WHL NOTEBOOK: Odds and ends to start a new season

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/09/2023 (922 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Like it or not, summer is behind us and another Western Hockey League season lies ahead.

While the ninth season of the WHL Notebook will once again be a spot to showcase western Manitoba’s talented youngsters playing elsewhere in the league, we’ll start with a grab bag to set up the 2023-24 season for the Brandon Wheat Kings. 

• INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED — The WHL announced Monday that Wenatchee Wild head coach Kevin Constantine has been suspended and an independent investigation has been launched into alleged violations of league regulations and policies. He was suspended Sunday after the league received a complaint regarding his conduct and is not allowed to contact anyone in the organization. After the investigation concludes, the player advisory council will provide a report to commissioner Ron Robison, who will then make a final decision on any further disciplinary action.

• ROSTER MOVES — Overage forward Brett Hyland was reassigned to Brandon by the Washington Capitals on Monday, and they released 18-year-old defenceman Eastyn Mannix, who likely wouldn’t have played a lot with seven defencemen ahead of him.

• BIG BOYS — The tallest Wheat King is Roger McQueen, who stands six-foot-five, followed by Kayden Sadhra-Kang at six-foot-four, and two players who stand six-foot-three, Charlie Elick and Carson Bjarnason. Overage forwards Dawson Pasternak and Jayden Wiens are the shortest Wheat Kings, standing five-foot-nine. Ten Wheat Kings are six-foot-two or taller. The heaviest Wheat Kings is Sadhra-Kang at 208 pounds, followed by Nick Jones and Tre Fouquette at 204 pounds and Carson Bjarnason at 202. The lightest player on the team is 150-pound overage forward Jayden Wiens. Eleven Wheat Kings are at least 190 pounds.

• PAYING A VISIT — The B.C. Division comes to Brandon for the first time since the 2019-20 season. In order of appearance, it’s the Prince George Cougars (Nov. 1), Kamloops Blazers (Dec. 9), Kelowna Rockets (Dec. 13), Vancouver Giants (Jan. 6) and Victoria Royals (Jan. 9). The Blazers have made their last five trips to Brandon in December, while the Rockets have made the Christmas trip seven times in a row. In fact, Kelowna’s last game in Brandon outside the month of December was on Oct. 8, 2005, a 4-3 overtime win for the Rockets in front of 2,523 fans.

• ON THE ROAD — The Wheat Kings make their annual trip to the Western Conference to visit the U.S. Division this year. They play the Lethbridge Hurricanes on the way out on Oct. 11, and then meet the Tri-City Americans (Oct. 13), Spokane Chiefs (Oct. 14), Seattle Thunderbirds (Oct. 17), Portland Winterhawks (Oct. 18), Everett Silvertips (Oct. 20), ending with their first-ever meeting against the Wenatchee Wild (Oct. 21). Their next game after the trip will see Moose Jaw visit on Oct. 26.

• NOT AT HOME — The Wheat Kings don’t have a Brandonite on the roster for the first time since the 1998-99 season. Easton Odut is from Dauphin but has lived in Brandon the last couple of years. The next Brandonite on the horizon is top prospect Jaxon Jacobson, who continues to nurse a lower-body injury suffered in the final pre-season game.

• GEOGRAPHY LESSON — Brandon still officially has 27 players on its roster, including players at pro camps and those nursing injuries. Along with two Europeans, there are three players from British Columbia, eight from Alberta, seven from Saskatchewan and seven from Manitoba. Three players are from Calgary, with two each from Lethbridge and Saskatoon.

• OVERAGERS — Brandon has four 20-year-olds right now, including defenceman Kayden Sadhra-Kang and forwards Hyland, Dawson Pasternak and newcomer Jayden Wiens. That number has to be cut to three by Oct. 10, although Pasternak’s bad back may allow Brandon to delay the decision. 

• GRAND FINALE — Brandon’s final eight games are against different Eastern Conference teams, with six on the road and two at home.

• ALBERTA BOUND — The Wheat Kings have four extended Eastern Conference road trips, a four-gamer from Nov. 22 to 26, a three-gamer from Jan. 26 to 28, a three-gamer from Feb. 22 to 24 and a four-gamer from March 5 to 9.

