Brandon Wheat Kings

Gasper thrilled to become GM of Wheat Kings

 

There have been some significant changes to the Brandon Wheat Kings hockey staff over the past year.

First, Dave Lowry left the organization to become an assistant coach with the Winnipeg Jets.

That left the door open for Don MacGillivray to become the team’s new head coach and the longtime coach has done a tremendous job this season with Brandon as they sit atop the East Division with just three games left this season. The team also added assistant coach Todd Miller and video coach Daniel Johnston after the promotion of MacGillivray.

And now moving forward, the Wheat Kings will have a new general manager.

It was announced that Darren Ritchie has accepted an amateur scouting position with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

As a result, the team has promoted Doug Gasper as the team’s new GM.

“It’s certainly a huge honour for me. Brandon has always been a very historic and successful organization,” said Gasper, who will make the move to Brandon in the coming weeks. “To get this opportunity, I really appreciate it from Jared and the ownership group.”

Ritchie departs the Wheat Kings after spending the past 14 seasons with them as an assistant coach, director of scouting and most recently, as general manager. Prior to that, Darren played with the club from 1991-1995.

Gasper — from Rosetown, Saskatchewan — has been the assistant GM for Brandon since 2019. Prior to joining the Wheat Kings, Doug spent two years as an amateur scout with the Vancouver Canucks. From 2011-2017, Doug was a scout with the Moose Jaw Warriors, and two of the year’s he was the director of scouting.

Currently living in Saskatoon, Doug says the Wheat Kings have been a tremendous organization since day one and he’s looking forward to the new opportunity.

“Coming to Brandon was a huge draw when I left the NHL,” said Gasper. “The opportunity to work with Darren who is a great friend was a big draw. Everything about this organization is first-class.”

It would appear that Brandon has an extremely bright future. Rylen Roersma, Nate Danielson, and Tyson Zimmer, the team’s top three selections in the 2019 draft have combined for seven goals and 11 assists, with Danielson leading the way with 12 points.

Brett Hyland, a 2018 draft pick has three goals and six assists while Logen Hammett, Jaxon Dube, and Jacob Hoffrogge have all seen ice time this season.

“Our young guys have been playing well and our leaders are doing a great job,” said Gasper.

Ben McCartney leads the way with his 32 points and that’s only fewer than Peyton Krebs who leads the league with 41 points. Many are talking about how efficient Brandon’s offence has been and for good reason, the team’s 92 goals are the most in the WHL. Brandon has scored at least four goals in 13 contests this season and they have scored eight goals in a game on two separate occasions.

But as all hockey fans know, it takes more than just solid offence to have long-term success. A good back end and goaltending is required and that’s exactly what the Wheat Kings offer. Led by Braden Schneider on the back end, the Wheat Kings have held their opponents to just 51 goals, the best in the East Division.

Ethan Kruger directs traffic – April 4, 2021(Keith Hershmiller/WHL)

In net, both Ethan Kruger and Connor Ungar have been solid. In 14 games, Ethan is 11-2-1 with a 2.28 goals-against average to go along with a .914 save percentage. Ungar; meanwhile, is 5-1-1 with a 2.57 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.

As Rylan Thiessen said, this year’s Wheat Kings team wants a division title.

“We have a deep roster with a veteran defensive core,” ended Thiessen. “We come to play every night. We wear teams down with our speed and our hard work, it’s hard to handle us.”