Surkan leads Wheaties past Pats

Rookie forward Chase Surkan fired a hat trick as the Brandon Wheat Kings built a 6-1 lead and hung on to beat the visiting Regina Pats 7-5 in Western Hockey League pre-season action at Assiniboine Credit Union Centre on Saturday.

Brandon (1-1-0-0) received two goals from Nick Johnson and singles from Joby Baumuller and Gunnar Gleasman, with Connor Bear, Keets Fawcett, Cohen Klassen, Reese Hamilton and Maddox Schultz replying for Regina (1-2-0-0).

“It’s obviously huge,” said Surkan, who continues to battle for a roster spot that he’s almost certainly clinched already. “I think I had a good game. Hopefully the coaches think the same and I can take that into the season.”

Brandon general manager and head coach Marty Murray said it was a big night for the youngster, who scored 73 goals in 27 games with the under-15 Regina Pat Canadians. The Wheat Kings drafted him 14th overall in 2024.

“Confidence is so big at this level,” Murray said. “Coming in as a 16-year-old, especially going from scoring two points a game to now you’re playing against 18-, 19-, 20-year-old men, it’s a grind and nice to have those kids have some success. Surks is a real heady player and can put the puck in the net.”

“We feel there is a ton of upside to his offensive game,” Murray added. “He’s a natural scorer, he doesn’t need much to put the puck in the net. You have to love the way he gets the puck off his stick.”

The game certainly started well for the hosts.

Baumuller came in off the wing and snapped a shot by Regina goalie Taylor Tabashniuk just 44 seconds into the game.

Eight minutes later, after Regina had unsuccessfully pressed on the power play, Gleasman drifted down the other wing and beat Tabashniuk over his blocker to make it 2-0.

The goals came fast and furious in the next five minutes.

Jordan Gavin’s attempted pass down low off the rush bounced off a stick and Surkan knocked it in, but just 43 seconds later, a Brandon clearing attempt at the side of the net hit Bear in front and the puck bounced over the shoulder of Wheat Kings goalie Hudson Perry.

With Regina back on the power play, Johnson found the rebound of a shot by Baumuller and put it into the top of the net for a 4-1 lead, and before the period ended, Surkan cashed in on an outstanding feed from behind the net by Jaxon Jacobson.

The damage could have been worse: Brandon squarely hit two posts.

Surkan completed the hat trick 45 seconds into the second period on a power-play rush when he was fed by Gavin. It was a tough start for 16-year-old goalie Drake Mooney, who took over from Tabashniuk after 20 minutes.

The Pats drew back within a pair with three power-play goals, with Fawcett scoring on a shot Perry never saw, Klassen sniping late in the period and Hamilton finding the mesh four minutes into the third period.

Brandon finally got back on the board 11:56 into the final frame on the power play when the immovable Johnson camped in front of the net and directed a pass by Gavin into the net to give Brandon a 7-4 lead.

The Pats added a late goal with 14 seconds remaining when the highly touted 15-year-old Schultz ripped a shot over Perry’s blocker with 14 seconds remaining.

Surkan played on a line with Schultz for the past three seasons in the Pat Canadians organization and two of his goals came against his former Regina teammate Tabashniuk.

“It’s funny,” Surkan said. “We were standing for O Canada and we glanced over at each other and we both just started laughing. It’s fun being able to share the ice with him and compete against him.”

Brandon skated without all six of its veterans who are headed to National Hockey League camps — Caleb Hadland, Carter Klippenstein, Luke Mistelbacher, Brady Turko, Grayson Burzynski and Jayden Kraus — plus veterans Easton Odut, Dylan Ronald and Gio Pantelas, along with rookies Carson Ralph, Cameron Allard, Adam Hlinsky and Dylan McFadyen. Hadland leaves on Sunday, with the other five NHL campers heading out on Monday.

It was easy to spot their absence with the up-and-down nature of the game for the hosts.

“It was kind of a typical pre-season game,” Murray said. “There were some good things to take out of it and some things to clean up certainly. We scored a lot of goals which is good, but we probably gave up more than we wanted to and certainly more shots.

