2 weeks Ago By Perry Bergson
Before the 2024-25 Western Hockey League season began, the Brandon Sun posed five key questions that needed to be answered by the Brandon Wheat Kings. Read this article for free: Already have an account? As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support.
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Before the 2024-25 Western Hockey League season began, the Brandon Sun posed five key questions that needed to be answered by the Brandon Wheat Kings. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Before the 2024-25 Western Hockey League season began, the Brandon Sun posed five key questions that needed to be answered by the Brandon Wheat Kings. Here’s a review of what was written in September — without the accompanying responses from players and staff that ran at the time — and a look at what actually happened this season with general manager and head coach Marty Murray.
Brandon Wheat Kings Roger McQueen, shown carrying the puck against the Saskatoon following his return to the lineup in March, had four goals in the season opener and just seven the rest of the way through the regular season and playoffs because a back injury seriously limited him. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun) It’s been years since Brandon has debuted this many high-end rookies. The influx includes Jaxon Jacobson, Brady Turko, Easton Odut and Ben Binder-Nord up front, with defencemen Giorgos Pantelas, Nigel Boehm, Cameron Allard, Dylan Ronald and Slovakian Adam Belusko on the back end.
With one-third of the team new to the league, they will need to contribute. As it turned out, the rookies passed their test with flying colours. They played major minutes due to Brandon’s unending injuries and showed well.
“You never want to have injuries, but in saying that, we had the utmost confidence in our younger guys and their abilities to expand their roles and play more minutes,” Murray said. “I can’t think of a guy I was disappointing in for their contribution. Within their roles, they all performed to their expectations and then some a lot of the time.
“We had guys playing very, very significant roles in important parts of the year and playoffs. I just know being around a lot of general managers and scouts this weekend that they talked about how impressed they were with our young guys and their ability to play in those high pressure situations.” Jacobson (51 games played, 15 goals, 29 assists, 44 points) had the best offensive season by a 16-year-old rookie since Nolan Patrick (55gp, 30g, 26a, 56p) in 2014-15.
Jacobson finished eighth in team scoring despite missing a quarter of the season due to the U17 Challenge and an assortment of injuries. Turko (68gp, 7g, 19a, 26p) got better and better as the season went on and was one of just four Wheat Kings to skate in all 68 games. Odut (20gp, 3g, 2a, 5p, 8pim) didn’t make any friends around the league with his spirited play before an upper-body injury ended his season in mid-December.
Binder Nord (36gp, 1g, 3a, 4p, 68pim) was utterly fearless and thrived in an energy role between a pair of devastating injuries. Among the defencemen, Allard was sent back to U18 in Saskatchewan, where he was named top defenceman, He looked good in his late season callups (13gp, 0g, 2a, 2p, 2 pim). Belusko (53gp, 3g, 14a, 17p, 36 pim) played forward or defence as needed, providing useful depth to the injury-plagued squad.
Ronald (64gp, 5g, 19a, 24p, 32pim) was a revelation at 18, providing steady defence and scoring five goals with his big shot. The two 16-year-old defenders, Pantelas (61gp, 4g, 6a, 10p, 25pim) and Boehm (61gp, 1g, 6a, 7p, 34pim), were thrown into the fire and played massive minutes for their age. Boehm was a steady defender and Pantelas showed flashes of an elite game at both ends.
All five players who were signed but didn’t make the club this season — the 16-year-olds Allard, forward Isaac Davies and goalie Dylan McFadyen and 15-year-old forwards Chase Surkan and Prabh Bhathal — had a chance to skate with the club. Murray noted having players from age 16 to 20, which is a pretty wide age gap, requires the team elders to stand up and lead the way. He said all the players talked in their exit meetings about how close this year’s team was and how they enjoyed hanging around with everyone on the team, not just the guys their age.
“That’s one of the biggest things,” Murray said. “Players are moving away from their parents into a new environment and it’s so important for the veterans to show the way. Our veterans went through the exact same things as younger players and know some of the things they liked and some of the things they didn’t like.
“We asked our guys to draw from that. If there was something you didn’t like as a first-year player, make sure that doesn’t happen to the next guy as far as helping them along. I think our veteran guys did a pretty good job.
” Moving forward, this year’s adversity could well be next year’s reward. With the benefit of all the time they spent on the ice, the trajectory of the rookies is expected to rise next season. “They played a lot of minutes and know the grind of the Western Hockey League,” Murray said.
“They’ve seen the best of it and for the most part, they did a real good job. That will only expedite their development and raise the expectations going into next year.” Last year’s leading scorer, Brett Hyland, had 59 points, the second lowest total for a Brandon points leader in the team’s WHL history.
There seems to be the potential for a number of players to take major steps forward this season, but will it happen? If you’re looking for signs of optimism for next season, they can be found. For example, Joby Baumuller jumped from five goals to 18, Caleb Hadland went from 12 to 25 and Nick Johnson went from seven to 16. “Every returning guy increased their point production, with many by quite a few points,” Murray said.
“The exception was Roger, who didn’t play enough games. That’s part of the success of junior hockey. You want to see guys have better numbers year after year.
