Wheat Kings climb out of rough start

On Oct. 5, the Brandon Wheat Kings were 0-4-1-0 and a season of promise looked like it might be a mirage.

Fast forward 27 games, and the same team is 19-12-1-0 and has moved up from 11th in the Eastern Conference to fourth. It’s been a remarkable turnaround for the Western Hockey League club, which returns to action on Saturday.

But that didn’t make the early stretch easy for Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray and his club.

“It was miserable,” Murray said. “We were all excited coming into the season. We knew there were a lot of really good teams but we thought we could be in the conversation to be one of those upper-tier team and then we started out 1-4-1.

“It was pretty much rock bottom out of the gate. It wasn’t enjoyable to come to the rink at that time, we were struggling … To see where we’ve come in the last couple of pretty encouraging.”

Even in the early going, Murray and his coaching staff of Mark Derlago and Del Pedrick saw signs that better days lay ahead despite giving up 31 goals in five games.

“We outshot a couple of teams pretty heavily and just couldn’t score,” Murray said. “It was maybe a couple of bounces. I felt like before we started winning that there was a little bit of a trend that we could see that we had to trust the process and stick with it.

“Everybody who follows our hockey team knew we had to clean up defensively and I felt like there were a couple of games before we started winning that kind of set the tone, even if we didn’t get the results.”

After alternating wins and losses ended the season-starting slump, Brandon had a four-game winning streak in late October and early November. After another month of winning a game and losing one, the Wheat Kings won seven in a row in December and eight of nine to vault up the standings.

As Murray noted, on a team that could score, shoring up their defensive effort was key.

“We were on a pretty far spectrum so there was only one way to go,” Murray noted with a chuckle. “It was a combination of a lot of things. Our goaltending started to come along, and most importantly, everyone was conscious of playing defence.

“The message we tried to pass onto the team was we’re not asking you to set all kinds of defensive records of allowing the fewest goals in the history of WHL but there has to be a commitment level on managing the puck and details in our defensive game that are non-negotiable. I think we’ve taken some major strides but we can still get better at it.”

GOALTENDING

It’s almost hard to remember that Brandon’s starting duo in net this season was former Victoria Royal Jayden Kraus and former Edmonton Oil King Hudson Perry.

With the team in front of them making it an almost impossible task to guard the net, they struggled.

“Jayden, early on, was a victim of our poor defensive play,” Murray said. “He was in a lot of those nights when we allowed teams to have open looks and backdoor passes. I don’t care if you’re Martin Brodeur, you’re going to let goals in. He’s a bit of a victim of the way we played. Hopefully he can continue to make small strides here.”

Even with the team’s evolution into a better defensive club, the cavalry didn’t ride in until Filip Ruzicka arrived on Sept. 29 after a bitter dispute with his former club in Czechia — they battled his transfer — resolved itself.

The Wheat Kings carried three goalies for a time, and then sent Perry back to the Alberta Junior Hockey League on Oct. 22.

“It wasn’t the best situation and I’m sure all three goalies were a little tense,” Murray said. “I think when we decided to send Hudson back to Junior A, you could sense things settled down a little bit.”

The six-foot-seven Ruzicka took about a dozen appearances to get completely acclimated, and has posted a .940 save percentage or better in seven of his last eight starts, with seven victories in that time.

“It took Filip a couple of weeks to get used to the style of hockey and the size of the rink and things like that,” Murray said. “He was maybe a little up and down early on but the stats speak for themselves … He’s 15-4 as a 17-year-old rookie, and is very impressive.”

DEFENCE

What the Wheat Kings expected at the start of the season and what played out proved to be to very different things. And they certainly had a slow start.

“They’ve come a long way,” Murray said. “It wasn’t very good at the start of the year. I think it’s easy just to pinpoint it on the defencemen, but I really think it’s a collective group effort. It’s forwards and defence coming back into the zone and identifying and talking and sorting things out and tracking hard.”

Big Merrek Arpin was part of the Charlie Elick-Jordan Gavin deal last January, but he played just five times in Brandon last season as he dealt with a pair of injuries and a family emergency.

He was injured in the pre-season, and has been home in Calgary ever since recuperating. His long-term prognosis is unclear.

The Wheat Kings also drafted 19-year-old Czech defender Adam Hlinsky, who played two games and suffered a lower-body injury. He never returned to the lineup, and eventually went home and was later released.

But the Wheat Kings did get some good news on the blue-line when they claimed 18-year-old Daniil Skvortsov from the Ontario Hockey League’s Guelph Storm after they put him waivers at his request.

The six-foot-four, 200-pound Russian defenceman, who perpetually seems to have a smile on his face, has been a terrific addition to the back end, especially at no cost.

The group also includes veterans Gio Pantelas, Dylan Ronald, Nigel Boehm and former Swift Current Bronco Grayson Burzynski, plus rookies Cameron Allard and Max Lavoie.

Murray said they’ve really found their way.

“It’s little things like jumping on the right side of people around the net instead of standing, watching someone slam it home into an empty net,” Murray said. “We’re doing a better job of protecting our net and allowing our goalie to make the first save and if there’s anything else, we clean it up after.

“At the start of the year we saw a lot of backdoor tap-ins where the goalie never really had a chance so I think we’ve tightened up in a lot of areas.”

They’ve allowed 126 goals, most among the top nine teams and eighth most in the 23-team league.

FORWARDS

The Wheat Kings are blessed with an abundance of forwards.

