Wheat Kings like intangibles they bring

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/12/2024 (367 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings have a lot of hockey remaining, and in the tightly packed Eastern Conference of the Western Hockey League, that could be a good thing or a bad thing.

In the first part of this two-part look at the Wheat Kings season so far that appeared in Friday’s edition of The Brandon Sun, Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray and the players looked at the season overall and the play of the forwards, defencemen and goalies.

Today, they discuss special teams, the areas they can still grow, the team intangibles and the outlook for the second half.

PENALTY KILL

Assistant coach Del Pedrick looks after the penalty kill, which currently sits seventh in the league with an 80.4 per cent efficiency rate. They have allowed 19 power-play goals on 97 attempts.

“The PK has been really good,” Murray said. “Your best penalty killer is usually your goaltender, and that’s a good start, but I think there is a commitment level it takes to be on the penalty kill and blocking shots and having good details to your game, good sticks and a strong work ethic. It’s been pretty consistent all year, and along with that, we’ve taken a lot less minor penalties, which is huge.”

With Matt (Hank The Tank) Henry in the lineup for the past two seasons, the truculent Wheat Kings finished seventh and sixth in the number of man advantages they handed opponents.

Now he’s gone and Brandon is tied for 18th by giving up 97 opportunities.

“We have a chart that we put up in the room every four or five games that shows it,” Murray said. “Four is kind of the magic number and we want to have four or less penalty kills a game. Even four is a stretch, you can argue that number should be three.”

Murray tracks the stats, and said the team’s winning percentage when it’s under four penalties is outstanding, while it plummets after five penalties.

“It was night and day,” Murray said. “That was something we showed them, the discipline and the not taking penalties and how it translates into wins and losses. It’s right in front of us.”

Brandon has allowed two power-play goals twice, one PP goal 14 times and blanked the opponent in 13 games.

The Wheat Kings have scored just one shorthanded goal, well behind league-leading Portland’s nine.

• CALEB HADLAND: “Our PK is real good actually. We have a pretty solid structure and keep things tight in the D zone.”

• LUKE SHIPLEY: “The penalty kill is about working hard and sacrificing. Honestly, I feel like we’ve created quite a few offensive chances off our penalty kill of late. It’s just working hard and getting to spots where the PP is lacking.”

• MATTEO MICHELS: “Our PK has definitely improved a lot more last year. That’s one thing that Del has been really prideful on that this year and we’ve been following what he is telling us and our PK has been exceptional this year.”

• NICK JOHNSON: “You have to earn your spot on the PK. Those guys who are on it have adapted to it and the changes. With each team you have a different power play, and when they have to adapt to it on the fly, they adapt to it well. It’s looking solid this year, and when we go down a man this year, it’s less stressful.”

POWER PLAY

The power play is an absolute puzzle. Assistant coach Mark Derlago, who was a power-play wizard for the Wheat Kings when he played, handles the man advantage. Brandon seems to have the personnel that should be enjoying success on the man advantage, yet they sit 17th in the league at 20.4 per cent. They’ve had their share and more of posts, crossbars, exceptional saves and missed nets, but it’s still an oddity.

“We work on it a ton in practice and with video, and you feel like it’s just about to break out and be a consistent 30 per cent for a while,” Murray said. “We just can’t get over that hump of finely executing that little play you need. It might be a little saucer pass over a stick or maybe a seam pass that gets deflected or we miss a one-timer or whatever, it feels like we’re so close.”

Murray set the goal of being over 20 per cent going into the break, and the Wheat Kings have been better lately, connecting four times in their last three games. He thinks the team has the talent to be around 25 per cent, and suggests they may just have to go with a clean slate after Christmas and start from scratch.

“That’s quite often the difference in a game,” Murray said. “With how tight the conference is, one power play can be a difference maker.”

At very least, the power play has to create some momentum, because if it’s awful, it can suck the life out of the bench.

The Wheat Kings have scored twice in a game four times this season, have a single goal in 13 games and have been blanked in 12. Nine of the 12 games they were blanked game in came during ugly streaks of four, three and two nights when they failed to connect.

There is one positive that can be taken. Brandon and the Edmonton Oil Kings are the only two teams that haven’t allowed a shorthanded goal this season. To put that into context, the Wenatchee Wild have allowed 11 to lead the league and the Spokane Chiefs are in hot pursuit at 10.

• NICK JOHNSON: “We have practice and we always feel good. It’s not like our power play is bad but we have the talent to make it an elite power play. Looking at this first half, there’s a lot of forced plays, and me being up in the stands for a majority of the first half, I keyed in on a couple of things and power play is one of them. When we have the puck, we don’t need to rush it. We don’t need to make that cross-ice pass right away, we can move it around and then try to find the seams. I feel like we’re trying to force it too much, and if we get back to the basics like getting a point shot on net and finding the rebound, we can get something that way.”

