Pats double up on Wheat Kings

If the Western Hockey League pre-season is all about learning and evaluating, the Regina Pats took the Brandon Wheat Kings to school with a 6-3 victory in Western Hockey League pre-season action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Friday.

Ellis Mieyette scored twice and Zach Moore, Liam Pue, Tomas Cermak and Jace Egland also sniped for Regina (3-0-0-0) as Brandon gave up a month’s worth of breakaways in the first half of the game.

Brandon (0-1-0-0) received its goals from Jaxon Jacobson, Cameron Coulter and Cole Hunter.

Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his club was sloppy through much of the first half of the game and it cost them.

“I thought the first three or four shifts we did some good things, we got pucks in and we got to work but we had some bad summer habits creeping in,” Murray said. “We turned pucks over, some little backhand plays in the neutral zone that got picked up by their best players and they make you pay. I thought we had a push in the second half of the game.

“We’re looking for guys to make impressions and some guys did and some guys have a long way to go.”

The game was a special one for 19-year-old Brandonite Colten Worthington, who made his debut with his hometown club as he battles for a spot.

The former Saskatoon Blades forward — who spent last season with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Virden Oil Capitals — played with two of his under-18 AAA teammates in Jacobson and Josh McGregor, who also skated in his first game as a Wheat King after an off-season trade.

Brady Turko, who was also part of the Telus Cup team in 2024, was a healthy scratch.

“It was definitely a really cool experience,” Worthington said. “I always dreamed about being a Wheat King, and to do it with some of my best friends who I’ve grown up with and played with all my life is really cool.”

The Pats opened the scoring five minute 34 seconds into the game when Mieyette broke in and fired a shot past Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka

In the game’s first power play after, Brandon’s power-play unit turned over the puck and Connor Bear was denied. Less than a minute later, Moore raced in on another shorthanded breakaway and beat Ruzicka with a shot off the inside of the post on the big goalie’s blocker side.

The Wheat Kings, who looked shaky at both ends at that point, went down three goals two minutes later when Pue had the rebound of a Maddox Schultz shot land on his stick and he fired it home.

By the 11:42 mark, the shots were 10-1 for Regina and much of the play was in the Brandon zone.

The parade of breakaways continued, and got the Wheat Kings in more trouble when Schultz was hauled down and a penalty shot was awarded 12:56 into the frame.

The 2025 first-overall pick had Ruzicka down and out on the deke but he shot the puck high.

“We definitely had a slow start,” Worthington said. “It was some guys’ first experiences in the Western League and it definitely showed. Regina coming in had already played, but I thought we settled in during the middle of the second period and fought back little bit but it was a little too late.”

Brandon took back-to-back penalties straddling the first and second periods and the Pats made them pay 2:40 into the middle frame when Egland set up Mieyette for a tap-in goal off the rush to make it 4-0.

Brandon finally hit the scoreboard just after their third power-play ended when Kris Muissu found Jacobson with a cross-ice pass for a one-timer past Pats goalie Taylor Tabashniuk.

Just 42 seconds into the third period, the rookie Coulter lifted a shot into the top of the net after Jacobson found him with a pass to bring Brandon back within two goals at 4-2.

“I thought he was dynamite,” Murray said of Coulter. “For a 16 year old playing his first game of junior hockey, what was there not to like about him? He was all over the ice, he was electric, He has a real good skillset and he was arguably one of our best players.”

Less than three minutes later, however, Cermak snapped a shot through traffic that beat Ruzicka and restored the three-goal bulge.

Brandon narrowed the lead again with 7:09 remaining when the 18-year-old Shoal Lake product Cole Hunter jumped on a rebound in the slot and fired it in.

The Wheat Kings pulled the goalie with nearly three minutes remaining but the Pats put the game away when Egland outbattled Easten Turko for the puck and scored into the empty net.

Ruzicka made 39 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Tabashniuk stopping 26 shots for the Pats.

Brandon went 0-for-5 on the power play, with Regina scoring once in four chances.

After the game ended, the teams stayed to play a five-minute overtime period as the WHL gives players the chance to adjust to a pilot project that doesn’t let players circle back over the offensive blue-line when they don’t like what they see.

The Wheat Kings defenceman McGregor was flagged for a tripping minor 36 seconds into the extra time. After the penalty ended there wasn’t a whistle until there was 11 seconds remaining, so there was only 47 seconds of actual three-on-thee action. Both teams had three shots in overtime.

But it was 65 minutes of evaluation for Brandon’s coaching staff.

“We’re preaching some things, and as a staff, we’re looking at who is buying into what we’re selling,” Murray said. “Some guys did and you saw them elevate their ice time. It was evident that some guys wanted to contribute and do everything they can.”

Worthington will be hoping he’s one of those guys who made the right impression.

“I definitely have to just keep playing my game, know my role, don’t try and do anything that I know I don’t need to do,” Worthington said. “I just have to play my game.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured F Gunnar Gleasman, F Jimmy Egan and D Ethan Young, plus healthy scratches Brady Turko, Chase Surkan, Colin Grubb, Rylan Edwards, Joby Baumuller, Brett Wilson, Ryan Boyce, Cameron Allard, Will Katsilieris and Joffrey Chan … The teams meet again tonight in Ochapowace, Sask. … Hunter and Cameron led the Wheat Kings with six shots each on net … The game took two hours, 18 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Regina 43-31.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com