Jim, Wheat Kings prepare for Pats

Cruz Jim is already building off experience the Brandon Wheat Kings gave him last winter.

The dynamic 16-year-old defenceman from Grand Prairie, Alta., was called up for four regular season Western Hockey League games and after NAX’s season ended, came back to Brandon late in the season, suiting up once in the playoffs.

“It’s really nice to have that experience from last year, being here at the start of the season and towards the end and in playoffs a bit too,” Jim said. “It’s good to have that, you understand the standards and the expectations here a bit more and that makes everything a bit easier.”

Jim and the Wheat Kings (1-0-0-0) are in action tonight when the Regina Pats (0-1-0-0) visit Assiniboine Credit Union Place tonight. The puck drops at 7.

Brandon grabbed the five-foot-nine, 165-pound right-shooting defenceman with the 12th overall pick in 2025. He spent the last three seasons with the Edmonton-based Northern Alberta Xtreme prep program, playing two years with the under-15 squad and last winter with the U18 team.

In his draft year in 2024-25, Jim had 13 goals, 53 assists and 42 penalty minutes in 35 regulation season games with NAX, and last winter posted 21 points in 26 games.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said he is a special player.

“It’s his brain as a 16 year old and how he sees the ice and moves pucks,” Murray said. “It’s quite impressive for a young man. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to come in as a 16 year old and I thought he’s getting better and better every day.

“We’re seeing that in our games too, where at times makes the game look easy with how he moves pucks and reads the forecheck.”

Cruz debuted with the Wheat Kings at age 15 on Oct. 4, 2025 against the Edmonton Oil Kings and was in the lineup again a night later against the Saskatoon Blades. After suffering an injury in Brandon, he didn’t get called up again until mid-March, but that time he stayed for a while.

He’s settled in nicely this fall, and said he is adjusting to the demanding routine.

“It’s awesome just the way everything is structured,” Jim said. “You go to school two hours or so in the morning and then it’s straight to the rink, work out, video, whatever and then skate. We have yoga after this. It’s great how oriented to hockey it is.

“The schedule is just amazing. I can go home and get whatever work I need to get done and I have a bit of free time, but it’s nice how everything is centred around hockey.”

Happily, the move away from home hasn’t been as arduous as it might be for some young players. He originally moved away three winters ago, which gave him a good sense of what to expect.

“It was super helpful just knowing how billet houses work and being better at communicating with your billet family or whatever that looks like,” Jim said. “I was away at 13, so that was a bit of an eye opener for me. You have to be a bit more responsible and take better care of yourself and what’s going on in your life. It’s good just getting used to it and knowing what to expect and being more ready for it.”

He said there haven’t really been any surprises so far in Brandon, but he added the staff asks a lot from players and he has to make sure he brings his best every day.

PATS RETURN

Brandon met Regina twice in the pre-season, losing 6-3 in Brandon and 6-4 in Ochapowace, Sask., although the Pats dressed more experienced lineups both nights.

The Pats led the WHL with a perfect 7-0-0-0 exhibition record, but dropped their season opener 7-4 to the Prince Albert Raiders at Art Hauser Centre last Friday. They trailed 3-0 in the first 15 minutes, but closed to 5-4 late in the second period before giving up two goals in the final frame.

“We were going through their depth chart today and they’re legit,” Murray said. “They have very deep forwards, they have a variety of defencemen who can harm you in different ways. They had a good pre-season, and like us they’ve only played once and they’ve had a while and it’s sat with them.

“They’re going to be hungry tomorrow night. I think they’ll get (rookie forward Maddox) Schultz back by the look of it so we’re going to have to be at our best. They’re a good hockey team.”

Jim agreed.

“They’re better than last year with a lot of high-end talent, a lot of skill,” Jim said. “You have to be cognizant of that. We’re still going to play our game and our identity. We’re excited.”

In its home opener last Friday, Brandon built a pair of three-goal leads and hung on for a 5-4 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. They can likely thank goaltender Ryley Budd for the two points as they allowed breakaway after breakaway — many of them when they were shorthanded — in what was far from an ideal defensive effort.

One of the issues was giving the puck away in the offensive zone and then having to deal with the Blades rushing back up the ice at high speed.

That made a week of practice just what the doctor ordered.

