U18 PLAYOFFS: Eastman poses high-scoring challenge for Brandon
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/02/2025 (281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Brandon Wheat Kings find themselves in a familiar position as the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League playoffs begin on Saturday night.
The Wheat Kings (40-5-3) will have the top seed for the fourth year in a row as they face off against the eighth-place Eastman Selects (23-20-5) in their best-of-five quarterfinal series.
Brandon head coach Travis Mealy said despite the disparity in the standings, Eastman is a dangerous opponent.
Brandon Wheat Kings forward Jonah Lemoine (29), right, shown celebrating his goal against the Kenora Thistles with teammate Ethan Stanley (14) during Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League action at J&G Homes Arena on Jan. 26, is hoping he and his teammates have more to celebrate against the Eastman Selects as the playoffs begin. (Perry Bergson/The Brandon Sun)
“For an eighth-place team, they have the second best power play,” Mealy said. “They put a lot of pucks to the net. They’re fourth in the league for goals for.
“They do give up a lot: They’re a little bit more of a run-and-gun team. I think we need to focus on a few key players they have in their top six and one defenceman in particular. We should be OK.”
Brandon had a goal differential of +111, with 230 goals for and 119 goals against, while Eastman had 198 goals for and 191 against.
Eastman is led by forwards Caleb Moore (47 games played, 21 goals, 47 assists, 68 points), Noah Stott (48gp, 22g, 33a, 55p, Lucas Laramee (48gp, 20g, 24a, 44p) and Grayson Slaney (38gp, 23g, 17a, 40p), and defenceman Kasen Mateychuk (34gp, 15g, 20a, 35p), the younger brother of former Moose Jaw Warriors star Denton Mateychuk.
In the season series, the Wheat Kings won 6-5 in a shootout in Beausejour on Nov. 16, 5-2 in Brandon on Nov. 24 and 7-1 in Beausejour on Dec. 14.
The Selects beat the Wheat Kings 5-4 in a shootout on Dec. 7 in Brandon.
Brandon’s Jonah Lemoine, 16, had a breakthrough season in his second year of U18 play.
The Brandonite, who was drafted by the Portage Terriers ninth overall in the 2024 Manitoba Junior Hockey League draft and 178th overall by the Prince Albert Raiders in the 2023 Western Hockey League draft, connected for 19 goals and a league-leading 62 assists. His 81 points put him third in league scoring.
“They’re a good team,” Lemoine said of Eastman. “They have a lot of scoring. I think one of their weak points is their goalies so we just have to shoot pucks. If we play our game and play our full 60 minutes, then I think we have it.”
The potent Brandon lineup also includes forwards Cole Dupuis (47gp, 35g, 33a, 68p), underage sniper Reid Nicol (48gp, 35g, 23a, 58p), Jaxson Brick (46gp, 27g, 25a, 52p) and Ethan Stanley (48gp, 20g, 25a, 45p).
But unlike some teams, they have a pile of offence coming from the blue-line, with Nolan Saunderson (44gp, 6g, 29a, 35p), Easten Turko (46gp, 13g, 21a, 34p) and Aiden Laing (48gp, 5g, 28a, 33p) sitting six to eight in the team scoring race.
On special teams, Brandon led the league with a 29.8 per cent conversion rate on the power play, but Eastman was close behind in second at 26.9 per cent.
The Wheat Kings were third on the penalty kill at 83.2 per cent, while Eastman was 12th at 76.1 per cent. That will put a premium on being disciplined and staying out of the penalty box.
“This year we started out great and were tied with the Wild for best discipline and then in the last month, it’s been going in the opposite direction that we want it to be,” Mealy said. “We’ve talked about that. A lot of the issues are where our hands are when we finish hits and lazy sticks. There aren’t a whole lot of retaliatory penalties, it’s just carelessness. We’re trying to address that because those will burn you in the post-season.”
Brandon came into the playoffs on a 9-1-0 roll, while Eastman was a more modest 5-5-0.
The Wheat Kings aren’t 100 per cent healthy, but Mealy said they will have 18 skaters, even if that means calling up an affiliate player.
In net, Brandon’s Matt Michta (2.41 goals-against average, .915 save percentage, 20-4-1-2 record) will get the start in Game 1 over his partner Brady Low (2.34 gaa, .906 save percentage, 20-1-0-2).
“Lowsy has had a great season,” Mealy said. “They’ve pushed each other, it’s just out having him last year and what he did for us last year. It could easily be either one of them.”
In the other net, Wyatt Minsky (3.57 gaa, .887 save percentage, 14-13-1-1) and Samuel Fontaine (4.14 gaa, .866 save percentage, 9-7-2-0) will tend the twine for the Selects.
Game 2 is set for Beausejour’s Sun Gro Centre on Monday at 8 p.m., with Game 3 back at J&G Homes Arena on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
If necessary, Game 4 is set for the Sun Gro Centre on Friday at 5:30 p.m., and Game would be back at J&G Homes Arena on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
» pbergson@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @PerryBergson