Wheat Kings, Wild set for U18 rematch

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This article was published 22/03/2025 (208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s déjà vu all over again in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League as the final begins tonight at J&G Homes Arena.

Late Thursday evening, Winnipeg Wild forward Ethan Hulme scored on a breakaway two minutes into overtime in Game 5 of his club’s semifinal matchup with the Winnipeg Bruins to set up the sixth straight league final between the Wild and the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The streak dates back to the 2017-18 season, with no playoffs held in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic.

“It’s weird,” Brandon leading scorer Jonah Lemoine said. “These past years we’ve always been top of the league and last year we always had good games with them and met them in the final. I guess it’s another final against the Wild and it will be another battle.”

Wheat Kings assistant coach Dylan Halliday said it almost feels like fate at this point.

“I said the other day that we don’t even need to do the regular season anymore,” Halliday said with a laugh. “We can just go right into the final. I think it’s all about the coaching. They’re well-coached and (Brandon head coach Travis Mealy) obviously does a great job and we take our program really seriously. I know Winnipeg does as well.”

Brandon’s Lemoine leads all players in playoff scoring with 17 points in six games, on four goals and 13 assists. He’s followed by teammate Reid Nicol (6gp, 8g, 5a, 13p), with the Wild’s Ludovic Perreault (8gp, 7g, 5a, 12p) in third.

Winnipeg’s Reid McIntyre (8gp, 3g, 6a, 9p), Luca Pura (8gp, 2g, 7a, 9p), Declan Siwicki (8gp, 6g, 2a, 8p) and Carter Bilous (8gp, 1g, 6a, 7p) have also been impactful on offence, while Brandon’s other top producers are Ethan Stanley (6gp, 5g, 3a, 8p), Cole Dupuis (5gp, 4g, 2a, 6p), Jaxson Brick (6gp, 3g, 3a, 6p).

In net, Matthew Michta had a 2.15 goals-against average and .937 save percentage in four appearances and Brady Low has a 1.50 gaa and .957 save percentage in two games.

Justin Perrault has appeared in seven postseason games, with a 2.43 gaa and .909 save percentage, with Dawson Groen posting a 3.00 gaa and .842 save percentage in one appearance.

“They do a lot of things well,” Halliday said. “They have a great goalie, they are very well-coached. They like to, I don’t want to say sit back, but they’re very much waiting for you to make a mistake and they’ll capitalize. They have a lot of skill.

“We need to simplify our game a little bit. We like to run and gun but if we simplify our game and limit our mistakes, I think we’ll be good.”

If you’re looking for some clues in what’s to come for this year’s previous matchups between the teams, good luck.

The Wheat Kings won both games at Winnipeg’s Hockey For All Centre, 4-2 on Nov. 8 and 4-1 on Dec. 15, while the Wild swept the games at Brandon’s J&G Homes Arena, 3-0 on Dec. 8 and 4-3 on Jan. 24.

“They’re a good team,” Lemoine said. “They’re fast, skilled, they like to dump pucks and get in on the forecheck, and they’re very sound defensively. If we just stick to our game and execute our plays, I feel like we’ll have a good series with them.”

Brandon won in 2019 and 2024, with Winnipeg taking the title in 2018, 2022 and 2023. Last year, Colten Worthington scored in overtime in Game 3 as Brandon swept its Winnipeg rival.

In years there has been a final held, the Wild will be in for the eighth straight year and 11th of the last 12, while Brandon is in its seventh final in the last nine years. The last year neither the Wheat Kings nor Wild advanced to the final was way back in 2010-11 when the Winnipeg Thrashers defeated the Southwest Cougars.

Brandon has blasted through the playoffs so far, sweeping both the Eastman Selects and the Cougars and outscoring its opponents 31-12. The only real hardship it faced was when Cole Dupuis scored in double overtime in Game 1 of its quarterfinal series against Eastman on March 1.

Four of the five games since have been decided by three or more goals.

“It’s two sweeps but both series it took us a couple of games to find our feet and figure out what the other team is doing,” Halliday said. “Game 3 was our best game in both series. We don’t have that time against the Wild to take a game or two to figure out what we’re doing. We have to be ready by Game 1.”

Lemoine said their success stems from doing what is asked of them by the staff.

“We’ve just been playing our game and sticking to our systems,” Lemoine said of their success. “Our lines have producing a lot and we’ve had secondary scoring, so it helps us. With secondary scoring, we have a backup if one line is not going.”

On the other side of the ledger, the Wild swept the Interlake Lightning prior to the five-game series against their Winnipeg rival, so they’ve seen more action.

Lemoine noted that can fall two ways.

“There are a couple of guys who have minor injuries,” Lemoine said of his team. “It’s good to have the break so people can recover, but also, there is a downside to it. They’re playing Game 5 so they have that mentality of do or die while we had a week off so we’re still in that mind-set but not as much as them.”

Halliday agrees.

“I think it could go either way,” Halliday said. “The rest is good obviously but they just came from a Game 5 where they’re playing in a final-type game. We had a great week of practice, we did a lot of five-on-five game-like stuff so we’re ready to go. We’re not worried about them being battle tested and us being too rested.

“I think the rest did us good and the boys are ready to go.”

The puck drops at J&G Homes Arena tonight at 7:30 p.m.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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