“It’s quite impressive with the number of goals we’ve scored,” Murray said. “You have to be realistic and understand you’re not going to carry on scoring six goals a game every night, but that kind of carried us in the early part of the season. Now it’s shifted back into some normalcy but we still feel that the forward depth we have is right up there at the top of the league.”

Brandon has six forwards clicking along at a point per game, Joby Baumuller (32 games played, 24 goals, 17 assists, 41 points), Luke Mistelbacher (31gp, 19g, 22a, 41p), Jaxon Jacobson (27gp, 9g, 32a, 41p), Jordan Gavin (32gp, 12g, 24a, 36p), rookie sensation Chase Surkan (26gp, 18g, 14a, 32p) and Caleb Hadland (31gp, 11g, 20a, 31p), with Nick Johnson (32gp, 10g, 18a, 28p) and Carter Klippenstein (30gp, 10g, 16a, 26p) both close.

They also have eight players with least 10 goals, which includes Brady Turko (30gp, 10g, 7a, 17p).

Brandon has scored 145 goals, trailing only the Medicine Hat Tigers with 150.

They have two 17-year-old centres — Jacobson and Jimmy Egan — and two guys who have shifted from the wing to centre — Klippenstein and Johnson — at the start of the year so they struggled at times as they found their footing at the dot.

“Starting with the puck is always big,” Murray said.

Jacobson has won 55.4 per cent of his 478 draws, while Klippenstein is close behind at 53.8 per cent in 533 draws. Nick Johnson is 48.8 per cent on 361, and Egan is at 43.2 per cent on 380.

As a team, they’ve won 1,000 of 1,984 draws, a shade over 50 per cent.

In the plus-minus department, Johnson and Baumuller are tied for the team lead in plus-minus at +22, with six forwards below even.

SPECIAL TEAMS

The Wheat Kings power play was atop the league until late November and now sits second with a 30.5 per cent conversion rate.

They’ve scored 34 goals on 110 chances, with two shorthanded goals against. Incredibly, they were still sitting at 43.5 per cent on Nov. 1.

“I think it carried us early in the year,” Murray said. “There was a stretch there where it seemed like we scored every time we got out there. We feel both units have the capability of putting the puck in the net. We have a lot of hockey sense and guys who can make plays and finish when they get the opportunity.

“The power play has been really good, but maybe a little bit stale as of late.”

They’ve scored two or more goals eight times, going 5-3 in those games. Overall, they’ve outscored their opponent nine times with the man advantage, tied them 15 times and allowed more goals on eight occasions.

The penalty killers were at the bottom of the league early on but have worked their way up to 16th in the 23-team league at 72.7 per cent. They’ve surrendered 35 goals on 128 chances, and scored two shorties.

“As good as the power play was at the start of the year, the PK really struggled,” Murray said. “We were in the 60s. I think you’ll find across the league the power plays are pretty good and everybody uses different looks so I think our guys have figured it out.

“A part of it is your best penalty killer is your goaltender but you can also see a much better commitment to guys laying it out to block shots and doing whatever they can to keep the puck out of the net.

“It’s as simple as things like cleaning the puck down the ice. We went through a phase at the start of the year where it seemed like we just tapped the puck back to the point and let them come back at us again.”

By Nov. 8, Brandon had surrendered multiple power-play goals eight times. It’s happened just once since.

OUTLOOK

The second half doesn’t get any easier. Between Dec. 27 and March 21 — a span of 84 days — they’ll play their final 36 games to finish up the 68-game season.

“I think we can be really good,” Murray said. “Our forward group is the envy of a lot of teams around the league. We can have three if not four lines that can be difference makers offensively. Our D corps is coming. We’re big back there — I would like us to play a little bigger — but I think all three positions are coming along.

“Obviously Filip, his numbers are really good and he’s 15-4 and his goals against is getting ready to go below 3.00 and his save percentage is over .900. Those are all good signs.

“We have the ability to be in the conversation as a deep playoff team.”

They’ve played eight games against the five teams ahead of them in the standings — they’ve yet to meet the Everett Silvertips and Prince George Cougars — and have gone 3-4-1-0 against the Prince Albert Raiders, Edmonton Oil Kings and Medicine Hat Tigers.

The time to make deals is drawing to a close, with the deadline set for Thursday, Jan. 8, at 7 p.m. CST.

Brandon’s last deal was on May 8 when it sent overage forward Dominik Petr to the Saskatoon Blades for the pick it used to take signed goaltending prospect Joffrey Chan. There have been 67 trades in the league since.

The last time Brandon acquired a player was on May 7 in a blockbuster that brought in Mistelbacher and Burzynski.

Since the Memorial Cup is in the WHL this season — the Kelowna Rockets host — history has shown that inflates prices with another motivated buyer. Those teams looking to add players, which may include top teams such as the Silvertips, Edmonton Oil Kings, Raiders, Prince George Cougars and Tigers, will be competing in a trade market that has lost some top players who may changed hands to college hockey.

Another massive trade piece, Lynden Lakovic of the Moose Jaw Warriors, is out for the season with an upper-body injury.

Murray said he has talked to GMs around the league, and will proceed if the right player is available at the right price.

“We chose to listen and see what’s out there,” Murray said. “At the same time, we want to be a little bit patient and give our group a chance to grow together. As the trade deadline approaches, we’re constantly in talks with other organizations to see what they’re doing and if there’s an opportunity to upgrade our team, we’ll look at doing it.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com