Wheat Kings face teams on upswing

The Brandon Wheat Kings return to Assiniboine Credit Union Place this weekend to face a pair of opponents that are making major strides since last season.

The Wheat Kings (10-5-0-0) meet the Lethbridge Hurricanes (6-7-0-0) today at 7 p.m., and the Swift Current Broncos (10-5-0-0) on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Brandon hasn’t skated against either Western Hockey League team this season.

“They’re much improved,” Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said of Lethbridge. “They have a good team. That’s the crazy part; every night it’s a battle. We haven’t seen Lethbridge yet, but they have a good team. They have some firepower and guys who can be difference makers.

“They’re going to come in here hungry. They’ve made some major improvements to their team since last year, and we expect a fight on our hands.”

A year ago, Swift Current finished 10th and Lethbridge placed 11th in the 11-team Eastern Conference.

On Sunday, the Wheat Kings face a Broncos squad that is tied with them for the conference lead.

“They have the exact same record as us, so it’s going to be a battle, no question about it,” Murray said. “Our focus lies on Lethbridge now but both teams are going well and play with a lot of energy and are rejuvenated.”

The Wheat Kings took Thursday off with four games in six games.

During their mid-week Saskatchewan road trip, Brandon beat the Moose Jaw Warriors 6-2 on Tuesday and then fell to the Prince Albert Raiders 4-2 on Wednesday.

“I think after the win against Moose Jaw, that was a good stepping stone for us, but obviously with the team and group we have this year, we want to maintain the culture of winning,” 18-year-old defenceman Nigel Boehm said. “We need to understand we can’t take games off and every chance at a point we have is key for our team. We really need to take advantage of games when we can.”

Murray said the victory in Moose Jaw would probably be up there with a 6-2 win over the Victoria Royals on Oct. 4 as Brandon’s most complete outing of the season.

“I thought we started really well and had a little dip in the second,” Murray said. “At times we took some penalties again, but overall I was real pleased with the effort. One thing we’ve promoted, and I think the guys did a real good job in Moose Jaw, is being engaged on the bench and being encouraging to teammates. That really helps get you prepared for your shift when you go out on the ice.”

On Wednesday, after Chase Surkan scored an outstanding goal to give Brandon the lead, they allowed two goals in the final four minutes of the opening frame and Prince Albert largely took control.

“We got into penalty trouble, and if you look at the type of penalties we took, it was a lot of reaching and hooking and tripping and things like that,” Murray said. “We ended up with seven penalty kills and all of a sudden you’re playing back-to-back nights with travel and those are hard minutes to play.

“You waste a lot of energy killing penalties, you’re playing in your own end a lot when you’re killing and some guys play too much and some guys play too little.”

Brandon has at times seemed to lose its way during games and then shown the ability to find its way back, although sometimes the burst comes too late.

The most notable example this season is a 5-3 loss to the Everett Silvertips on Oct. 25 when they played a fantastic opening 20 minutes, outscoring the visitors 2-0 and outshooting them 13-4. After an unsuccessful three minutes of power play to open the second period, the momentum changed entirely, and the Silvertips outshot Brandon 14-3 in the middle frame and scored three goals.

“It’s something we’ve talked about,” Murray said. “A lot of times it revolves around penalties, whether we’re taking them or, case in point, the Everett game where the power play was pretty casual to start the second period. The power play isn’t always about scoring, but it sure is about momentum, and on a night you lose momentum, it just gives the other team an opportunity to claw back into the game.”

Boehm said his club has to be better at rebounding in those hard moments.

“It’s the game within a game,” Boehm said. “There might be something going on within the game and we need to battle through it and play a consistent 60 minutes every night. That’s something our group is working on.”

There is seemingly no end to the contrary statistics that seem to point in two entirely different directions as the Wheat Kings near the completion of the first quarter of the season and have won twice as many games as they’ve lost.

