Bergson: Career Wheat King Hyland Brings Fond Memories Home From Brandon
Article Courtesy Perry Bergson, Brandon Sun
Brett Hyland’s career with the Brandon Wheat Kings might be freshly over, but he’s already glimpsed his future memories.
The 21-year-old team captain from Edmonton, who chatted by phone after he joined the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears, said the off-ice stuff is No. 1.
“It’s going to be the bus trips we had and all the laughs on the bus and the music and the dance parties,” Hyland said with a laugh. “That’s going to be a big memory of mine. The hotel rooms and just bonding with the guys and getting to know everybody on an individual basis.
“It makes me sad right now. All the crap we had to go through over the years with travel and injuries and COVID, and there was still never a dull moment at the rink.
“It’s great memories all around. All of it.”
The five-foot-11, 194-pound Hyland was selected by Brandon with the 24th overall pick in the 2018 draft, which Brandon acquired as part of the blockbuster deal that sent defenceman Kale Clague to the Moose Jaw Warriors four months earlier.
When he was called up for three games during the 2019-20 season, former head coach Dave Lowry mistakenly called him Brent, which his teammates gleefully seized upon for a nickname.
Hyland made his debut in the Regina hub for the short spring season in 2021, living in a university dorm room with fellow rookie Jaxon Dube and veterans Ty Thorpe and Vincent Iorio.
“It’s a whole new world really, and you’re starting out at the bottom of the barrel,” Hyland said. “You’re a little shy. My rookie season was a lot different than other players. We had a 24-game season and were all staying in the same building and had three roommates.
“It didn’t take long to get comfortable with the team. We were all doing things together, but I still felt like a rookie going into my second season because the previous one I wouldn’t consider a full season.
“It’s hard. You put pressure on yourself to play well and get ice time, but even when you’re not on the ice you’re worried about what to say and how to act.”
Hyland said the veteran players did a great job of helping, with Iorio, Chad Nychuk and his billet brother Ethan Kruger among the players who went out of their way to help.
Three years later, Hyland said the hub was a great time.
“It’s definitely a good memory,” said Hyland, who noted he still talks to some of his former teammates about it.
“I think it’s crappy we had an excellent team and we would have won that year, but aside from that, we had a blast. I have to say, I’m going to miss that time. I’ll remember my entire life being around the guys all the time, making memories of them. We were all in the same position so we could bond over that.”
In 195 regular season games in the Western Hockey League, Hyland contributed 75 goals, 70 assists, 200 penalty minutes and a plus-minus of +10. In 10 career playoff games, he had a goal and five assists.
Hyland didn’t have to rebuild his game from 17 to 20: Instead, a bigger, more experienced player simply found ways to make more things happen on the ice.
“My size got better, my strength, which definitely helped with my game especially,” Hyland said. “I’d say I definitely got more confident as it went on. I knew I could score goals but the fundamental part of my game, which I would say was hard work and winning battles, didn’t change too much. It’s just I was able to do it better when I got stronger and had that maturity in my game.”
That was reflected in an odd statistic: He made gains in goals, assists and points in each of his four years in the league.
His fortitude certainly paid off. Near the end of his third season, Hyland was injured on Feb. 14, 2023 and had surgery on his knee on March 4.
He had just finished a workout at the gym on June 29, 2023 and was in his car preparing to drive home when he received a call from the Washington Capitals telling him they had picked him in the National Hockey League draft. The Capitals grabbed the injured Wheat Kings forward in the seventh round with the 200th overall pick.
He had another tough injury in his 20-year-old season, although it was much less impactful.
Hyland broke his nose when he suffered an ugly hit face-first into the boards in Swift Current on March 9. It meant he had to wear a full face shield for the rest of the season, and until the nose was fixed four days later, he couldn’t breathe very well.
At least he was living in what became his second home.
Hyland billeted with Ryan and Pam Boguski and their children, Marx, Beckett and Nixon, for the three full seasons he was in Brandon. It proved to be the perfect fit.
“Honestly, they were like a second family to me,” Hyland said. “We grew so close over the years. They were very good to me. They gave me my freedom and I got really close with the boys too. I’m going to miss them and I think they’ll miss me too.
“I’m for sure going to keep in touch with them for the rest of my life.”
He jokes he spent more time with the Boguskis than his own family.
That was also true of his teammates.
Hyland said he could have hung out one-on-one with every member of this season’s team. There were none of the cliques that have characterized some Wheat Kings teams in the past.
“I think this past season was what I felt was the closest group of guys we’ve had but it’s always been like that,” Hyland said. “In my first year, we would all do the same things, like play poker and cards and do everything together.
“I have so many funny stories about guys. I’ll be sitting alone and think of it and it will make me laugh sometimes. Those are the parts you’ll remember when you’re gone, not how you played or the scores of the games.”
Another nice memory was being named captain on Feb. 20 to replace Nate Danielson, who was traded at the WHL deadline five weeks earlier. It gave him a new responsibility for the last 13 regular season and four playoff games of his major junior career, and a new nickname, Cap.
“I was extremely honoured to represent the logo like that,” Hyland said. “It’s too bad we couldn’t have gone farther. That makes me a little sad and a little disappointed. I’m just really thankful for that opportunity.”
Hyland is proud he is one of those rare players who was drafted by the Wheat Kings, spent his entire career with the franchise and graduated as an overager. It’s a pretty exclusive club, and he’s grateful.
“I couldn’t imagine ever playing for another team,” Hyland said. “I loved the city of Brandon too much and playing for them to start my career and finish it out there was really special.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to play anywhere else. It never crossed my mind. I’m really thankful to the city of Brandon and all it did for me, and I’ll always have to try to make a trip back every year. “
He added, “I made a lot of friends and got to know a lot of people. I’m going to miss it.”