[{"id":47100,"date":"2026-05-14T10:43:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47100"},"modified":"2026-05-14T10:45:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:45:52","slug":"rob-mahon-sits-down-with-18th-overall-pick-rylan-edwards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/video\/rob-mahon-sits-down-with-18th-overall-pick-rylan-edwards","title":{"rendered":"Rob Mahon sits down with 18th overall pick Rylan Edwards"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--WP embed code replace Video object - Brid Ver.3.8.9 --><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><div id=\"Brid_78849685\" class=\"brid\" style=\"width: 1200; height: 675;\"><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> $bp(\"Brid_78849685\", {\"id\":\"47904\", \"stats\":{\"wps\":1}, \"video\": {\"src\": \"https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/05\/14104139\/video1534552262.mp4\", name: \"Rob Mahon sits down with 18th overall pick Rylan Edwards\", image:\"https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/05\/14104334\/Pick-1.png\"}, \"width\":\"1200\", \"height\":\"675\"});<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","category-266","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/05\/14104334\/Pick-1.png",1080,1350,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":[[{"file":"https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/05\/14104139\/video1534552262.mp4"}]],"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47096,"date":"2026-05-14T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47096"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:53:10","slug":"malbasa-works-hard-to-pay-a-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/malbasa-works-hard-to-pay-a-debt","title":{"rendered":"Malbasa works hard to pay a debt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>BY PERRY BERGSON<br \/>\nBRANDON SUN<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Marko Malbasa won\u2019t just be playing for himself when he suits up for the Brandon Wheat Kings one day.<\/p>\n<p>The 14-year-old defenceman, who turns 15 on Saturday, was grabbed by Brandon in the second round with the 42nd overall pick in the annual Western Hockey League draft last Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Now he\u2019s determined to pay back his parents Mat and Nelia for all they did to put him in a position to succeed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll the sacrifices they made motivated me to make the best of what I was doing,\u201d said Malbasa, who has an older brother, Mateo. \u201cThe end goal is to play at the highest level that I possibly can and it starts here now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Malbasa is from near Winnipeg in St. Andrews. He began to skate around age five when his father got him into it, and he started to play a year later.<\/p>\n<p>He skated up front until he was eight, and in his first year of spring hockey, dropped back to the blue-line. It proved to be a popular decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou get more ice time because we were running four D only back when we were younger so I liked being out there a little more than others,\u201d Malbasa said.<\/p>\n<p>When he was younger, Malbasa also played soccer and baseball but set both aside. Now he golfs and also played ball hockey for Team Manitoba last summer.<\/p>\n<p>A common refrain from ice hockey players who try ball hockey is they lose the ability to glide. That means their feet have to always be in motion to move, which isn\u2019t the case in skates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou need great conditioning for that,\u201d Malbasa said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very tough sport. I\u2019d say it\u2019s almost harder than hockey, minus the skating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the ice will always be No. 1, and that starts close to home.<\/p>\n<p>He said his parents have done everything they could to help him succeed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve obviously spent time driving me to practices and games and taking extra days off work just to take me to tournaments and stuff like that,\u201d Malbasa said. \u201cAnd all the money they\u2019ve spent on me to send me to Rink, and especially my grandparents, they\u2019ve also taken lots of time to drive me to practices and games.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The drive to one day be a junior player came from a number of sources.<\/p>\n<p>His father played games with the WHL for the Moose Jaw Warriors and Regina Pats, but spent most of his junior career in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. In addition, his cousin\u2019s boyfriend is former Wheat Kings forward Dawson Pasternak.<\/p>\n<p>The youngster also went to quite a few Winnipeg Ice games prior to the franchise\u2019s move to Wenatchee, and he was friends with Conor Geekie\u2019s billet family, so he would go to their house and see him.<\/p>\n<p>That also gave him some insight into what was coming.<\/p>\n<p>Since he was in his major U15 season and playing with a high-end program in Rink Hockey Academy Winnipeg\u2019s U15 prep squad, he knew the scouts were out there. Fortunately, he intuitively understood he couldn\u2019t be thinking about them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just blocked it out and played my game and kept it simple out there,\u201d Malbasa said. \u201cI didn\u2019t worry about what\u2019s outside the glass and kept my mind between the glass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The six-foot-one, 155-pound defenceman showed a mixture of offensive ability with 31 points and sandpaper with 56 penalty minutes.