Wheat Kings prepare for big night

The Brandon Wheat Kings will have a handful players with some extra pep in their step this weekend as they face the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday and the Prince Albert Raiders on Sunday.

Hockey Canada announced Wednesday that 16-year-old Wheat Kings defenceman Cruz Jim would be suiting up for Team White at the six-team U17 World Hockey Challenge, where he’ll be skating against Brandon’s Reid Nicol (Everett Silvertips) and Waywayseecappo’s Athens Shingoose on Team Red. The United States, Finland, Sweden and Czechia will also compete in the tournament.

“It was sweet,” Jim said. “We were getting ready to have our pre-game meal in Kamloops before our game there, and I got the first call from (Hockey Canada’s director of hockey operations) Dylan Seca and he congratulated me on that. It’s just awesome to know for sure you’re going to be there and able to represent your country.”

The tournament, which is being held in Oakville, Ont., runs from Nov. 1 to 8. A Canadian team has won the last three tournaments, with Canada White and Canada Red meeting in the final of the last two.

All 44 Canadian players are from CHL teams, with 18 from the Ontario Hockey League, 17 from the WHL and nine from the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

Jim will leave around Oct. 26, and he’ll take some high expectations with him.

“I’ve seen the roster,” Jim said. “We’ve got a really good team and I think the goal would be to go in there and win a gold medal. Obviously I have to do my part and bring my best to be as successful as we can.”

Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Marty Murray, who knows a thing or two about representing Canada at international competitions, said the honour is well deserved for his young defenceman.

“It’s a huge accomplishment anytime you can wear your country’s colours,” Murray said. “It’s something that all young players have on their bucket list and dream of doing. I don’t think we’re surprised he’s there. He’s a perfect candidate for Hockey Canada, being such a good player.

“His IQ is off the charts and I really feel like his game has really come along even since the first couple of games. He almost has a veteran presence to his game.”

HUDSON LANDMARK

Another player who might be as excited as Jim is 19-year-old forward Hudson Landmark, who officially signed with the Western Hockey League club on Thursday. Landmark, who was originally drafted by the Winnipeg Ice, traded to the Vancouver Giants and listed by the Everett Silvertips, made the Wheat Kings after a free-agent tryout.

The six-foot-two, 191-pound Landmark, a right-shooting forward from Sherwood Park, said it was a relief to hear he would be sticking around.

“It was a pretty special moment,” Landmark said. “We were at the airport, so that was pretty cool.”

Murray has always been up front about cheering for the underdog, and Landmark certainly fits that description. After he got hurt in the pre-season, it took him some time to rebound, but now he’s back.

“He’s a guy who you can play in different situations,” Murray said. “He can go up and down the lineup, he works hard, he’s a good kid who will help the team any way he can.”

The Wheat Kings reassigned 16-year-old Ahmad Fayad to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Virden Oil Capitals on Tuesday, which brought them down to 15 forwards.

Murray said the league rule that 16-year-old rookies have to play 40 games helped seal Fayad’s fate, especially with fellow 2010-born forward Levi Ellingsen competing for playing time.

“You want to make sure they have the appropriate path to develop,” Murray said. “Sometimes it’s staying here and playing limited ice, but I always think you have to be playing games. The 40-game rule complicates things a little bit because we’re pretty deep up front, and it complicates things to have two 16-year-old forwards. For us, Ahmad getting his feet wet makes sense, and right down the road in Virden and being close for affiliation purposes and (Oil Capitals head coach) Tyson (Ramsey) does a great job.”

The number of forwards on the roster jumped back to 16 on Friday morning with the acquisition of left winger Aiden Foster from the Prince George Cougars.

Meanwhile, injured forward Jimmy Egan, who hasn’t played this season, is no longer practising in a non-contact jersey ahead of returning to the lineup.

“It feels awesome,” said Egan, who suffered an upper-body injury while training during the summer. “It’s been a long process, but I feel like my rehab went good and I’m ready to go.”

Murray was happy to see the return of the second-year forward from Minnesota.

“He said he’s feeling pretty good,” Murray said. “I think he’s real close. He could play as early as (today). A lot of times, with his type of injury, you have to see how he reacts. Maybe it’s two hours later, maybe it’s the next morning. We’re optimistic that he’s been able to practise daily.”

The Wheat Kings are also without forward Gunnar Gleasman (upper body, day to day), who skated in practice with a red no-contact jersey, and defenceman Ilari Kapanen (lower body, week to week).

That leaves them with seven healthy blue-liners.

