Desperate Wheat Kings search for win

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This article was published 10/10/2025 (208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings may have 63 games remaining in their Western Hockey League season, but they seem awfully close to must-win territory.

The Wheat Kings have suffered a historically slow start to the year, earning just one point in their first five outings and are already 10 points back of the surging Prince Albert Raiders (5-0-1-0) in the East Division.

With the Vancouver Giants (2-4-0-0) in town this evening at 7 at Assiniboine Credit Union Place and the Swift Current Broncos on Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock, the home side is looking to improve on their 0-4-1-0 record.

When team captain Calen Hadland was asked how badly his team needs a win, he didn’t hesitate.

“As bad as it can get,” Hadland said. “We are desperate for one right now.”

“It’s been tough,” he added. “We haven’t been through a down like this in a while. Especially to start the season, this is probably worse. I think we still have a lot of energy and a lot of mojo with us, we have some swagger going into the weekend and are excited to get in the win column and get something going.”

Since the 1996-97 season, when the WHL’s Internet era began, the Wheat Kings have earned at least four points in their first five games in every season except for three: this one, the 1999-00 campaign when they went 1-3-1-0, and the 2005-06 season when they were 1-4-0-0.

While they can’t miss the playoffs in the first month of the season, they are putting themselves behind the 8-ball for what they hope will be success in the race to the post-season.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said they need a win for a simple reason, and there are concrete steps they can take to get it.

“Just to get the psyche up,” Murray said. “We need to go out there with purpose and not squeeze our sticks. When things aren’t going well, you tend to squeeze your sticks. We have to play with pace, and one thing is our shift length. We have to play a lot shorter shifts to have that energy shift in and shift out. Just the details and being ready to play at puck drop will be critical for us.”

Brandon has allowed the first goal in all five games, and despite coming back to lead in games against the Moose Jaw Warriors and Prince Albert Raiders for a combined 53 minutes, it’s collapsed in the third period and lost both.

“Last weekend in both games we came out of the gate slow, being down 8-2, 9-2 in shots in the first eight, nine minutes,” Murray said. “Especially in our barn, we have to come out and have a home presence. If we can start off well (today), we can carry on from there.”

In the 15 full periods they’ve played, they’ve been outscored in nine of them and never led after 20 minutes. They’ve also been outshot in nine periods, winning that statistic just once in the last three games. They showed some signs of life in the last 10 minutes of a 6-3 loss to the Saskatoon Blades, with three fights and three goals that energized the bench in a way that’s been rare this season.

“We had a couple of fights, and I’m not saying fights are the way we should go all the time, but it definitely brought some life to the team,” Hadland said. “After we got a little scrappy we scored a couple and actually looked like we were playing hockey. I think that’s something we’re going to build off of and bring that energy to the start.”

Brandon will have overage defenceman Grayson Burzynski back in the lineup tonight after he served a two-game suspension. The Winnipeg product, who has six points in three games, can’t wait to hit the ice.

“I’m really excited,” Burzynski said. “It was two weeks between games. It was a long time and almost feels like summer again, like I haven’t even started the season, so I’m super excited to play.”

They’ll need him against a Vancouver club that is also struggling.

Vancouver is 1-3-0-0 so far on their East Division swing, last seeing the ice on Wednesday in a 6-0 loss to Prince Albert.

“They have some guys who can put the puck in the net,” Murray said. “They obviously haven’t had their road trip start off the way they wanted to, so we expect a team that is going to come in here motivated. We need to be ready to go.”

The Giants will have some support in Brandon since it’s the homecoming for 18-year-old goalie Burke Hood, who is in his second season with the club after graduating from the under-18 AAA Wheat Kings program. He is a prospect of the New York Islanders.

They also have outstanding 17-year-old defenceman Ryan Lin and 18-year-old New Jersey Devils prospect Cameron Schmidt.

“The start is huge,” Burzynski said. “We haven’t scored the first goal yet, so we need to get a jump on these guys. They’re in a similar situation to us, they were expected to be higher than they are right now, so they’re going to be battling as well. We have to come out ready.”

The Giants, who entered the WHL in the 2001-02 season, have won the last two meetings between the clubs, 3-1 in Vancouver on Jan. 19, 2025, and 4-0 in Brandon on Jan. 6, 2023.

The Giants actually had an eight-game winning streak against Brandon between 2003 and 2011, although the Wheat Kings then responded with a five-game streak of their own. Overall, the Giants have picked up two points in 12 of their 22 matchups, which includes one in overtime and two in shootouts.

They’ve never met in the playoffs.

“They’re always gritty games,” Hadland said. “Playing a B.C., team, you don’t get to play them again until next year, if ever, so they’re always tough games with lots of aggression and no care for the personal side of the game. It will be an interesting game for sure.”

The Wheat Kings are down a pair of blue-liners, with Czech defenceman Adam Hlinsky battling a lower-body injury and Merrek Arpin out long-term with an upper-body injury he suffered in the pre-season, but local fans will get their first look at six-foot-seven Czech netminder Filip Ruzicka.

He joined the team earlier this month after his club transfer was finally sorted out.

“Filip, I think, is going to go (today),” Murray said. “The obvious thing is his size, he’s massive in net, but I think he’s adjusted well with the size of the rink. That’s the concern coming over, the different angles and stuff. I’m not a goalie expert, but I know that’s something that takes time, and now he’s been here a couple of weekends, had a lot of practice and individual sessions with (goaltending coach) Tyler (Plante) and the other goalies. “We feel like he’s ready and I’m looking forward to giving him that opportunity.”

If five games have proven anything, it’s that Ruzicka will be as good as the players in front of him. If he’s facing repeated odd-man rushes and Grade A chances, he won’t fare any better than Jayden Kraus and Hudson Perry. If they do give him support, they might finally have a chance to earn two points.

“Just for everyone’s confidence levels, we need to get a win,” Burzynski said. “Last game we didn’t have our greatest effort, but again we had so many chances … Just to get one win would be huge for confidence and we could take off from there.”

The puck drops at 7.

ICINGS: The Edmonton Oil Kings sent forward Jack Toogood to the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Monday for a conditional eighth-round pick … The league’s disciplinary department has been busy the last few days. Seattle Thunderbirds 19-year-old forward Simon Lovsin received a five-game suspension as a repeat offender for a kneeing major and game misconduct at Penticton on Oct. 4 … Wenatchee Wild overage forward Dawson Seitz earned a three-game suspension for a charging major and game misconduct versus Victoria on Oct. 3 … Kamloops Blazers 19-year-old forward Josh Evaschesen was assessed a one-game suspension for a major checking-from-behind penalty and game misconduct at Seattle on Oct. 3.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com