<\/p>\n<p>He also served 10 minutes in the penalty box in a pair of callups to the U18 squad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was pretty happy,\u201d Malbasa said of his season, which ended when they lost all three games in the playoffs. \u201cOur team progressed over the year and I thought the way things ended was kind of unfortunate but it was a fun year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After that, it would have been natural for his thoughts to turn to his future WHL destination. On draft day, he was in class with some of his Rink teammates monitoring their phones, and when his name was called, all the RHA guys came over to congratulate him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was pretty awesome,\u201d Malbasa said. \u201cYou dream of those moments and to finally see it happen is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy parents and grandparents and pretty much all my family is happy with it,\u201d he added. \u201cThey can come out to games and were pretty pumped.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So were the Wheat Kings.<\/p>\n<p>Director of hockey operations Chris Moulton said the team had Malbasa ranked as the best player in Manitoba and they were thrilled to get him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarko is just a well-rounded guy,\u201d Moulton said on draft day. \u201cHe can play with some skill, he can play with physicality. He\u2019s engaged, he moves the puck, he transitions the puck well, he defends well, he will be a top-two defencemen in our league at some point. He has the ability to play in every situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Malbasa said on his best nights, there are certain things to watch for.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou would see me take control of the game, always playing physical and finishing every check,\u201d Malbasa said. \u201cI\u2019ll be playing defence first and jumping up into the play, making hard first passes, making smart plays and quick decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, he understands he\u2019s a long way from the finished product. That\u2019s why his to-do list is just as long.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight now it\u2019s definitely getting quicker with my first three strides,\u201d Malbasa said. \u201cIt\u2019s a high pace at the next level and I\u2019m just trying to prepare myself. Also, it\u2019s just getting stronger in general in the gym and putting on weight because everybody is bigger and stronger at the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He is planning to skate with the U18 prep at RHA Winnipeg next winter, noting it will be nice to have the draft pressure off and just be able to play.<\/p>\n<p>But before he begins his next prep season, he has his first Wheat Kings camp ahead of him in August. He has been in Brandon many times in the past, but this visit will be different.<\/p>\n<p>Malbasa hasn\u2019t played with any other members of this Wheat Kings draft class, but has skated against a number of the 2026 and 2025 players who were selected by the club, so it will be nothing but fresh faces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m very excited to see everybody and make new friends and new connections with other people,\u201d Malbasa said. \u201cIt will be exciting to meet the coaching staff and see what how everything is going to lay out for me when I get there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY PERRY BERGSON BRANDON SUN Marko Malbasa won\u2019t just be playing for himself when he suits up for the Brandon Wheat Kings one day. The 14-year-old defenceman, who turns 15 on Saturday, was grabbed by Brandon in the second round with the 42nd overall pick in the annual Western Hockey League draft last Thursday. Now&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47097,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-265","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/05\/13125217\/IMG_1188-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47094,"date":"2026-05-13T12:50:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47094"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:50:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:50:58","slug":"edwards-eager-to-make-next-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/edwards-eager-to-make-next-step","title":{"rendered":"Edwards eager to make next step"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>BY PERRY BERGSON<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>BRANDON SUN<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The path Rylan Edwards took to the Brandon Wheat Kings started with a short walk from his house.<\/p>\n<p>The 15-year-old forward, who Brandon took with the 18th overall pick of the Western Hockey League draft on Wednesday, was on the ice by age two and playing a year later.<\/p>\n<p>It came with the support of father Troy, mother Joely and older brothers Ethan and Logan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy dad brought me into hockey,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cHe built me a rink right beside our house and flooded it every winter, and during the summer I shot pucks out there every day. That was awesome.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mom spent lots of time driving me to rinks, watching practices, just supporting me in everything I do. It\u2019s helped me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Edwards, who was born in Medicine Hat but grew up in Regina, comes by his talent for the game honestly.<\/p>\n<p>His father played a pair of games with the Regina Pats during the 1983-84 campaign and then spent three seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors. After playing games in the American and International hockey leagues, he skated for two seasons with the University of Regina Cougars.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Rylan\u2019s cousin, Matthew, played with the Vancouver Giants and Spokane Chiefs for three seasons before he finished his junior career in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, while cousin Colby Williams skated for four seasons with his hometown Regina Pats.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, he was raised in a WHL city, so the league means a lot to him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGrowing up watching the Regina Pats, you always dream about playing there,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI\u2019m super honoured to get selected by Brandon. It\u2019s a great organization and I\u2019m super excited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Edwards who was always a forward, was into a variety of sports growing up, from soccer and football to baseball and golf.