The Wheat Kings don’t generally like to make excuses owing to their travel schedule, but every now and then you do feel the fact that they are the easternmost team in the WHL.
Case in point, over a three-day stretch the team went through roughly 24 full hours of bus travel (with a 90-ish minute ferry ride thrown in) to get from Brandon to Victoria, from the furthest east spot in the WHL to the furthest west. Thank goodness for off days, which the Wheat Kings are enjoying today before facing a strong Royals squad tomorrow.
The tight nature of the playoff race, and the clear statement of the team’s goal of claiming the East Division, can make even the shortest of losing streaks feel interminable. They’ve lost two in a row (nothing in the grand scheme of things) but each loss stung. And the games won’t get any easier.
Over the next two weeks, the Wheat Kings will use up several of their games in hand on the teams around them, including that Saskatoon Blades squad that sits unmoving atop the division, where they’ve sat since the opening month of the season. The run of opponents (and travel) will be difficult, but the Wheat Kings know full well the importance of making use of those games in hand.
It’s time to find out if what some observers refer to as the “B.C. Bump” is real.
- One player who hasn’t needed a bump (but who may very well get one playing in his home province) is defenseman Luke Shipley. He’s been leading the Wheat Kings in scoring over the month of January so far, and his hot streak stretches back further than that as he’s been consistently strong for the Wheat Kings since at least mid-December. I’m excited to see how he does playing not only in his home province but against his former Royals squad in the building he called home at the start of his WHL career. In recent weeks, more and more WHL players from the 2004 birth year have found homes for next season in the NCAA ranks. One has to think Shipley is up next, with 32 points in 37 games from the back end and consistently strong play in his own zone. If all goes according to schedule, he’ll play his 250th WHL game on this road trip as well.
- Another Wheat King approaching a milestone: Matteo Michels will play game 200 of his WHL career against the Victoria Royals. Who could’ve foreseen when the Wheat Kings acquired him just how valuable he would be for them in how many areas of the game? Well, to an extent Marty Murray, who has said from the beginning he sees in Michels all the tools necessary to be an elite two-way player in the WHL, but with Michels having recently equalled his career-high in points at 31, and done so while producing the overwhelming majority of his offense at even strength, he’s finding a gear that could almost be described as best-case scenario. And yet, there may still be more there. Michels was at one time leading the team in shots on goal, and his fire-from-everywhere mentality hasn’t been as present in recent games. His puck control, however, which has seen him regularly keep the puck on a string in the offensive zone, has jumped noticeably. Put those two together and you’ve got a scary mixture.
- Michels and Shipley will forever be linked by a trade tree that’s still growing, and one that’s paid dividends for both sides. I said of the Jordan Gavin/Merrek Arpin for Charlie Elick swap that it could be the kind of trade both teams win. If you want another example of that, look at the trade that brought Shipley and at the time Anthony Wilson to Brandon to begin with for Teydon Trembecky. Trembecky has blossomed this season with the Royals, already with over 20 goals on the season and seemingly destined to score 30+. But out of that deal, the Wheat Kings got their current leading scorer among defensemen in Shipley (and leader from last season too) and, eventually Michels as the Wheat Kings flipped Wilson to Regina for him one-for-one last November. Incidentally, I recently had a WHL executive tell me he liked the Michels for Wilson swap because both players immediately began to play better with their new teams. We tend to think of trades in terms of winners and losers. The nicest trades, especially when you consider the league’s goal is the development of individual players, are the ones where everyone can be said to have won in their own way.
- A note from the last game between the Wheat Kings and Calgary Hitmen. The Hitmen decided to load up this season, and I have to give them full credit, if you’re going to make a decision like that, it doesn’t pay to balk at the last second and leave yourself in no man’s land between the buyers and sellers. Calgary made their decision, stuck by it, and doubled down on it, and as a result they’ve got an impressive roster loaded with veterans (there are nine 2005-born players on the team and three of them are drafted, signed NHL picks). That game against that Hitmen squad was not the Wheat Kings’ finest, and they weren’t happy with a number of aspects of their game. And yet, despite not playing their best and being up against an excellent opponent in their building, the Wheat Kings were right there. The tying goal was there to be had in the third period. Now, the Wheat Kings don’t want to learn the wrong lesson from this. It’s not “hey, we can coast our way to close games even against good teams”. It’s more “when we play our best, what can we accomplish?” that should be the lesson here. They’ll get a couple of immediate opportunities to put that lesson into practice. The early part of their western road swing schedule is murderous.
- NHL Central Scouting released their mid-season lists today, including of course their North American skaters list, and there are four Wheat Kings on it: Roger McQueen, Carter Klippenstein, Jordan Gavin, and Joby Baumuller. In my experience, these lists are no guarantee of anything where the actual draft is concerned (teams make up their own minds, and some guys not on the list get drafted, some guys who are on the list do not) but it is nonetheless a positive for any player on there. It’s a very clear, very public message: NHL eyes are on you. What players do with that information is the important thing. Do you feel you’re too low? Good, use it as motivation. Are you highly touted? Good, keep improving. I will say the fact that the Wheat Kings have four skaters on the list is a very positive sign. And the fact that Roger McQueen’s name is still so high up the list (5th overall) is a big feather in his cap. He’s been injured for more than three quarters of the season so far, and yet scouts have seen enough from him to still love his game.
- Of the remaining three names on the list, the player who’s probably improved his standing the most this season has been Baumuller. Not a knock on Klippenstein or Gavin, but both of them were rated a little higher up the list than Joby when the very first list was released. At that time, you might recall Joby was in the W or Wildcard tier. Now, he’s on the official ranking. When he’s been at his best lately he’s been playing with a mixture of speed and physicality (and more than a little bit of snarl) that would be enticing to any team. As a run of difficult opponents continues for the Wheat Kings, they might need him to be a driving force on his line, and there have been moments where he’s been exactly that. Probably his best game this season came just eleven days ago against the Blades. His point totals have been steadily building and if he can keep that up, his offense along with his hard-nosed play will get him more firmly on NHL radars.
Off the ice, it’s been fun to be around the team on this trip. They’re a close-knit, respectful group, and it’s always fun to watch young players from the prairies who’ve never been out this far west before get their first taste of the ocean and mountains. I’m a prairie boy myself through and through, and I’m not immune to a little bit of a sense of wonder when I get to see mountain ranges, towering cliffs, fast flowing streams (at a time when the water back home is universally frozen solid), and the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, guys like Shipley who are from out this way and have been around the league a little more, watch their young teammates with knowing smiles. These trips are always a blast.
The journey to B.C. is, however, a business trip. The business won’t be easy, as no Eastern Division team has come out west and dominated yet this season, and that usually happens at least once (you might recall Moose Jaw swept their way through the United States last season). There are no true pushovers on this road swing. But the team is using up those oft-discussed games in hand. And if they want to catch the Blades and avoid the maelstrom in the middle of the Eastern Conference come playoff time, they need to make some of those games in hand tell.