“I thought the guys competed hard,” Murray said of this week’s afternoon sessions. “I think one of the areas coming out of the weekend, especially this early in the year, was our puck possession and that a lot of times goes into effort in stick battles in the offensive zone. If you lose those, you end up chasing the puck a lot and I thought we did that.

“Reviewing the tape, we lost those little 50-50 pucks in the O-zone or threw it away blindly and it turns into a track meet where you’re up and down the ice and not getting a lot done.

“That’s been the focus this week, maintaining puck possession and protecting the puck. It’s hard to get it back so you don’t want to give it away.”

While it might not sound like much fun, Jim said he appreciates all the time his team has had to work on its collective game.

“It’s great being able to practise this much,” Jim said. “I’ve been in situations before where you don’t get that practice time and you’re jumping right into games, and that’s not always ideal. It’s good that we work on the details and our structure and the way we want to play. It’s good we get to focus on it.”

Brandon currently has two players on the shelf after rookie forward Hudson Landmark returned from an upper-body injury.

Forward Jimmy Egan had a setback last week and remains out after an off-season injury, and they lost rookie forward Cole Hunter to an injury at practice this week during a competition drill when he fell into the boards awkwardly.

He’ll miss this weekend’s games but it doesn’t appear to be a long-term issue. That meant the Wheat Kings had 13 forwards, seven defencemen and two goalies at practice on Thursday afternoon.

The good news for the team is that Czech goaltender Filip Ruzicka is expected back from National Hockey League camp with the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. When he returns, 16-year-old goalie Joffrey Chan is expected to head back to St. George’s for the 2026-27.

ICINGS: TSN director of scouting Craig Button has released his September rankings and they include Brandon’s Jaxon Jacobson in 25th place. The other WHLers on the list are former Everett Silvertips defenceman Landon DuPont in first, Seattle Thunderbirds forward Brock England in sixth, Prince Albert Raiders defenceman Brock Cripps in seventh, Edmonton Oil Kings forward Kayden Stroeder in 14th, Medicine Hat Tigers forward Noah Davidson in 15th, and Medicine Hat’s Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll in 28th … Saskatoon named 19-year-old defenceman Brayden Klimpke of Calgary its team captain on Thursday. Klimpke was drafted by the Blades in the fourth round in 2022, and picked by the Montreal Canadiens in the fourth round of the National Hockey League draft in June … Former Moose Jaw Warriors star forward Lynden Lakovic’s younger brother Von has signed with their hometown Kelowna Rockets. Their uncle Sasha played NHL games in the 1990s, racking up 118 penalty minutes in 37 career games.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

 

Brandon Wheat Kings vs Regina Pats

7 p.m. at Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

6:30 p.m. (91.5 FM): 7 p.m. (YouTube)

WHEAT KINGS

Record: 1-0-0-0, 2 points.

Players to watch:

Ilari Kapanen (1gp, 2g, 2a, 4pts).

Prabh Bhathal (1gp, 1g, 0a, 1pts).

Colin Grubb (1gp, 1g, 0a, 1pts).

Goalies:

Joffrey Chan (0-0-0-0, 0.00 gaa, .000 pct).

Ryley Budd (1-0-0-0, 4.00 gaa, .913 pct).

Key injuries: Jimmy Egan, Hudson Landmark.

Power play: 00.0 per cent (T21st in WHL).

Penalty killing: 71.4 per cent (T12th in WHL).

Total goals for/against: 5-4.

Home record: 1-0-0-0.

Last 10 games: 1-0-0-0.

Head to head vs. Regina: 0-0-0-0.

PATS

Record: 0-1-0-0, 0 points.

Players to watch:

Keets Fawcett (1gp, 2g, 0a, 2pts).

Ellis Mieyette (1gp, 1g, 1a, 2pts).

Ossi Tukio (1gp, 0g, 2a, 2pts).

Goalies:

Drake Mooney (0-1-0-0, 6.01 gaa, .750 pct).

Taylor Tabashniuk (0-0-0-0, 9.00 gaa, .769 pct).

Key injuries: n/a.

Power play: 50.0 per cent (T2nd in WHL).

Penalty killing: 66.7 per cent (T15th in WHL).

Total goals for/against: 4-7.

Road record: 0-1-0-0.

Last 10 games: 0-1-0-0.

Head to head vs. Brandon: 0-0-0-0.