• LUKE SHIPLEY: “Being on the power play, I take a lot of pride and responsibility, and honestly it hasn’t been good enough. When you have a top power play, it takes away a lot of stress for a team five-on-five. It gives you a chance to put some gams away and that’s been a little bit of a struggle so far. Hopefully we can get it going and get some consistency we’ve been lacking.”

• CALEB HADLAND: “The power play has struggled a bit at the start here. I don’t really know what it is to a T, but it’s something we’re looking at and it’s been on an uphill climb lately. We’ll keep working on that and things will come around.”

• MATTEO MICHELS: “Roger still has the most power-play goals on the team — (McQueen is now tied with three players with three and Nick Johnson has moved past him with five) — so he’s a big part of it. We’re still trying to get chemistry and it’s starting to improve and I think it’s going to get a lot better with guys coming back. I’m to worried about it all. We’ve had a lot of goals right when the power play ended too.”

ROOM FOR GROWTH

It’s easy to forget when you’re watching talented players who can skate like the wind that most of them are teenagers.

And with all due respect to teenagers everywhere, it’s an age group that sometimes makes dubious decisions. Murray said there are a number of ways the team can be better moving forward.

“Consistent scoring, cutting those brain cramps in important times of the game, whether it be late night in the game or a tie game or what have you, just making your attention to detail is spot on all the time,” Murray said. “We said on day one at training camp that it’s our job to show you things and watch video and show you the expectations.

“At some point, we’re four months into the season, it should be automatic now that ‘Hey, we know what we’re doing on the back check, we know our responsibilities, we know their fourth or fifth guy can’t beat us up the ice.

“To take it to another level, those things that should be staples in our game, we have to take that step to be consistent and hard to play against and everybody on the same page knowing what we’re doing. We still have those moments that if you let up a little but, it usually ends up translating to bad things.”

• MATTEO MICHELS: “I’d say keeping that consistency honestly. I don’t want to say we get too comfortable, but ya, we get too comfortable little bit and we’ll lay off the gas and let teams come back at us a little bit when we have the momentum. We need to keep that consistency and start playing like a playoff team now and learning how to hold leads.”

• LUKE SHIPLEY: “With the conference being so tight, with being a few points out of first place and few points out of a playoff spot, it’s going to be urgency. There have been times we’ve dominated teams and times where we’ve been dominated by not-so-strong teams. It’s just consistency and being able to be at our best at better times and for longer stretches.”

• JOBY BAUMULLER: “I think consistency and playing a full 60 minutes of hockey and not coming out for the first 10 and then slacking off for the next five or 10 minutes of the period. Having a full 60 game is our biggest key to focus on in the next half.”

• CALEB HADLAND: “Consistency and playing a full 60-minute game. A lot of the games this year we’ve been on and off with periods and starting the game. The last couple of games we’ve been good and we’ve been playing more complete games. If we keep that rolling into the new year, I think good things will come.”

• QUINN MANTEI: “I like how the last few games especially we’ve been playing honest games and we’ve been giving full efforts. That’s been a big stride because it was a concern earlier on in the year when we let a few games slip. We have to stay on top of that and make sure we don’t let teams back into games. We know what we’re capable of: We can get the power play going a little bit, and I take my responsibility in that as well. That’s an area to improve on.”

• CARTER KLIPPENSTEIN: “I think being consistent in the offensive and defensive zone. Right now we’re riding pretty hot and not allowing much and scoring a lot. We need to continue to not go through waves of switching between one or the other but staying consistent with both for the rest of the year, especially going into our tough second half.”

INTANGIBLES

An old saying suggests that adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it. The Wheat Kings have certainly been tested this season as they’ve faced injury after injury, including to their top forward Roger McQueen, and played several nights without 18 skaters dressed.

That’s been reflected on and off the ice.

“They’re a great group of kids,” Murray said. “Any time our kids are out in the community or schools or anything like that, they get rave reviews, and that’s something we’re proud of. You want to have good people. The responsibility in junior hockey isn’t just playing the game, it’s carrying yourself the right way. You’re representing the organization and the city, so I’m real proud of ours guys for that.”

This is one of those teams where any two players could be chatting during practice or walking to the gym together, which isn’t always the case.

With a team that’s one-third rookies, it’s important for the older players to take them in and offer that guidance.