ETHAN BERARD

After backup goalie Ryley Budd discovered he wasn’t quite ready to return during practice on Wednesday afternoon, Murray reached out to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Weyburn Red Wings to see if they could borrow netminder Ethan Berard for a few days.

Brandon listed the 18-year-old goalie from Regina in 2024, subsequently dropped and then re-listed him last week.

“We were in scramble mode a little bit,” Murray said. “Ethan is another guy who came to our camp and impressed. He had a very good camp, and he’s right down the road. We’re thankful for Weyburn working with us. He’s gung-ho to be here. He was in the car within half an hour and rolled into Brandon by 7:30.”

COLE SLOBODIAN

If that’s not enough storylines for one night, overage defenceman Cole Slobodian is also making his hometown debut with the Wheat Kings after being acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Oct. 1 when the team was in B.C.

“It’s super exciting,” Slobodian said of tonight’s game. “I think everyone I know in Brandon told me they’re coming. It will be exciting to see everybody and hopefully have a good game in front of them.”

Slobodian knew a number of guys on the team, so prior to joining them in Prince George, he wasn’t worried it would take long to fit in. As it turned out, he was right.

“I knew that they were a good group coming in,” Slobodian said. “I met them on the road and they welcomed me with open arms. It’s been super easy to transition over.”

WEEKEND AHEAD

This evening’s game against the Tigers starts at 6 o’clock, while Sunday’s matchup with the Raiders begins at 4. It will be Brandon’s first home action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place since Sept. 25, and its return following a six-game swing through the B.C. Division that concluded with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Kelowna Rockets last Saturday to finish with a 5-1-0-0 record.

The Wheat Kings (7-2-0-0) arrived back in Brandon on Sunday, took Monday off, and got back to practice on Tuesday.

Medicine Hat (4-2-0-1) was in action against the Regina Pats last night, while Prince Albert (2-6-0-1) had the Moose Jaw Warriors visiting.

Both games ended after deadline.

The Tigers have twins Marcus and Liam Ruck at the top of the lineup, though they will be without Gavin Korn, who sits second in scoring on the team, due to injury. The Wheat Kings will see a familiar foe in overage forward Luke Cozens, who had a career-high, seven-point game against Brandon when he was still with the Lethbridge Hurricanes last November.

Medicine Hat is without high-scoring defencemen Bryce Pickford and Jonas Woo, both of whom graduated after last season.

“Their talent is as good as anybody in the league,” Murray said. “Everybody realizes that the two guys who left on the back end were special players, but they have a lot of firepower up front. (Tigers head coach and GM) Willie (Desjardins) has done a great job replenishing there. Their forward group is as good as any in the league.

“It’s a little different look with their group on the back end — they were really skilled and offensive minded, where this year they are a little bigger and heavier — but they’re going to be a problem for their opponents every night.”

The Tigers are currently rated sixth in the Canadian Hockey League’s top 10 rankings, while the Wheat Kings re-entered in the eighth spot.

The Raiders, meanwhile, who have won the East Division the last two years, have started slowly after an exodus of talent following their league final loss to the Everett Silvertips in May.

“There’s no denying they’ve lost quite a bit, but if you look at their depth chart on our wall, they have a lot of good players and all their games are tight every night,” Murray said. “If you look at our record, they’re one-goal games, and it’s the same with teams on the other side of it. Everybody is so darn close nowadays. We expect P.A. to be a war every time we play them.”

It may be a different club that Brandon fans see tonight than the one that won its first two games of the season at home despite some chaotic moments in their own end.

The Wheat Kings set a new franchise high-water mark in the Internet era with five wins in the B.C. Division, but also learned a lot about themselves.

“There was some adversity,” Landmark said. “The first game, we were getting our legs under us and needed to get that a lot earlier. That jumped out at us, but after that, I thought we really came together and really figured out what we had to do.”

Jim agreed.

“It was good to have that trip close to the start of the year,” Jim said. “It really helped us come together and bond and get closer, just being around the guys that much. You were pretty much with everybody for two weeks straight and playing games and battling together and competing. “I think it was really important for us to start coming together and clicking as a group.”

ICINGS: Prince George acquired 19-year-old forward Kash Andresen of Saskatoon from the Moose Jaw Warriors on Thursday for a third-round pick in 2027 and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2030 … On Wednesday, the Tri-City Americans sent 18-year-old defenceman David Byrne of Calgary to the Vancouver Giants for a seventh-round pick in 2030.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com