“It comes with the territory, and it was good to at least chalk up a win.”

Hudson Perry made 40 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Tabashniuk and Mooney stopping 26 shots for the Pats.

Brandon went 2-for-5 on the power play, with Regina scoring three goals in seven chances.

It was also the final game for 15-year-old youngsters Cruz Jim and Joffrey Chan, and American prospect Levi Ellingsen will also be headed home.

“We’ll reassess everything but we’re going to lose nine guys over the next few days with guys going to NHL camps and our young guys going back,” Murray said. “It will be competitive throughout the week in practice and nice to get some skates in as a group. We only had two skates going into the weekend. It will be nice to get a few practices and then we have a couple more important pre-season games to wrap it up.”

Pats 5, Wheat Kings 2

Late Friday, a youthful Brandon club took an early lead but an older Regina team scored the next five goals en route to a 5-2 victory at Brandt Centre.

Julien Maze sniped twice and Jace Egland, Caden Brown and Liam Pue also scored for Regina (1-1-0-0), with Brandon (0-1-0-0) receiving its goals from Easton Odut and Prabh Bhathal.

Dylan McFadyen stopped 18 of 20 shots and Joffrey Chan blocked 14 of 17 for the Wheat Kings, with Tabashniuk making 25 saves for the Pats. Brandon went 0-for-3 on the power play, with Regina scoring twice in four chances.

ICINGS: On Saturday,Gavin and Jacobson both had three assists … Attendance wasn’t announced … Merrek Arpin left the game early due to illness. He led the team with a plus-minus of +3 … Surkan led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 16 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 31-30 … Brandon meets the Swift Current Broncos at home in their next pre-season action on Friday at 7 p.m., and then the two teams skate in Virden on Saturday at 7:30.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

Wheat Kings 7, Pats 5

First Period

1. Brandon, Baumuller 1 (Jim, Perry) 0:44.

2. Brandon, Gleasman 1 (Baumuller, Arpin) 8:34.

3. Brandon, Surkan 1 (Gavin, Jacobson) 14:32.

4. Regina, Bear 3 (unassisted) 15:15.

5. Brandon, Johnson 1 (Baumuller) 16:14 (sh).

6. Brandon, Surkan 2 (Jacobson, Lavoie) 19:00.

Penalties — Paull Reg (cross checking) 3:30, Bhathal Bdn (tripping) 5:43, Bhathal Bdn (hooking) 11:56, Lavoie Bdn (roughing) 15:50, Bhathal Bdn (roughing) 15:50, Schultz Reg (roughing) 15:50, Fawcett Reg (roughing) 19:53.

Second Period

7. Brandon, Surkan 3 (Gavin, Joacobson) 0:45 (pp).

8. Regina, Fawcett 1 (Brown) 7:21 (pp).

9. Regina, Klassen 1 (Hamilton, Maze) 16:09 (pp).

Penalties — Failler Reg (hooking) 2:20, Lavoie Bdn (roughing) 4:52, Jacobson Bdn (high sticking, double minor) 4:52, Lansard Reg (roughing) 4:52, Johnson Bdn (roughing) 16:01, Brown Reg (charging) 19:35.

Third Period

10. Regina, Hamilton 1 (Maze) 4:11 (pp).

11. Brandon, Johnson 2 (Gavin, Jim) 11:56 (pp).

12. Regina, Schultz 1 (Wagner, Hamilton) 19:46.

Penalties — Lavoie Bdn (interference) 2:13, Deschamps Reg (holding) 11:07., Johnson Bdn (roughing) 17:38, Mann Reg (roughing) 17:38.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 13 12 9 — 33

Regina 14 15 16 — 45

Goal (shots-saves) — Regina: Tabashniuk (13-8) (L, 1-1-0-0), Mooney (20:00, 2nd period) (20-18); Brandon: Perry (45-40) (W, 1-0-0-0).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 2-5; Regina: 3-7.

Referees — Wyatt Rapsky, Julien Desloges.

Linesmen — n/a.

Attendance — n/a in Brandon.