“It’s a really tight-knit group off the ice, but I think there’s another level to get to that brotherhood warrior-type mentality when it goes on the ice,” Murray said. “You’re fighting so hard for the guy next to you. There are times where we see it and I think there are times where it can get better. Championship teams I’ve been a part of have that special thing where everybody gets along off the ice but you’ll go through a wall for each other, you’ll do whatever it takes.

“You might sacrifice some personal opportunity or ice time for the betterment of the team, you might block that big shot, you might take a punch on the nose for us to go on the power play. That’s what puts a team over the hump.”

• GIO PANTELAS: “It’s a great leadership group overall, but it’s not just them that’s speaking up, everyone on our team is speaking up. I didn’t even realize who the assistants (alternates) were because we didn’t announce them and really there are so many other guys who could be assistants. Even though our assistants are great choices, everyone in the room is talking. It’s a group of family really.”

• BRADY TURKO: “There has been some adversity with injuries and guys missing but our group is a special group and I think everyone on it feels like a family in the room and everybody is a great guy. We’ve glimpsed some adversity for sure but got through and ahead of it and I think to face adversity and come through well is something every team needs to do.”

• ETHAN ESKIT: “It’s great, a lot of guys have stepped up. It happens every year, you have a turnover, and I think our guys, especially our leadership group, has done a great job of filling those holes and even almost exceeding expectations. Everyone is having a lot of fun and it’s great to come to the rink.”

• JOBY BAUMULLER: “We work together to keep positive energy in the dressing room. If something doesn’t go our way, we’ll look at it for a bit but then focus on the next thing and push towards that and not try to focus on the past but focus on the future and see where that takes us.”

OUTLOOK

It’s hard to tell what will come next.

Does Murray feel confident enough that McQueen is returning to add some pieces at the trade deadline on Jan. 10? Is he a seller? Does he stand pat?

“There are a lot of question marks with that group,” Murray said. “We don’t know about McQueen yet and that’s what makes it a little difficult to forecast how we move forward with things.”

At the same time, when Brandon plays to its strengths, it’s been a competitive group that has notched some high-end victories. Shutting out the Medicine Hat Tigers 3-0 on Nov. 2 and beating a red-hot Spokane Chiefs club 6-3 on Oct. 16 were among the highlights.

Murray thinks that especially if McQueen returns, Brandon’s forward depth could take it a long ways.

“We’ve made some nice strides defensively, we feel good about our goaltending,” Murray said. “When I write down our forwards and you add Roger McQueen in there, I think it’s a real deep group and a real strong forward group. Maybe outside of Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and maybe Calgary now, we have to be right in that group.

“If McQueen is in the lineup every night, I think he’s a top-20 scorer in the league but I really believe with our depth — we have three lines on any given night that can score three goals — and that’s a good thing. A lot of teams don’t have that luxury but we feel good about that group.”

• NICK JOHNSON: “Because of the adversity early in the season, everyone can step up and make a big play. Once we get everyone healthy and everyone is going and firing, we can be a very, very dangerous team in this league and I don’t think anyone should look away from us. We should take pride in that, that we can do some damage for sure.”

• BRADY TURKO: “Our team has potential to be a top contender in the league, I believe and everyone in the room believes it’s just a matter of showing up and competing every night. If we do that for the rest of the season, our team should have a good shot at being a top contender.”

• MARCUS NGUYEN: “I think we could be really deadly. At the start of the season I got a taste for playing with (McQueen). He’s a special player and our winning record at the start of the year was evidence of it. I think once we get Roger back, and who knows what’s going to happen with trades, honestly I really like we’re at, and with Roger coming back, that’s going to be huge.”

• CALEB HADLAND: “If we’re healthy, I think we can be a contender this year for sure. I think we have the skill up front and the shutdown in the back with our D and our goalies. I think our group has a ton of potential, we just have to find the groove and get things rolling, and then the Western should watch out.”

• JOBY BAUMULLER: “I think we can become a top two team in our division and conference and we could have a really long run in the playoffs.”

• CARTER KLIPPENSTEIN: “I think we’ve shown over the past couple of weeks how good we can be, scoring tons of goals and keeping them out.”

• QUINN MANTEI: “I think we can be really dangerous once we get fully healthy. That’s a big key. I don’t think there is a team that we can’t at least compete with. With our forward group — I think it’s one of the deepest groups in the league — and our goaltending is probably top of the league as well, and I really like how our D corps has come along this year. I think we’re close to the bottom in goals against, and part of that is goaltending as well, but I think we’ve done a really good job getting better each and every week. We can definitely be a contender. I’m really excited about the second half with this group.”

» In Tuesday’s edition of The Brandon Sun, four Wheat Kings talk about the Christmas traditions in their families, and an in-depth look behind the scenes at the annual teddy-bear toss.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson