There are some people out there who might feel slightly guilty about being as happy as I am to be at hockey rink in August, especially during the hottest week of the month so far. I am not one of those people.
The long-awaited 2025-26 season is nearly upon us, and its first milestone, training camp, is well under way. There are almost more storylines here than any observer could chronicle. This time of year can leave us media types feeling ever so slightly spoiled.
As I write this, the second day of camp scrimmages is well underway and I’m already seeing firsthand how tough some of the decisions the Wheat Kings’ staff need to make will be. Coaches regularly tell players at these camps that no one here is a throwaway invite and everyone is here for a reason. This camp has been an excellent illustration of that.
While there are too many guys having great camps for me to compress it into a single blog, I’ll do my best to highlight some of the players who are making a case for themselves, whether for more ice time, a roster spot, or even a spot on the team’s list.
It’s 30 degrees and sunny outside, muggy and steaming hot. Ideal lake weather, most would say.
But for me, this is hockey season.
- You expect veterans to look good in training camp but, as I write this, Luke Mistelbacher has just scored his second goal of the game in his final scrimmage of camp. As much as you expect veterans to look good, he’s exceeded even those expectations. Perry Bergson of the Brandon Sun (who was also generous enough to supply me with some of his A+ photography for the weekend) watched Mistelbacher skate this weekend and said to me, “Doesn’t he look like he’s going to score about a million goals this season?” I’m hard pressed to argue. The hands, speed, and shot, are all there and, interestingly, he seems to be developing good chemistry with Jaxon Jacobson as well.
- Among veterans, it was Nicholas Johnson who led the way with five goals in three games in the camp scrimmages after the second day. Almost all of his goals involved a heavy shot and a lightning fast release, and he’s done something different with his skating as well because he’s notably quicker in tight areas and much more agile. Johnson had a productive camp last season as well, and roared out of the gate before the injury bug bit in the second game. If he can get off to a similar start and stay healthy, he could rip the scoresheet up in his 20-year-old year.
- Right behind Johnson among the vets was Joby Baumuller with four goals, and he and Jordan Gavin (who also scored in every game he played) piled up points together. Yet again, the chemistry is on full display. Their play-styles mesh so naturally and both, like Johnson, look to have gained a step this season. This is Gavin’s first camp with the Wheat Kings and having that opportunity to settle in is going to make life so much easier for him than it was when he had to adjust on the fly post-trade.
- I was hugely impressed with Adam Hlinsky on and off the ice through the first two days of camp. On the ice he’s poised, effective, and well rounded. His passes are on the tape, his skating is top notch, and he makes a lot of subtle but important plays. Off the ice, his English is excellent. I found out the reason for that when I spoke to him after his first game: not only did his dad graduate from the University of Michigan and frequently talk to Adam in English, he spent a lot of summers playing AAA hockey in Pittsburgh. He already looks like a great pickup by the Black and Gold.
- I have an extremely unscientific method of note-keeping at these camps: if a player does something I like, especially if it makes me look at my sheet and say “who was that?” I put a little tick mark next to his name. Naturally it’s an imperfect system (a veteran player has to do a lot more to get one of these little ticks than a rookie does) but it’s a way of reminding myself who stood out on any given day. The player with the most such tick marks next to his name after two days? Defenseman Ethan Young. I noticed him in every positive way a defenseman can be noticed, from his intelligent passes to his quick and efficient breakouts to some solid bodychecks. He might be the most improved player from last season in camp, and he’s got plenty of competition.
- I don’t know that I have enough space in any one of these blogs to talk about every player who impressed me, but I must say that Prabh Bhathal and Chase Surkan both look ready to put up some serious offense in their careers. Bhathal is bigger than last year, already 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, and has not only a wicked shot but impressive offensive creativity and a fearless style in front of the net. Surkan is quick and agile in every direction, gets his shot away on a dime, and puts passes right on the tape from everywhere on the ice. They both finished with four goals in three games and, like Baumuller and Gavin, seem to have perfectly meshed skillsets. These guys could terrorize the WHL together one day.
- I mentioned the leader in goals among veterans, but it wasn’t actually a veteran who led camp in goals. Tyler Magdalinski, a 2008-born camp invite, scored in every game he played and wrapped up his first round of games with a hat trick to finish with six goals in three contests. Some of them were quick wrist shots, some of them were hunting loose pucks near the net, and one of them may have gone in off his face, but the young man just consistently scored all camp long and never shrank back when the games started getting rough. Magdalinski played mostly in the JPHL last season (a relatively new AAA circuit that I am not as familiar with as I certainly would be with the CSSHL or Manitoba and Saskatchewan’s AAA ranks) and tore it up with 47 points in 27 games. There are still potentially two games for him to play in camp, the prospects game tomorrow and the Black and Gold game, and I hope he gets a longer look in one or both of them. I’m curious to know what the Wheat Kings have here.
- Training camps are always physical, but they take some time to get there. It’s almost as if players wait for permission to throw the first big hit, then someone tests the waters with a heavy check and next thing you know, it’s like everyone got the green light to lower the boom. This year, the player who seemed to give everyone else permission was camp invitee Carson Ralph, but by the end of camp I had eyes on Ralph for so much more than his physical play. The 2009-born Alberta product scored twice but also picked up three really pretty primary assists and played with jump in his step and a ton of speed right from puck drop. This is another player I’d love to see get a longer look. Oh, and if he does get that longer look it will almost certainly take more self-control than I have not to call him “Wreck-it Ralph”. His style of play suits that moniker just a little too well.
- Other players who stood out to me for consistent physical play were Max Lavoie (who came very much as advertised on that front), 2009-born blueliner Cohen Craig, and quite possibly the meanest blueliner in camp Noah Bonds. Bonds was a wrecking ball and feared no one, stepping up on everyone from 6-foot-6 Axel Gleasman on down. But if you want to crown the king of the weekend’s foray into physicality, you need look no further than Caleb Hadland. Not only did Hadland score four times as well, he was a one-man wrecking crew. Tellingly, he would throw the biggest hits at those he knew could handle it (Merrek Arpin was on the receiving end of one) or those who were willing to dish it out themselves. Hadland shapes up to be the leader of this team in so many ways this season.
Looking at my stats sheets, I have more notes on there already than I could possibly hope to cram into a single blog. Just about every player in camp did something to attract my attention at some point, and many of them did it multiple times (I haven’t even mentioned Levi Ellingsen yet, who looks like a future star on so many levels). But camp is not yet done. And the last two games of camp will tell us much more, after which two exhibition games against the Regina Pats will tell us more still.
We’re only just beginning to get answers to questions I know Wheat Kings fans have had all summer long. But the earliest of these answers are exciting to find, and I’m excited to find the rest as the season progresses.