• HOME GROWN — Brandon selected 18 players on their roster in the WHL’s main draft or the import draft, with nine chosen by other teams. Starting goalie Carson Bjarnason is the only undrafted player on the club, and he made up for that by being selected in the National Hockey League draft by the Philadelphia Flyers.

• MONTHLY REPORT — An old theory suggests more players born in the first few months of the season will succeed than players born in the final few months because they have the advantage of time. After all, a player born in January is nearly a year older than a player born in December. Brandon has 14 players born between January and May, and just five hatched between September and December. The latest birthday belongs to Jacobson, who was born on Dec. 11. He played as underage in the under-18 AAA league last season, meaning he led his first-place Wheat Kings team in scoring despite being 13 for almost half the season.

• HOME COOKING — Westoba Place hosts a lengthy eight-hame home stand for the Wheat Kings between Dec. 1 and 29. The team heads out for two in Saskatchewan and then kicks off a six-game home stand from Jan. 6 to 21. That 16-game stretch between Dec. 1 and Jan. 21 will almost certainly be a telling sign of the team’s playoff ambitions this season. The Wheat Kings have one more extended home stand, a five-gamer from March 5 to 12.

• HAPPY HAPPY — Some Wheat Kings players and alumni who celebrate birthdays in late September include Brian Coates (who turned 71 on Friday) and Carl Mokosak (61 on Friday), Dan Bonar (67 on Saturday), Curt Ridley (who would have been 70 on Saturday), Jeff Temple (45 on Saturday), Ryley Miller (31 on Sunday), Terry Thomson (73 on Monday), Robert Brandis (35 on Wednesday), current Wheat King Nate Danielson (19 on Wednesday), Ethan Kruger (22 on Wednesday), Jeff Waver (55 on Thursday) and Juraj Simek (36 on Friday).

• DEADLINE PRESSURE — With The Brandon Sun’s current press time, we won’t be able to get stories in the next day’s paper for mid-week games, and if they are long games, we won’t be able to get quotes from coaches and players for the later deadlines on Friday. It’s not an ideal situation for anyone — especially for the Sports staff writing on deadline — but everything will be available for subscribers as usual on the website within an hour or two of the game ending.

 

THIS AND THAT

• QUIZ — Brandon acquired overage forward Jayden Wiens last week just in time for their home-opening 7-6 loss in overtime to the Regina Pats. Here’s a tough one for Wheat Kings diehards. How many of the seven overagers can you name who the Wheat Kings acquired during the season since the 2015-16 championship season? (If you can think of three or four without looking, you have an outstanding memory and may need a hobby. I remembered six, and definitely need a hobby.)

• WEEKLY AWARDS — Prince George Cougars 20-year-old forward Zac Funk of Coldstream, B.C., was named player of the week after leading the league with seven points in two games on opening weekend. The goaltender of the week was Prince Albert Raiders 19-year-old goaltender Max Hildebrand of Martensville, Sask., who made 28 saves for a 4-0 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. Finally, Wenatchee Wild 17-year-old forward Oscar Lovsin of Calgary was named rookie of the week after scoring twice and adding two assists in his first two career WHL regular season games.

• SIN BIN — Hudson Bjornson of the Victoria Royals is the first contestant in this season’s suspension department. The 17-year-old American rookie defenceman kicked off his WHL career with a kneeing major and game misconduct and will serve a one-game suspension.

• ALUMNI GLANCE — Nolan Ritchie and Calder Anderson graduated from the Wheat Kings after last season and headed to Italy to play with Meran-Merano. In three games so far, Ritchie leads the team with two goals and an assist, and Anderson has two assists. 

• THE WEEK AHEAD — Brandon hosts the Prince Albert Raiders on Wednesday, visits the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday and hosts the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday.

• ANSWER — The seven overagers Brandon has acquired during the season since the start of the 2015-16 campaign are Mitch Wheaton and Luke Harrison (2015-16), Dmitry Osipov (2016-17), Evan Weinger (2017-18), Braydyn Chizen (2018-19), Dom Schmiemann (2019-20) and Eric Pearce (2021-22).