Wheat Kings eye East Division title

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This article was published 14/03/2025 (188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings head into the final stretch of the season with their destiny in their own hands.

The second-place Wheat Kings (34-22-4-3, 75 points, five games remaining) beat the visiting fifth-place Saskatoon Blades (34-22-3-4, 75 points, five games remaining) by a score of 5-2 on Wednesday to move back into the East Division lead.

The Wheat Kings meet Saskatoon again at Westoba Place next Wednesday, and have home-and-home series against the 11th-place Moose Jaw Warriors — tonight at Westoba Place and Saturday at Moose Jaw Events Centre — and the 10th-place Regina Pats next weekend.

If Brandon won all five remaining games, that would guarantee the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. With any losses, they would need some help.

“We’re thinking we could run the table,” forward Matteo Michels said. “If we win every game here for the rest of the year, it’s a 100 per cent chance we’re first in the division. That’s what we should go for. It’s very doable looking at our schedule. I think that’s the goal we made for ourselves.”

The Wheat Kings got all the help they could have wanted on Wednesday, with the seventh-place Prince Albert Raiders (34-23-5-1, 74 points, five games remaining) and the eighth-place Swift Current Broncos (33-27-1-2, 69 points, five games remaining) both falling.

Even the sixth-place Edmonton Oil Kings (35-25-2-2, 74 points, four games remaining) lost, making Brandon the only club in the Eastern Conference — outside of the big three of the Medicine Hat Tigers, Lethbridge Hurricanes and Calgary Hitmen — to earn points.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his club has to build on its victory over Saskatoon but not look too far ahead.

“I think it’s game by game but we’re hoping to have a lot of success in these last five games,” Murray said. “We have to take care of business. It was a big one last night, but if we don’t follow up, it’s kind of all for naught.”

Brandon has met Moose Jaw six times this season, earning 10 of a possible 12 points. They lost a pair of shootouts, 5-4 in Brandon on Dec. 17 and 4-3 in Moose Jaw on Jan. 31, but they have identical 5-2 victories, on Sept. 20 in Brandon and Dec. 28 in Moose Jaw, and a 6-3 win on the road on Feb. 14 and a 6-2 victory at home on Feb. 15.

“They’re a good team,” forward Brady Turko said. “They skate well, they move the puck well, they have some dynamic forwards like (Lynden) Lakovic up front and some good defence. It will be a good challenge for us. If we stick to our game, play hard and play fast and play our BWK way, we should come out with a win hopefully.”

Murray said the key against the Warriors will be how much his team is willing to got engage in the game.

“They’ve played us hard,” Murray said. “I don’t recall too many games where it’s been real comfortable. It’s like any other game, they’re a team that works hard and we know they’re going to bring that. The message will be the same, if we don’t work and just think we’re going to out-skill a team, we’re asking for trouble.”

Michels doubts that will be problem.

“I think we’ll be ready to go looking at what’s at stake coming into playoffs and coming off the game (on Wednesday),” Michels said. “I think it will be a no-brainer for us. I think we’ll come out hard and ready to go and not take it for granted.”

The Wheat Kings continue to play without forwards Jaxon Jacobson (lower body, day to day), Ben Binder Nord (upper body, day-to-day) and Easton Odut (upper body, indefinite), plus defencemen Merrek Arpin (upper body, week to week) and Adam Belusko, who is home in Slovakia writing exams.

In their absence, they have called up forward Isaac Davies and defenceman Cam Allard, who can stay as long as needed because their U18 teams have been knocked out of the playoffs. Murray said his club has ridden a roller coaster this year of games lost to injury, and somehow found a way to contend.

“It’s a credit to the kids,” Murray said. “There has been a lot of adversity with who’s in and who’s out of the lineup and playing shorthanded a large amount of games. I’m pretty proud of the kids being in the situation we’re in now. Hopefully we can focus in on these last five games and ultimately peak at the start of playoffs.”

Turko admits he checks the scores and standings, even if he thinks it might be better to ignore them. Ultimately, the Wheat Kings can get win the East Division crown if they care of their own business, regardless of what’s happening around them.

“I think it’s super important for us,” Turko said. “It’s home-ice advantage and a better matchup. If any team had an opportunity to get that, I think you take it, so it’s something we’re really trying other than get here.”

The puck drops at 7 tonight.

LEGENDS GAME

If you attended Wednesday’s NHL Legends hoping for a defensive battle, you may have been misled.

For the record, Team Propp earned a 17-13 victory over Team Trottier in a game that started after Brandon’s matchup with Saskatoon.

Mark Derlago had a hat trick for Team Propp, with Colby Robak, Micheal Ferland, Ryan White, Joe Goodon, Cliff Ronning and Cory Rae each sniping twice and Jeff Odgers and Colton Orr adding singles.

Dale Weise and Brad McConnell both had hat tricks for Team Trottier, with Mike Filipchuk adding a pair of goals and singles coming off the sticks of Brian Trottier, Dale Coulter, Bernie Nicholls, Noah Lemoine and Jamieson Orr.

The goal of the night came off the stick of Ronning, who put his stick between legs on a breakaway and tucked the puck into the top corner.

ICINGS: Tri-City Americans defenceman Terrell Goldsmith of St. James, B.C., has been released from hospital and is resting at home after a scary scene that led to Wednesday’s game with the Seattle Thunderbirds being postponed. It stemmed from a fight with Seattle defenceman Ashton Cumby of Bonnyville, Alta., that saw Goldsmith knocked out and fall face first to the ice. Both athletic therapists rushed out to help him and the big defenceman was immediately taken to the hospital. The game hasn’t yet been rescheduled. Seattle was leading 2-0 at the time of the fight, 65 seconds into the second period.

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