A crowded preseason battle for ice time up front and on the blueline got a little more crowded and a lot more skilled for the Brandon Wheat Kings last night.
After an appearance for their respective countries at the Five Nations tournament, forward Dominik Petr and defenseman Adam Belusko have both arrived in Brandon to join the team. Both players skated today.
“They were both playing hockey while they were gone so they should have their skating legs in hockey shape,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “Dom was here last year so that will help him a lot, he knows his billets and he has those relationships, where for Adam it’s his first go at being in North America. A lot of new situations pop up, so (getting adjusted) might take a little longer for him but the plan is for both of those guys to possibly play Sunday.”
Between now and Sunday, the two young players will get used to skating with some new teammates (or, in Belusko’s case, entirely new teammates). For Belusko, that’s just one of many adjustments to come.
“To get two or three practices under his belt, I mean he has all brand new gear today so it’s going to take a few days,” said Murray. “We’re letting him get acclimated and get used to his surroundings.”
To that end, the Wheat Kings aren’t asking Belusko to do anything he’s not capable of. The team didn’t bring him in with the goal of saving their blueline, just with the goal of contributing to it.
“We don’t need Adam to be anybody he’s not, we just hope he can solidify our top-four,” Murray said. “That’s the goal, just be himself. He doesn’t need to do anything special. Like all of our D, we need him to defend. We have a really deep forward group, we want them to defend, get the puck back and give it to the forwards.”
Puck drop on the first preseason game for the Wheat Kings is tomorrow night at 7:00.