You don’t want to see those dips and everybody went up. “That’s a credit to the depth we had on our team. I think we were one of the deeper teams, especially up front, in the league.
” Brandon finished seventh in both goals for and goals against, the highest combined rankings since the 2015-16 championship season. Nolan Flamand led the team with 68 points, which put him 39th in the league scoring race. That was the sixth lowest total for a Wheat Kings scoring leader in the team’s 58-year history in the WHL.
“The one thing I wish we could have, if you watch around the league, the teams that are still playing have guys who are driving the offence with 80, 90, 100, 110 points,” Murray said. “Hopefully we have some guys in our system who can get to that point, because at the end of the day they’re game changers.” If healthy, the X-factor could be Roger McQueen, who had 21 goals in 53 games in 2023-24, and 10 goals in 17 games this season as he battled a back injury in both seasons.
With a good off-season and more time to recover from the pars fracture in his back, the big forward could have a breakout campaign. When assessing the team’s offensive output, it’s impossible to ignore the absence of McQueen and the ripple he might have had throughout the lineup. “There is no question that if Roger is in the lineup we’re going to score more,” Murray said.
“He was playing with Marcus Nguyen at the start of the year and Marcus probably has 45 goals instead of 36. Everybody around him probably increases their point production but it is what it is, there’s nothing we can do to change that. Brandon Wheat Kings forward Ben Binder Nord (20) shown scrapping against Lethbridge Hurricanes forward Chase Petersen last season, replaced some of the team toughness that left with Matt Henry.
(Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun) “Hopefully guys can continue to break that barrier and continue to produce more than they did the previous year.” In recent years when goaltending and forward depth were considered areas of strength, the blue-line has remained an area of concern for the team. The defensive corps hasn’t really been an area of strength since the graduation of Braden Schneider following the shortened 2021 season in the Regina hub, and before that, in the 2015-16 championship season.
In recent years they’ve made trades to plug perceived holes, but this fall they’ve got a long list of candidates to fill what will likely be eight spots. The Brandon braintrust is quietly confident this might finally be the year for the turn-around. Can they pull it off? Veterans Quinn Mantei (64gp, 7g, 38a, 45p, 29pim) and Luke Shipley (60gp, 20g, 37a, 57p, 56 pim) were joined by Charlie Elick, but the Columbus Blue Jackets draft pick struggled during his third season in Brandon and was dealt to the Tri-City Americans with a draft pick for forward Jordan Gavin and defenceman Merrek Arpin.
A family emergency and a pair of injuries limited Arpin to just five games in Brandon but his blend of physicality and speed impressed in an admittedly short viewing. “One of the biggest things we talked about at the start of the year was ‘We need you guys to defend and move the puck and get it to the forwards,’” Murray said. “We felt the strength of our group was with our forward group, so it was just keep it simple and defend.
“There were times we certainly did that and that showed in the success of the team. There are times we were maybe exposed with moving the puck where we could get hemmed in and turned pucks over ..
. “Overall, considering the injuries we had, we talked about playing above their weight class, and as a whole, I would say our D corps played above their weight class through most of the season.” The rookies Pantelas, Boehm, Ronald and Belusko all played better than could have been expected.
While the youth showed at times, the defensive corps was as good as it’s been in years. Shipley’s offence will be missed next season, but the four rookies will be entering their second seasons, and callup Cam Allard will be able to build on the 16 regular season and playoff games the Saskatchewan U18 top defenceman skated in. The fine play by the youngsters allowed the Wheat Kings to trade 19-year-old veteran Rhett Ravndahl at the deadline.
“Mantei and Shipley led the charge,” Murray said. “They played an awful lot, but it was real fun to see the younger players, Pantelas, Boehm, Ronald, although he is 18 as a first year in the league, really rise to the occasion. Adam Belusko is another one who silently stepped in and was a solid defenceman for us down the stretch too.
“I think if you looked on paper, they’re not a real intimidating group, but I thought they played above their weight class. At times we looked our age and experience level a little bit, but I thought for the most part we hung on.” It’s hard to win in the WHL with your special teams hovering around the middle of the league.
Last season, the power play was often predictable and slow, and finished last in the league by cashing in on just 42 of their 228 opportunities for a putrid 18.4 per cent efficiency rate. The penalty kill was better, finishing in the middle of the pack with a 76.
1 conversion rate that left them 12th in the 22-team league. The last time Brandon’s special teams were great in a full season was in 2015-16 when they ranked second overall. Not surprisingly, they won the WHL that year.
The Wheat Kings haven’t traditionally been great penalty killers, last finishing atop the league in 2001-02 and finishing in the top 10 just six times since. Brandon has, however, been a great power-play team, with 15 finishes in the top five in the WHL’s Internet era, which began in the 1996-97 season. The trick this year will be playing hard without taking the sometimes unnecessary and foolish penalties that led them to give up 272 man advantages, seventh worst in the league.
Just one of the five teams who allowed more than their 65 power-play goals against made the playoffs. The special teams were outstanding at times but both ultimately fell back into the pack. “I know both special teams were up in the top tier of the league for a while,” Murray said.
