 12pts).

Goalies:

Taylor Tabashniuk (7-3-0-0, 2.64 gaa, .900 pct).

Drake Mooney (0-3-0-0, 3.52 gaa, .868 pct).

Key absences: Parker Trottier, Liam Pue, Maddox Schultz.

Power play: 29.2 per cent (1st in WHL).

Penalty killing: 86.2 per cent (4th in WHL).

Total goals for/against: 55-44.

Road record: 1-5-0-1.

Last 10 games: 6-4-0-0.

Head to head vs. Brandon: 0-0-0-1.

SATURDAY

Brandon Wheat Kings vs. Saskatoon Blades

6 p.m. at Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

5:30 p.m. (91.5 FM): 6 p.m. (YouTube)

BLADES

Record: 6-5-3-0, 15 points.

Players to watch:

Kazden Mathies (14gp, 9g, 13a, 22pts).

Hunter Laing (14gp, 10g, 10a, 20pts).

Brayden Klimpke (14gp, 5g, 14a, 19pts).

Goalies:

Martin Psohlavec (6-3-1-0, 3.09 gaa, .896 pct).

Koen Cleaver (2-3-1-0, 4.01 gaa, .863 pct).

Key injuries: Kain Martiniuk.

Power play: 23.2 per cent (6th in WHL).

Penalty killing: 76.6 per cent (21st in WHL).

Total goals for/against: 55-54.

Road record: 1-4-2-0.

Last 10 games: 4-4-2-0.

Head to head vs. Brandon: 0-1-0-0.