Gio Pantelas just keeps on hitting all the benchmarks for a top prospect.
The 2008-born blueliner, eligible for the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, has returned to the Brandon Wheat Kings after playing two games with Team CHL against the United States National Team Development Program. Inclusion on that team is yet another sign that the Victoria native is firmly on scouts’ radars and poised to hear his name called early in the draft.
“It was a great experience,” Pantelas said. “Obviously very few players get to go there and I was fortunate enough to be chosen. I was really happy with how everything went. I’m just excited for the next guys who get to go there next year. They have a lot to live up to.”
“I thought he represented himself well,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “Playing with seven ‘D’ it’s kind of hard to get some flow and consistent partners but it was the best prospects for the NHL draft and I thought he fit in just fine.”
That’s no small compliment considering the pace of play on display in those two games. The NTDP are comprised of most of the top prospects from across the United States (though not all; JP Hurlbert represented Team CHL as a member of the Kamloops Blazers) and with the best of the CHL opposing them, the game was played at breakneck speed.
“If anything, it (the pace) exceeded my expectations,” Pantelas said. “It was a very quick game, very fast, everything, even the back-checking, and if anything I’d say the pace even improved… As the years keep going on, the top levels keep shrinking lower and lower, and I’m just happy to be part of that group.”
In what has become very much the fashion for him, Pantelas was modest about his own inclusion on the team and his own place on the roster. Recognizing the skill level of those around him, he went in with a mindset to learn from them.
“They can all do things that I really couldn’t dream of doing but I’m hoping I can just learn a few things that they did,” he said. “Watching everyone else do their thing, I’m hoping I can take some of that into my game and see if that can help improve me overall, especially offensively.”
It’s no surprise Pantelas is hunting the next step forward in his game; progress, as they say, is addictive, and Pantelas has already made a ton of it this season. Upon his return to the lineup he was visibly more confident against a tough Prince Albert Raiders opponent, and that stemmed not only from his time with Team CHL but from the last game he and the Wheat Kings played before he left (a tight-checking 3-2 win over the Blades in Saskatoon).
“We can take what we did against the Blades, we were hard working, competitive everywhere, and playing the right way, really/,” Pantelas said. “If we keep doing that throughout the year, we could be a really, really dangerous team to play against.”
Pantelas and the Wheat Kings get a rematch with the Blades tomorrow night on home ice. Puck drop is 7:00.