“I always add the two together and if you’re at 105 per cent, that’s a reference point that equals success. We were over that for a large part of the season but we may have dipped at the end a little bit.” The impact of losing McQueen for much of the season certainly impacted the power play, which still had an array of weapons but managed just 55 power-play goals on 241 chances, which was 15th best in the league at 22.
8 per cent. It allowed five shorthanded goals. Some nights they looked like world beaters as they whipped the puck around and threaded passes into the perfect spots for goals.
Other nights they were too deliberate to be impactful, and in some cases, it was a wonder they got the puck over the blue-line before the penalty expired. Brandon Wheat Kings forward Jaxon Jacobson (9), shown with teammate Matteo Michels (88) during a game in February, had the finest offensive season by a 16-year-old Wheat Kings rookie since Nolan Patrick. The team’s big class of rookies played a major role in the team’s success in the 2024-25 season.
(Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun) “I thought the power play was fine all year,” Murray said. “What makes an excellent power play is when the game is on the line — a tie game with six minutes left — the top-tier power plays find a way to put the puck in the net.” The penalty kill was the best in the league for a time when it was up around 82.
5 per cent in January, but it didn’t last. The unit finished the season eighth at 78.3 per cent, with 10 shorthanded goals, which tied them for seventh in the league.
“We limped down the stretch a little bit for sure,” Murray said. “It’s hard to put your finger on that, where it comes from. I think part of it is the hardest minutes you face is shorthanded when you’re a penalty killer.
I don’t want a sound like a broken record but with injuries, guys were playing so many minutes. “It’s hard to be that sharp: It might just be that fraction of a second where you stop and you’re exploding back to an area with your stick and you get a stick on the puck. If you’re fatigued, it’s that fraction of a second where you’re not there to get your stick on pucks and it ends up hurting you.
” In the playoffs, Brandon’s power play clicked at 28.6 per cent, but the penalty kill fell back to 76.5 per cent.
The fighting fan favourite from Prince Albert wasn’t brought back for his overage year, which isn’t a huge surprise since he didn’t have a goal last year and found it harder to find opponents willing to drop the gloves. Still, Hank The Tank, was a deterrent to other teams. So, how do you replace that presence and physicality? One thing about this year’s team was that if one player got jumped, they treated it like they all got jumped.
They were quick to rush to each other’s assistance. It’s probably not ideal that the smallest player on the team, Binder Nord, led the team in fighting majors with six at age 17, conjuring up visions of Connor Gutenberg in his 19-year-old season. Still Binder Nord’s 68 penalty minutes were the fewest in a full season for the Wheat Kings team leader in the franchise’s WHL history.
“You never had to worry about him not having a teammate’s back,” Murray said. “He’s a wiry guy and I know our guys knew Ben would go through a wall for them. He is a great teammate and would do whatever was asked of him and wanted to learn.
At 162 pounds, he held his own.” Eight Wheat Kings had at least 40 minutes, and the team combined to take 750 minutes. They certainly threw their weight around when they could.
Carter Klippenstein was notable by his absence when he missed games because of his non-stop physicality. Hadland, Binder Nord and Odut also led the way up front, with Mantei and Pantelas consistently physical on the back end. “I think there is always another level you can get to, no question,” Murray said.
“It’s hard when you’re getting that over to the players. You don’t want them to think guys should run around and play outside their game. “If there is an opportunity to bump on a guy or go through his hands to create some contact and create some separation, everybody can do those little things.
But we don’t need Jaxon Jacobson running around trying to finish his checks, that’s not what we’re talking about.” The league began compiling penalty stats for teams beginning in the 2003-04 season, and only twice has Brandon averaged fewer penalty minutes than this season’s 11.0 per game.
(They averaged 10.7 in 2018-19 and 8.8 in 2003-04, and they also averaged 11.
0 in 2017-18). That number matters because the Wheat Kings led the league with 946 penalty minutes — an average of 13.9 minutes per game — during the 2023-24 season, so they left themselves with a lot fewer problems to solve this winter.
“I thought it took major steps,” Murray said. “You can take less penalties but you don’t have to play softer and I don’t think our team did. I thought we played hard but we played a lot smarter.
The last couple of years I’ve been here, we’ve taken a lot of unnecessary penalties and when you do that, you’re just playing with fire. “I thought our team was much more disciplined this year.” A measure of how much the game has changed is the fact they finished last in the league in penalty minutes four times from 2006 to 2012, and they averaged 14.
4, 14.4, 15.1 and 16.
8 minutes in those seasons. The only suspension Brandon took was the one-gamer assessed to Shipley after an altercation at the end of Game 2 in the playoffs, which was remarkable. Brandon hasn’t gone an entire season without a suspension since the 2014-15 campaign, and in 2023-24 lost 34 games to suspension, albeit with 27 of those going to Henry alone.
» Wheat Kings coverage resumes in May prior to the WHL draft. » [email protected] » Twitter: @PerryBergson Advertisement Advertisement.
