Moving from the Portland Metropolitan Area, with its population of about 2.5 million people, to Brandon, Manitoba with its population of just over 51,000, you could forgive Marcus Nguyen for needing a moment to adjust.
If that weren’t enough, Nguyen had played his entire WHL career in Portland to that point, so any kind of move was bound to require some getting used to. Thanks to his teammates, however, Nguyen adjusted almost immediately. He met many of them for the first time at the team’s annual golf tournament and spent hours upon hours with them away from the rink every week afterwards.
“In Portland, for example, from my house to another guy’s house it could be a 40-minute drive, an hour even if there’s traffic,” Nguyen said. “It’s a long way to go and that can make it hard to create that bonding. But here, every guy is down the street and you always get together and play some cards. I was fortunate to experience both sides of the league and couldn’t say enough good things about Brandon.”
On the ice, the Calgary native and 2004-born forward was brought in for an infusion of what head coach and GM Marty Murray referred to as “hard skill” and he upheld his end of the bargain. He set a new career high with 36 goals, and another with 65 points while being a pain to play against, and was one of only four Wheat Kings to play all 68 regular season games.
“I could’ve been better at times, although everyone says that,” Nguyen said. “I’m always willing to shoot for more, but overall I was happy with my year.”
Because Nguyen was one of the few players to suit up in every game, he became a source of stability. He also had a front row seat for the development of the younger players who needed to step up when key players went down with injuries.
“It was a really fun year,” said Nguyen. “We had a lot of young guys, a young team, so paving the way for them, showing them what the league was all about was a big thing for me. As a team, we grew a lot together, made some strides for sure. Our rookie d-men on the back end, those guys have three or four years together still.”
Nguyen and his fellow 20-year-olds are navigating a new hockey landscape in which the NCAA is available to them for the first time ever. And just as he did when he came to Brandon, Nguyen adapted to the new reality quickly and found himself a spot at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He became the first Wheat King in modern history to commit to an NCAA school when he did so.
“I look back now and I think about it, I’m very fortunate it happened,” he said. “A lot of 20-year-olds who aged out before me had to find their way through pro right out of the WHL and that’s hard, for sure. Having this new NCAA thing, I’m fortunate enough Nebraska-Omaha reached out… I think I’m going to have a great four years there. I’m really excited about it. College hockey is a whole different experience and I get to do my schooling, get my degree, all while playing the sport I love. It’s a great change.”
Nguyen scored his 100th career goal, picked up his 100th career assist, and naturally secured his 200th career point while with the Wheat Kings as well.
