Wheat Kings staff changing in off-season

The Brandon Wheat Kings will have a new look next season as they fill a number of vacancies in the off-season.

Along with declining to renew the contracts of assistant coaches Mark Derlago and Del Pedrick, they had a pair of resignations when director of player development Riley Dudar left to become the head coach and general manager of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Winnipeg Monarchs and athletic therapist Zach Hartwick moved to Sudbury to be closer to family.

The decision not to renew the two assistants, who were both good friends of Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray, was especially difficult.

“Sometimes a fresh voice is needed just to try and push us over the top,” Murray said. “By no means are Mark and Del there to take bullets for us not having success in the playoffs. I can’t thank them enough for their hard work and contributions. That’s what makes this really difficult to move forward without them.

“I take responsibility. They wanted to win too, and that’s one of those things that is a real hard part of the game. I think the world of them both as coaches and more importantly people.

“There’s cutting kids or trading players, which is always really tough, but those type of conversations that you have with quality people like Mark and Del were really difficult.”

Murray was originally hired as general manager in August 2022, but took over as head coach on Nov. 28, 2022 when Don MacGillivray was fired. Murray said the annual conversation is ongoing about whether he’ll return as head coach next season.

The Western Hockey League team overcame some significant adversity last season, losing star forward Roger McQueen to the college ranks in August and then weathering a never-ending string of injuries. They still managed to win 40 games, but were swept in the playoffs by the Calgary Hitmen.

“You’re judged by your playoffs,” Murray said. “I really believed that could have been the other way around or we could have made it a series. It’s just one of those things that was never meant to be but we all take responsibility. For me, I care about the success of the Brandon Wheat Kings and how we can get to that next level that we all want to get to.”

The loss of the relentlessly upbeat Hartwick was also a tough one.

He joined the club in August 2021 after William Sadonick-Carriere took a job with the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose after two seasons in Brandon.

“He’s one of those guys who make it fun to come to work,” Murray said. “He’s usually smiling or laughing about something. He and his family made the decision to move back home closer to grandparents and I fully respect that … When you have good people around, you’re going to miss them.

“Zach was really good to our guys. He worked hard to keep them healthy and did whatever he could to get them on the ice, but he also had the best interests of the players at heart.

“He did his job really well for us and is a great guy who brought a lot of smiles to our group.”

Hartwick grew up in Fisherville, Ont., a community of 500 people south of Hamilton and west of Niagara Falls. He did a kinesiology degree at Laurentian University in Sudbury, where Hartwick and his wife Megan are moving so they can be closer to family.

They will always have at least one tie to Brandon, because their 16-month-old daughter Rory was born here.

“My wife and I really enjoyed Brandon, the city and the people here,” Hartwick said. “Coming into Brandon, we didn’t really know anybody but everyone was very welcoming. We definitely enjoyed our five years here. It went by very fast.”

The Wheat Kings are close to announcing his replacement.

Meanwhile, Dudar was the first person in a brand new position when the Winnipegger was named director of player development in March 2023. While Dudar wasn’t in Brandon full-time, he did make regular trips from Winnipeg, where he helped operate Evolution Hockey.

He was officially named the Monarchs’ new head coach and GM in late May.

“It’s always good to have a different kind of voice or opinion,” Murray said. “He worked on some things that are kind of hard to work on practice with just doing drills. Spending that extra time working on the finer points of your game is very, very important, especially nowadays.

“In my years as a Wheat King, I really think that staying on the ice with Johnny (assistant coach Mark Johnston) after practice just doing little drills where you’re working on little things in your game that maybe you don’t put a lot of thought into otherwise, that’s how you hone your craft,” he said.

For example, Dudar’s many objectives included things like helping players get their shot off more quickly if it was regularly being blocked and working with the centres on their faceoff skills.

“Players are accustomed to growing up with a skills background so to be able to enhance that as they move to their junior hockey careers is really important,” Murray said. “Riley is another guy we’re really going to miss.”

The team has an idea of what they’re going to do with the position, but haven’t made it official yet.

The Wheat Kings haven’t signed any of their 2026 draft class yet — it’s been a busy week looking at applications instead — although they plan to get working on that soon.

In addition, the status of Finnish defenceman Samu Alalauri, who is committed to the University of Massachusetts for the 2027-28 season but was expected to join the club next season, also remains up in the air as he works through his options.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com