<\/p>\n<p>After a pair of seasons with the Regina Aces under-15 AA team \u2014 Saskatchewan doesn\u2019t have AAA at the U15 level \u2014 he made the decision to head west after putting up 72 points in 27 games as a minor during the 2024-25 campaign.<\/p>\n<p>It was a season of transition for the teenager, who was moving from Saskatchewan to Alberta to play with the highly touted Northern Alberta Xtreme program. The NAX academy operates in Devon, a short drive southwest of Edmonton.<\/p>\n<p>To further complicate matters, former Wheat Kings defenceman Ayrton Nikkel took over as head coach just before the season from Adam Stuart, who moved into the U18 job at Edge in Calgary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the start, it was hard coming into a new town and you don\u2019t really know anyone on the team or the coaches, new school,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cOur coach actually left right before the season so it was a completely new coach and that was hard. We had adversity and the coach didn\u2019t know who you were so you had to battle for ice and PP and work in practice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat made me a better player.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 28 games with the NAX U15 prep squad, the five-foot-six, 145-pound forward had 17 goals and 26 assists, with 10 penalty minutes. The right-handed shot then added eight points in four playoff games.<\/p>\n<p>He also scored once in three games as a callup to the NAX U18 team, which contained Wheat Kings prospects Cruz Jim, Ahmad Fayad and Levi Ellingsen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI played a couple of games with the U18 team,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cThey\u2019re awesome, they\u2019re great kids. They were super inclusive to me when I came up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Canadian Sport School Hockey League has become an increasingly important source of players in recent years. Fourteen of the 23 picks in the first round were prep players, with three from the NAX U15 squad alone.<\/p>\n<p>That means a lot of eyes were on him all season, although the teenager said he was able to put the scouts out of his mind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just tried to put it to the side and play my game and not worry about it too much,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI just tried to focus on the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That changed on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Edwards had just been down in Philadelphia at the 15U World Selects Invitational, a prestigious annual event that draws the top players in the age group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe flew in and got home at 2 o\u2019clock,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cWe had some food and got ready and sat by the TV. We obviously didn\u2019t know if I was going to go but we were hoping. On the TV, we saw my name after I got picked and were super excited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brandon actually traded down and still got the same guy.<\/p>\n<p>The Wheat Kings sent a fifth-round pick, 102nd overall, and the 15th pick in the first round to the Saskatoon Blades to acquire the 18th overall pick and the 67th overall pick. Brandon didn\u2019t have a third-round pick because it was included in the deal a year ago that saw defenceman Charlie Elick sent to the Tri-City Americans for forward Jordan Gavin and defenceman Merrek Arpin.<\/p>\n<p>Edwards interviewed with Brandon during the winter but noted teams keep their cards pretty close to their chests, calling it a little bit of a surprise when they took him. But that didn\u2019t diminish his excitement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was the first one to see it,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI was on the WHL website and saw I just got selected by Brandon. I jumped up, my parents were super excited. I was in shock for a bit but super pumped and super honoured to be select by Brandon. it\u2019s a great organization and I can\u2019t wait to play for Marty and the rest of the staff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His friends and a number of Brandon veterans reached out to congratulate him after the pick was announced.<\/p>\n<p>He doesn\u2019t know any of the other Brandon draftees personally but had a number of friends and teammates selected around the league.<\/p>\n<p>Edwards is staying home next winter, choosing to skate with the powerhouse Regina Pat Canadians, who have won bronze and gold at the Telus Cup the last two years.<\/p>\n<p>Two Wheaties prospects played there this year, defencemen Ethan Young and Logan Dosenberger, while Wheat Kings rookie forward Chase Surkan played there the year before. Edwards knows all three, and will also have the three NAX guys at camp when he arrives in August.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cJust to add a few familiar people is going to be good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He has been through Brandon over the years but is now very keen to make his next trip to the Wheat City. Other players have told him about the facilities, including the remodelled dressing room, and he is eager to set foot in the facilities and see them for himself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m super excited,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cThey told me about it on the phone and I\u2019ve seen some photos and it looks awesome. I\u2019m super pumped. I can\u2019t wait to get there and meet the boys at camp. I\u2019m super pumped.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No doubt Brandon\u2019s staff is too. Brandon Wheat Kings director of hockey operations Chris Moulton, who led at the draft table, said Edwards combines skill with an incredible tenacity.