An old expression originally attributed to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli that was later popularized by Mark Twain — lies, damned lies and statistics — suggests the numbers should be taken with a grain of salt.

• They’ve been outshot overall in 12 games. Oddly, they’re 1-2-0-0 in the games they put more shots on net.

• They’ve been outscored in the third period nine times, with two ties and four wins in that category.

• They’ve outscored their opponent just six times in both the first and second periods.

• They’ve been outshot 10 times in the second period.

• They’ve scored 12 goals on 55 chances on the power play and allowed 16 when shorthanded.

• They’ve allowed four shorthanded goals and scored just one.

• Brandon has handed their opponents four or more power plays in 11 games, and gave up seven man advantages three times. They’ve drawn four or more penalties just six times.

• They’ve been skunked on the power play in eight games while holding their opponent’s man advantage without a goal just four times.

• In the faceoff circle, they’ve won more in 10 of their 15 games, with one tie.

• They’ve scored the first goal nine times and won seven of those games.

Regardless of what the numbers suggest, Boehm’s commitment can’t be questioned.

On Prince Albert’s first power play on Wednesday, the defenceman blocked three shots in a row, and Brandon’s penalty ultimately blocked five shots while just letting one through to goalie Filip Ruzicka on that kill.

“We have a pretty positive group and you definitely get some pats on the back for that,” Boehm said. “Ultimately, that’s what it comes down to, and being able to play on the kill is a big role and blocking shots is something you have to do in that role.”

His coach is certainly appreciative.

“How can you not love Nige?” Murray said, using Boehm’s nickname. “He is the ultimate team-first guy. He accepts his role, he knows what he is and he’s a bit of a throwback. Those guys are getting harder and harder to find, the guys who have a defence-first mentality and understands his role on our hockey club.

“To get into shot lanes and know you’re going to eat a one-timer is not a good feeling and he’s a guy who is reliable to do it constantly and you appreciate that. The first thing that comes to mind is ‘What a warrior.’”

The defensive unit has been completely overhauled since last season, with rookies Cruz Jim, Ethan Young, Easten Turko and injured Ilari Kapanen, plus trade acquisitions Josh McGregor and Cole Slobodian joining veterans Boehm and Cameron Allard.

From last season’s group, Dylan Ronald and Gio Pantelas were traded, Grayson Burzynski graduated, Max Lavoie went to college hockey and Daniil Skvortsov was released.

“I think we have a great group on the back end this year,” Boehm said. “I feel like you can play with every single guy back there, even if it’s a young guy or an older guy. Being able to feel comfortable with each and every one of them is a huge thing.”

Brandon was down to five defencemen after losing McGregor to an upper-body injury in Prince Albert on Wednesday — Jim is at the U17 World Challenge and Kapanen remains out — but a bit of serendipity played in their favour on Thursday.

Young prospect Marko Malbasa and his team, Rink Hockey Academy Winnipeg, were headed to Edmonton to meet OHA Edmonton and Northern Alberta Extreme.

The Wheat Kings didn’t arrive back in Brandon until about 8:30 a.m., but director of hockey operations Chris Moulton had texted RHA coach Rob Smith about potentially borrowing the 15-year-old Malbasa for the weekend.

“As I was talking to Moults, he got a call from the head coach of Winnipeg saying we’re driving through Brandon right now, at about 10:30 in the morning,” Murray said. “I went up to the Tim Hortons on the North Hill to pick him up and they dropped him off there and he was to his billets within about half an hour. It worked out pretty seamlessly.”

The problem up front is different.

Veterans Ryan Boyce and Jimmy Egan were healthy scratches on the two days as the team struggles to get its 14 healthy forwards into games, and both will be available on the weekend. Cole Hunter and Hudson Landmark drew into the lineup on the road, with Landmark scoring his first WHL goal on Tuesday.

Whoever is in the lineup tonight, the approach Brandon needs this weekend is clear to Boehm.

“I think we need to show a full 60 minutes every night this weekend and maintain winning games and giving the effort that we can,” Boehm said.

