Pantelas thankful for time in Brandon

While Gio Pantelas decided he wanted to spend his final Western Hockey League season closer to family with the Penticton Vees, that doesn’t in any way diminish his time with the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The 18-year-old defenceman from Victoria, who was dealt on Wednesday to British Columbia so he could live with his mother and younger brother, said it was still an agonizing decision to ask for a trade.

“I had an amazing two years there,” Pantelas said. “I just want to get that out there. I’m so grateful for everything that Brandon has done for me, not only the Wheat Kings but the community as a whole. Being able to spend every day was just amazing. I would never take any of those days back.

“That was the whole reason for the decision, just being closer to home. Being out in Brandon, especially living in Victoria, it’s a long ways away. I spent two long, fun years there but I was getting a little homesick and missing my parents quite a bit.”

His father Aki runs a successful painting business on Vancouver Island, while his 13-year-old brother Michael lives in Penticton with mother Britney during the winter as he attends hockey school. The move will allow him to live with his mom and Michael, and allow his dad to make one much shorter trip to see everyone in the winter.

He’s especially excited to be more involved in his brother’s life.

“It will be amazing,” Pantelas said. “I get to watch over him for a bit. I’m sure he’s been missing me a lot. He doesn’t really see me too much and at a young age it really does take a toll. Being able to be around him, especially while he’s playing hockey, not to say I’ve had the most successful career, but I’m sure I could help him in many ways.

“Just having him around will help me a lot and make me happier just being able to see him doing his thing.”

Pantelas may be understating how good his career has been. During his WHL career, which includes a call-up during the 2023-24 season and full-time service in 2024-25 and 2025-26, he has 10 goals, 37 assists and 75 penalty minutes in 130 regular season games over two years.

In the second day of the National Hockey League draft on June 27 in Buffalo, the Los Angeles Kings selected him 153rd overall in the fifth round.

“It was amazing,” Pantelas said. “Just being able to see my name called was a dream, come true. It’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Being able to go there and not only cheer for myself but for everyone else, that whole day was an amazing experience. I had so much fun.”

He didn’t have much time to rest on his laurels. The Kings held their development camp from June 29 to July 2, so he headed south.

He said the team’s support staff helped make it a memorable experience, noting they were friendly and quick to help with anything the players might need.

“It was a really quick turn-around,” Pantelas said. “We stayed in Buffalo for the draft and flew out the next day straight to L.A. I had a great time. Nothing could have gone better. “I got to experience what it’s like to see everything at the pro level. Everything was given to me, it was surreal to see everything. They fed everything to you so you could be at your best performance.”

While the Wheat Kings had to trade their top defenceman, who played a lot more than 20 minutes a night and on both special teams, they received a first-round pick in 2029, a third-round pick in 2028, the rights to 2010-born American forward Carter Morris and a conditional first-round pick in 2030 if Pantelas plays in the WHL in his 19-year-old season.

Pantelas’s current plan is to play one more year in the WHL and then head to college. He has been talking to a number of schools, but hasn’t made up his mind on where he’ll commit, noting he has a year to make up his mind.

It’s a new chapter, but it was important to the six-foot-two, 211-pound blue-liner to close the last one properly.

Pantelas was grateful to a lot of people in Brandon, from the team’s social media staff to the academic advisor, Glenda Zelmer to the people he knew at school and even the staff at the Keystone Centre.

“I could thank everyone,” Pantelas said. “I would like to thank past teammates, everyone who was in Brandon my first year and even when I got called up, they were all amazing. I loved all of them, and even recent teammates who I was with this year.It was unfortunate to see everything end so early.

“I will miss everyone. It’s life-long friendships you create, so I’m just happy I was able to have those experiences. Not everyone gets to meet so many life-long friends in such a short time.

“All the staff in Brandon was amazing, from equipment manager to athletics, physio, the chiro(practor), trainers, coaches, even the on-ice development staff. Everyone has been super nice to me.”

Pantelas lived with Kelly and Sherry Smendziuk, and said he was treated like family, which meant a lot to someone who was so far from home. He also had the benefit of living there with Ben Binder Nord for his first season and Brett Wilson at the end of his second campaign.

“I had the best billets in the league,” Pantelas said. “They were amazing to me. I got to live with two different billet brothers and both of them were amazing and always drove me around and helped me out when I needed help. I was really thankful for them.”

Unfortunately for Pantelas, he’s likely played his last game at Assiniboine Credit Union Place. The Wheat Kings visit the B.C. Division this season, making their first-ever visit to Penticton on Oct. 9. Pantelas admits it will be a weird night for him but one he’s looking forward to already.

“It will be fun,” Pantelas said. “Getting to see them so early will definitely feel a bit better. I get to meet new teammates this year so being able to see my old teammates and hang out with them will be fun. Just being able to see them again will help me a lot.”

Brandon’s blue-line is currently projected to include veterans Cameron Allard, Nigel Boehm, Josh McGregor and overager Dylan Ronald, plus rookies Ilari Kapanen of Finland, Cruz Jim, Easten Turko and Ethan Young.

If it wasn’t so far from home, Pantelas would have his name on that list too.

“If there was nothing about missing parents or missing home, I could spend every year up until my 20-year-old year in Brandon,” Pantelas said. “It’s really unfortunate. I have two homes and picking between the two is a tough decision.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com