<\/p>\n<p>Edwards agrees with that assessment, saying there are things to watch for when he\u2019s having a good night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a highly offensive player who likes to control the game and play with lots of pace,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI\u2019m super competitive, winning all my battles, making sure I\u2019m supporting my teammates on the bench and playing at the top of my level. I\u2019m playing with lots of pace and making good plays and scoring lots of goals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, he knows he\u2019s far from being the finished product. Edwards has a number of skills he\u2019s trying to improve.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like to nitpick on stuff,\u201d Edwards admitted. \u201cI have to work on my defensive zone, and this summer we\u2019re getting a couple of guys here to go over film with me and give me tips in the defensive zone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously I want to work on my backtracking, and nitpick at everything else, like my skating, work a lot on my shot just to get an elite-level shot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If Edwards can accomplish all that, he\u2019ll be ready sooner rather than later to make the jump to major junior. And even though he\u2019s happy he\u2019s been picked, he understands he can\u2019t rest on his laurels now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an honour,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI worked super hard growing up and this past year I worked hard, and I\u2019m just super excited I got drafted to Brandon, a great organization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe work doesn\u2019t stop. It actually starts here and now I have to prepare myself to have a great year in U18 and hopefully play with Brandon as a 16 year old.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an annual Brandon Sun tradition, all the players newly drafted by the Wheat Kings will be profiled over the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY PERRY BERGSON BRANDON SUN &nbsp; The path Rylan Edwards took to the Brandon Wheat Kings started with a short walk from his house. The 15-year-old forward, who Brandon took with the 18th overall pick of the Western Hockey League draft on Wednesday, was on the ice by age two and playing a year later.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-265","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/05\/13125033\/IMG_3327-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47089,"date":"2026-05-08T09:29:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47089"},"modified":"2026-05-08T11:31:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T16:31:19","slug":"day-2-draft-review-with-director-of-hockey-ops-chris-moulton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/video\/day-2-draft-review-with-director-of-hockey-ops-chris-moulton","title":{"rendered":"Pick by Pick: Introducing the eight players the Wheat Kings selected on day two of the draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--WP embed code replace Video object - Brid Ver.3.8.9 --><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><div id=\"Brid_78849685\" class=\"brid\" style=\"width: 1200; height: 675;\"><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> $bp(\"Brid_78849685\", {\"id\":\"47904\", \"stats\":{\"wps\":1}, \"video\": {\"src\": \"https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/05\/08092739\/Round2Interview_1.mp4\", name: \"Pick by Pick: Introducing the eight players the Wheat Kings selected on day two of the draft\", image:\"https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/05\/08093035\/Sequence-01.00_08_12_39.Still001.jpg\"}, \"width\":\"1200\", \"height\":\"675\"});<\/script>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>BY ROB MAHON<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>QCountry<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Two straight days of zoom meetings, phone calls, anticipation, deliberation, and debate netted the Brandon Wheat Kings nine young players who they hope will one day be cornerstones of their organization. And they\u2019re feeling pleased with the cornerstones they picked up.<\/p>\n<p>After a s<a href=\"https:\/\/qcountryfm.ca\/2026\/05\/06\/32087\/\">uccessful first day of the draft<\/a>\u00a0(in which they traded back three spots and selected Rylan Edwards, the player they\u2019d originally wanted three spots earlier), the Wheat Kings picked eight players on day two. They selected forwards and defensemen from Minnesota to Maple Ridge over the course of roughly five and a half hours.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a little insane, to be honest,\u201d said Wheat Kings director of hockey operations\u00a0<strong>Chris Moulton<\/strong>. \u201cIt was so different from every other draft. I\u2019ve done this for 30 years and it\u2019s the first time we\u2019ve combined drafts. There were a lot of parts that were different. But it was super fun. It always ends the same way, where you walk away pretty happy with the guys you got. It\u2019s a long year, and a long day, but a good day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are a wide variety of skillsets represented by the nine players the Wheat Kings ultimately took, but one common thread runs through the nine of them: compete level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have some guys that are 5-foot-10 or 11, they\u2019re not the really big guys but they\u2019re always competitive,\u201d said Moulton. \u201cOur whole group are competitive guys that like to push and go to tough areas. We definitely had a range of guys.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For these nine players and so many others, the day was one of celebration, but there are countless players who didn\u2019t hear their names called for whom the hopeful day may have carried a bitter note. From his years of experience, Moulton offered one piece of advice for those players who did not get drafted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just the start,\u201d Moulton said. \u201cTons of guys get listed, tons of guys come to the Western Hockey League late. The year we won the Memorial Cup with Spokane we had six undrafted players, including our starting goaltender who played in the NHL. You don\u2019t get drafted then you just work harder and keep doing the things you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With that said, Moulton helped us introduce you to the eight players the Wheat Kings took on day two.