The Brandon Wheat Kings are slowly preparing for their busiest weekend of the season so far. The team will play three games in three nights this upcoming weekend. Two of them will come on home ice at Westoba Place, and the weekend finale comes at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.
So far this season, the team has played two home-and-home sets with the Winnipeg ICE and Moose Jaw Warriors. The Wheat Kings started the season with a split against Winnipeg.
Over the weekend against Moose Jaw, Brandon wasn’t able to get anything going in a 5-0 loss on Friday night. On Saturday night, the club gave up a goal with just 44 seconds left as Moose Jaw completed the weekend sweep.
Jiri Patera has played in three of the team’s games, and he’s got a 3.35 GAA to go along with a .908 save percentage. He’s made 99 saves in all.
“We’re doing a lot of good things, but unfortunately, we’ve been on the wrong side of the scoreboard in three of the games,” said Darren Ritchie, general manager. “I think we’re really encouraged with how we’re playing and how we’re trying to play. We’re doing a lot of things the right way, and we just need to keep working on it.”
“I think it’s all about playing a full 60 minutes and being prepared at the very start,” he continued. “It doesn’t matter what the score is. We just need to play a full game and the rest will sort itself out.”
Prior to their first game against Winnipeg, the team announced that Connor Gutenberg is their 63rd captain in franchise history. The Brandonite is the last remaining Wheat King from their 2016 championship team. He’s playing his fifth and final WHL season.
Brandon’s assistant captains this season are Braden Schneider, Zach Wytinck, Luza Burzan, and Cole Reinhardt.
The five players have combined to play 931 games for Brandon during their careers.
“It’s a really good group. They bring a lot of years of experience to our team that will help the younger group follow in behind them,” added Ritchie. “They all work very hard day in and day out. They’re all very worthy of being in our leadership group, and I think they’ll do a great job.”
Four rookies remain on Brandon’s roster. Bode Hagan, Riley Ginnell, Jake Chiasson, and Nolan Ritchie have combined to go -8 so far. Ritchie is sixth on the team with eight shots. Neither player has managed to put up a point yet in their first full WHL season.
With only four games under their belt, Ritchie knows that will change.
“Our league is hard. Those guys are trying to find their way through everything, and I think that’s where our older guys will step up and help them a lot,” said Ritchie. “Every game is hard. These guys need to be well prepared, and they need to understand what the coaches want from them.”
As mentioned before, a very tough weekend is coming up for Brandon. On Friday, they’re on home ice against the Vancouver Giants. Many have Vancouver going deep in the WHL playoffs already, especially with the return of Bowen Byram. On Saturday, the very capable Edmonton Oil Kings pay a visit to Westoba Place.
On Sunday, the team makes the very rare Sunday night trip to Saskatoon which is about a six-hour drive. With still 64 games on their schedule, Ritchie sees this upcoming weekend as a beneficial one.
“Absolutely, I think the more games you play, the more you to get in a rhythm, and I believe that helps the players,” said Ritchie. “We have a tough weekend. It’s going to be a real challenge. It’s going to be really nice to play some games real close together so our players are challenged to be better than they were against Moose Jaw.”
“In junior hockey, you always want to get better week-to-week, and we are, but we’re just not seeing the victories,” he added. “We’re excited about the weekend and pushing forward.”
Luka Burzan leads the way offensively for Brandon which isn’t much of a surprise. After starting his season at NHL training camp, Burzan has racked up five points (3G) in four games. One of the goals came on Saturday night in the tight loss against Moose Jaw.
We all know that Luka will put up points and a lot of them at that, but are the Wheat Kings perhaps looking for something more from him?
“I think you’re always looking for more from everyone, and I know Luka is always wanting more,” said Ritchie. “We need Luka to be a leader and for him to be consistent. The same thing goes for our whole group. We’re happy with what Luka does for us every single night, and he’s going to be big in us winning games.”
Make sure you come back every Monday morning as I take a look at what’s coming up for the Brandon Wheat Kings. For now, it’s a few practices before a three-in-three, their first of the season.
