Malbasa works hard to pay a debt

Marko Malbasa won’t just be playing for himself when he suits up for the Brandon Wheat Kings one day.

The 14-year-old defenceman, who turns 15 on Saturday, was grabbed by Brandon in the second round with the 42nd overall pick in the annual Western Hockey League draft last Thursday.

Now he’s determined to pay back his parents Mat and Nelia for all they did to put him in a position to succeed.

“All the sacrifices they made motivated me to make the best of what I was doing,” said Malbasa, who has an older brother, Mateo. “The end goal is to play at the highest level that I possibly can and it starts here now.”

Malbasa is from near Winnipeg in St. Andrews. He began to skate around age five when his father got him into it, and he started to play a year later.

He skated up front until he was eight, and in his first year of spring hockey, dropped back to the blue-line. It proved to be a popular decision.

“You get more ice time because we were running four D only back when we were younger so I liked being out there a little more than others,” Malbasa said.

When he was younger, Malbasa also played soccer and baseball but set both aside. Now he golfs and also played ball hockey for Team Manitoba last summer.

A common refrain from ice hockey players who try ball hockey is they lose the ability to glide. That means their feet have to always be in motion to move, which isn’t the case in skates.

“You need great conditioning for that,” Malbasa said. “It’s a very tough sport. I’d say it’s almost harder than hockey, minus the skating.”

But the ice will always be No. 1, and that starts close to home.

He said his parents have done everything they could to help him succeed.

“They’ve obviously spent time driving me to practices and games and taking extra days off work just to take me to tournaments and stuff like that,” Malbasa said. “And all the money they’ve spent on me to send me to Rink, and especially my grandparents, they’ve also taken lots of time to drive me to practices and games.”

The drive to one day be a junior player came from a number of sources.

His father played games with the WHL for the Moose Jaw Warriors and Regina Pats, but spent most of his junior career in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. In addition, his cousin’s boyfriend is former Wheat Kings forward Dawson Pasternak.

The youngster also went to quite a few Winnipeg Ice games prior to the franchise’s move to Wenatchee, and he was friends with Conor Geekie’s billet family, so he would go to their house and see him.

That also gave him some insight into what was coming.

Since he was in his major U15 season and playing with a high-end program in Rink Hockey Academy Winnipeg’s U15 prep squad, he knew the scouts were out there. Fortunately, he intuitively understood he couldn’t be thinking about them.

“I just blocked it out and played my game and kept it simple out there,” Malbasa said. “I didn’t worry about what’s outside the glass and kept my mind between the glass.”

The six-foot-one, 155-pound defenceman showed a mixture of offensive ability with 31 points and sandpaper with 56 penalty minutes.

He also served 10 minutes in the penalty box in a pair of callups to the U18 squad.

“I was pretty happy,” Malbasa said of his season, which ended when they lost all three games in the playoffs. “Our team progressed over the year and I thought the way things ended was kind of unfortunate but it was a fun year.”

After that, it would have been natural for his thoughts to turn to his future WHL destination. On draft day, he was in class with some of his Rink teammates monitoring their phones, and when his name was called, all the RHA guys came over to congratulate him.

“It was pretty awesome,” Malbasa said. “You dream of those moments and to finally see it happen is pretty cool.”

“My parents and grandparents and pretty much all my family is happy with it,” he added. “They can come out to games and were pretty pumped.”

So were the Wheat Kings.

Director of hockey operations Chris Moulton said the team had Malbasa ranked as the best player in Manitoba and they were thrilled to get him.

“Marko is just a well-rounded guy,” Moulton said on draft day. “He can play with some skill, he can play with physicality. He’s engaged, he moves the puck, he transitions the puck well, he defends well, he will be a top-two defencemen in our league at some point. He has the ability to play in every situation.”

Malbasa said on his best nights, there are certain things to watch for.

“You would see me take control of the game, always playing physical and finishing every check,” Malbasa said. “I’ll be playing defence first and jumping up into the play, making hard first passes, making smart plays and quick decisions.”

At the same time, he understands he’s a long way from the finished product. That’s why his to-do list is just as long.

“Right now it’s definitely getting quicker with my first three strides,” Malbasa said. “It’s a high pace at the next level and I’m just trying to prepare myself. Also, it’s just getting stronger in general in the gym and putting on weight because everybody is bigger and stronger at the next level.”

He is planning to skate with the U18 prep at RHA Winnipeg next winter, noting it will be nice to have the draft pressure off and just be able to play.

But before he begins his next prep season, he has his first Wheat Kings camp ahead of him in August. He has been in Brandon many times in the past, but this visit will be different.

Malbasa hasn’t played with any other members of this Wheat Kings draft class, but has skated against a number of the 2026 and 2025 players who were selected by the club, so it will be nothing but fresh faces.

“I’m very excited to see everybody and make new friends and new connections with other people,” Malbasa said. “It will be exciting to meet the coaching staff and see what how everything is going to lay out for me when I get there.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com