Right now, you could forgive the Brandon Wheat Kings for feeling like Sisyphus, the tragic figure of Greek mythology condemned to forever roll a boulder up a hill only to watch it slide back down to the bottom every time and have to start over again.
The top of the hill, in this case, is the top of the East Division. Several times this season, the Wheat Kings have been within striking distance of the division lead. But every time, whether it’s a rash of injuries, a loss of a critical game on a night where everyone around them seems to win, or some vexing combination of both, the boulder has rolled back on them.
The difference is, the Wheat Kings never seem to let the boulder roll back very far. They lost in overtime to the Saskatoon Blades, then watched as the Blades won a game on a night where they were idle, only to pull back within a single point of them again thanks to their win over the Swift Current Broncos. All that happened in the span of five days.
Now, the Wheat Kings sit just one point back of both the Blades and Prince Albert Raiders, with a game in hand on each. It’s not the games in hand that matter most for the Wheat Kings, however. They’ve got a bit of control over their own fate this week with games against both the Raiders and Blades on Monday and Tuesday.
Again, the ball-and-chain of injuries is weighing on the Wheat Kings. But they’ll never find a better time to push the boulder over the rim of that hill at last.
- Talking with Gio Pantelas, it’s clear right away he’s got a ton of respect for Luke Shipley. He told me that he hopes he can one day contribute in all facets of the game the way Shipley has for the Wheat Kings, and with Shipley out he’s had to do so earlier than expected. Both his coaches and his teammates have noted his confidence with the puck (Quinn Mantei described him as “poised and confident… calm under pressure”) and it shone through in his latest outing against the Swift Current Broncos. He channeled Shipley just a bit on his goal, pinching up at the right time to join the attack and immediately picking a corner. He finished plus-four on the night and if he can play like that even after Shipley returns, the right side on the Wheat Kings’ defense looks all the more solid both in the present and future. Shipley will be in the NCAA ranks next season, and Pantelas is playing right now, in his absence, where he will be looking to play next season as the top right-side defenseman on the team.
- I’ve said a few times this season that Adam Belusko deserves a ton of credit for learning not only a new system and new language and new customs in a new country but a new position as well. He’s finally had a run of games at his traditional spot on defense and his response has been to quietly put together a four-game point streak (the longest active streak on the team). The mantra from the Wheat Kings’ defense, and the objective, hasn’t changed all season long: get the puck into the hands of the forwards. It’s a simple, unspectacular role but when it’s done right the offense flows from a Wheat Kings’ forward group that still, even after all the injuries, has the depth to skate with anyone.
- Of course, once the puck gets into the hands of the forwards it’s their job to bury it and they fulfilled their job to the letter against the Swift Current Broncos, providing six of the seven goals. Before the game, head coach and GM Marty Murray challenged the line of Nicholas Johnson, Marcus Nguyen, and Nolan Flamand to be the best line on the ice during that game. On paper, that was no easy task, considering the Broncos have a line with Luke Mistelbacher on it and Mistelbacher sits third in the league in goals, and he plays with Brandon boy Clarke Caswell, who is already over the 60-point barrier. The result of Marty’s challenge to his top line? Every last one of them had not only a goal but a multi-point outing, with Nguyen leading the way with four points. The challenge doesn’t end just because the Broncos are in the rearview mirror, however. Last time the Wheat Kings played the Moose Jaw Warriors, that line was held completely off the scoresheet. Talking with Marcus Nguyen today, it sure sounds like that line is eager to get their own back this time around.
- The win over Swift Current kept a couple of strange statistics going for the Wheat Kings. Firstly, it continued a run in which they’ve been more successful on the road than at home. 14 of their 26 wins have come away from Westoba Place, and they’ve got the best road record in the East Division, second best in the Eastern Conference. By contrast, their home record is lagging behind where it was last season, when the Wheat Kings were all but invincible at Westoba Place. Ten of the last 18 games for the Wheat Kings will be at Westoba Place, so if there is any kind of mental block on home ice they’ll need to get over it. Then again, maybe they already are; they’re 2-0-1 in three home games since coming back from their B.C. trip.
- The other statistical oddity for the Wheat Kings: they’ve won six mid-week games (Tuesday or Wednesday) in a row, and their last loss in a mid-week game came on January 1 against the Broncos (aka Lake Diefenbaker Slough Sharks). This one is downright weird. I have no earthly explanation for it. The opponents in these games have been numerous and varied (two of those wins came in Kelowna and Kamloops) and it’s been a roughly even split between home and road games in that time. Again, I have no explanation for this. We want more Tuesday games, I guess? One hopes the pattern holds, as the Wheat Kings face the Prince Albert Raiders next Tuesday and that’s a must-win game.
- If the Wheat Kings are going into a must-win game against the Raiders, then they’ll want the anti-Raider Dominik Petr on their side and rolling offensively. He had a monkey-off-the-back moment in Swift Current with a quick shot off the rush, then demonstrated just how thoroughly over his scoring slump he was with a bullet of a shot in the early third period that proved to be the game-winner. Between him, Luke Shipley, and Dylan Ronald, the Wheat Kings seem to have those northern Saskatchewan swings well covered. As a side note, I was talking with Dylan Ronald before the game against the Blades about what makes him enjoy scoring on them in particular, and he responded with a smile and a shrug. After all, he’d love to score that way against everybody, right? Well, that night against the Blades he scored his fifth of the season and the team’s seventh shorthanded goal of the campaign. The way he is against the Blades, Petr is against the Raiders. There’s no accounting for that sort of thing sometimes.
- Speaking of shorthanded success, the Wheat Kings are in another statistically odd position on that front. They have seven shorthanded goals this season (one beyond last year’s total) and no one has more than one shorthanded goal. Marcus Nguyen, having a career year in terms of his goalscoring, had six shorties last season, and had the first for the Wheat Kings this time around, but he’s got just the one this season. The other shorthanded snipers are Nolan Flamand, Luke Shipley, Quinn Mantei, Caleb Hadland, Carter Klippenstein, and Ronald. The only Wheat King with two shorthanded goals this season is Jordan Gavin, and he scored both while with the Tri-City Americans.
I mentioned during the last blog that I was hopeful to see a big crowd at Westoba Place against the Saskatoon Blades, and the people of WestMan delivered. It was a full and loud house (thanks in no small part to the Tournament of Champions) and by all accounts it will be again on Saturday night against Moose Jaw. The energy of that crowd made the third period against the Blades an absolute treat to call. And as any player will tell you, it makes it more fun to play in too.
As if they playoff-type games of this time of year weren’t fun enough, it looks like the Wheat City is bringing playoff-style crowds to the table too.