ICINGS: The Wenatchee Wild sent defenceman Josh Fluker of Boissevain with conditional fourth-round draft picks in 2027 and 2030 to the Saskatoon Blades on Wednesday for 19-year-old defenceman Isaac Poll of White City, Sask., and a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2030 … More players have been added to Team CHL for the 2026 CHL USA Prospects Challenge. All 13 players have received an “A” rating on NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary players to watch list for the 2027 draft. The WHLers named so far are Brock Cripps (D, Prince Albert Raiders), Kayden Stroeder (C, Edmonton Oil Kings) and Brock England (F, Seattle Thunderbirds). The remaining players will be announced in early November. The games are on Dec. 1 in Chicoutimi and Dec. 2 in Quebec City.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

THE TALE OF THE TAPE: This weekend’s action

WHEAT KINGS

Record: 10-5-0-0, 20 points.

Players to watch:

Chase Surkan (15gp, 7g, 10a, 17pts).

Kris Muissu (15gp, 8g, 8a, 16pts).

Jaxon Jacobson (15gp, 5g, 10a, 15pts).

Joby Baumuller (15gp, 9g, 5a, 14pts).

Colin Grubb (15gp, 3g, 8a, 11pts).

Aiden Foster (8gp, 7g, 2a, 9pts).

Brett Wilson (15gp, 1g, 5a, 6pts).

Levi Ellingsen (15gp, 2g, 2a, 4pts).

Goalies:

Filip Ruzicka (6-4-0-0, 3.15 gaa, .908 pct).

Ryley Budd (4-0-0-0, 2.49 gaa, .931 pct).

Key absences: Ilari Kapanen, Gunnar Gleasman, Josh McGregor, Cruz Jim.

Power play: 21.8 per cent (8th in WHL).

Penalty killing: 75.8 per cent (19th in WHL).

Total goals for/against: 50-46

Home record: 4-2-0-0.

Last 10 games: 7-3-0-0.

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

Head to head vs. Swift Current: 0-0-0-0.

FRIDAY

Brandon Wheat Kings vs Lethbridge Hurricanes 7 p.m. at Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

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

HURRICANES

Record: 6-7-0-0, 12 points.

Players to watch:

Dayne Beuker (13gp, 9g, 8a, 17pts).

Logan Stuart (12gp, 8g, 5a, 13pts).

Owen Berge (11gp, 3g, 7a, 10pts).

Goalies:

Leif Oaten (4-4-0-0, 3.36 gaa, .894 pct).

n/a (0-0-0-0, 0.00 gaa, .000 pct).

Key injuries: Kade Duell, Kai Anderson, Dominick Byrtus.

Power play: 25.5 per cent (4th in WHL).

Penalty killing: 72.1 per cent (21st in WHL).

Total goals for/against: 39-50.

Road record: 5-1-0-0.

Last 10 games: 6-4-0-0.

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

SUNDAY

Brandon Wheat Kings vs Swift Current Broncos

4 p.m. at Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

3:30 p.m. (91.5 FM): 4 p.m. (YouTube)

BRONCOS

Record: Record: 10-5-0-0, 20 points.

Players to watch:

Trae Wilke (15gp, 5g, 7a, 12pts).

Oliver Torkki (15gp, 4g, 7a, 11pts).

Kayd Reudig (14gp, 5g, 5a, 10pts).

Goalies:

Cal Conway (10-3-0-0, 2.61 gaa, .927 pct).

Archer Cooke (0-2-0-0, 8.76 gaa, .769 pct).

Key injuries: Gavin Harrison, Jacob Beaulieu, Lincoln Ayers Asaad, Aiden Eskit, Avinash Kasargod.

Power play: 6.8 per cent (23rd in WHL).

Penalty killing: 69.7 per cent (23rd in WHL).

Total goals for/against: 50-48

Road record: 5-4-0-0.

Last 10 games: 7-3-0-0.

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