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Marko Malbasa: Defenseman, 2nd round, 42nd overall.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A 6-foot-1, 165 defenseman from St. Andrews, Malbasa was the captain of RHA Winnipeg and posted 31 points in 30 games last season. He\u2019s been very consistent at the CSSHL level, as he posted 26 points in 33 games the year before.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Moulton: \u201cSuper well-rounded guy. We were talking about him at 18th overall, and we were lucky. It always kind of works out that way, you get some breaks and some kicks in the teeth when it comes to selections. This guy we wanted early. He\u2019s a well-rounded guy that can play the skilled game, can play hard, he competes, he pushes back, and he\u2019s a team leader, his coaches love him and his teammates love him. Being a Manitoba kid from just down the street and a great player, it\u2019s just an unbelievable fit for what we\u2019re trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mason Corkish: Forward, 3rd round, 67th overall\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The brother of WHLer Owen, Mason has spent two years in the 14U AAA system in Minnesota (the American equivalent of U15). Most recently, in 2025-26, he posted 16 points in just 11 games with the Minnesota Moose.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Moulton: \u201cGreat player. We had a history with his brother, had Owen up at camp for a couple of years and got to know Mom and Dad really well, such a super family. Owen ended up getting listed by Prince Albert and playing there which was hard for us but great for that young man. There\u2019s a comfort there that makes picking an American even easier. We loved the kid, our American scouts loved him. He can compete, he can score, he\u2019s big and strong, not a huge guy but he plays heavy on the puck. An easy pick for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Austin Rideout: Forward, 5th round, 105th overall<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A player with solid size (5\u201911, 174 pounds) and offensive touch (28 points in 29 games played), Rideout was a member of OHA Edmonton this past season in the CSSHL Prep ranks. He scored three goals in three playoff games for OHA as well, but points are only one part of the package here.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Moulton: \u201cAustin is one of the meanest players I\u2019ve seen this year. He not only has some skill and can skate, he likes to engage physically. He like to get involved and likes to be hard to play against. I love the way he plays the game and I\u2019m ecstatic to have a guy like that going into future seasons in a very tough Eastern Conference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nate Harrington: Defenseman, 6th round, 130th overall<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A fast-riser who went from U15 AA in 2024-25 to a full-timer with OHA Edmonton in 2025-26, Harrington stands 5-foot-11 and posted eight goals and 24 points in 30 games this past season. He also joined the U17 team for four games and collected his first goal.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Moulton: \u201cNate was great. We\u2019ve had him on the radar all year, we thought he had a really good second half. We really liked him at the end of the season, and then at the Alberta Cup he was exceptional. Very well-rounded guy, great puck transition guy, moves the puck up the ice, has good gap control. One of the guys that plays the game the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lachlan Kisio: Forward, 7th Round, 153rd overall<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A player with plenty of family connections to the game (including his uncle Brent, a longtime coach including at the WHL level and his grandfather Kelly, who played 13 years in the NHL), Kisio battled back from injury this season with Edge Prep in Calgary. He posted 10 points in 16 regular season games, but showed just how much progress he\u2019d made in the playoffs with four goals and six points in five games.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Moulton: \u201cHe\u2019s just figuring it out. He\u2019s really on the incline in his game. He was banged up this year but he came back and had a really good, strong second half. The best part about Lachlan is he finds holes to put himself in position to score. He\u2019s got a great release, and obviously with the Kisio family, he\u2019s got a lot of people in his family that played the game and know how to play the game the right way and know what it takes. He had a great second half, and he\u2019s on the incline. We wanted to grab him while he\u2019s on that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lucas Seidel: Defenseman, 8th round, 176th overall<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Seidel played for an always-strong Red Deer AAA Rebels team and made the most of his first season in U15 after playing the previous season in the JPHL. He netted 32 points in 31 games, followed that up with six points in nine playoff games, and put himself on the map with his puck skills.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Moulton: \u201cIntelligent puck mover. He\u2019s fun to watch. He goes tape-to-tape, he\u2019s evasive, he\u2019s slick with the puck, he creates offense from the back end, he\u2019s a treat to watch. I\u2019m a big fan. We love the way he played. He played on a very strong team and he was surrounded by good players that made him better but he also made them better. He\u2019s a puck guy that does really good things creatively.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kasen Nuttall: Goaltender, 9th round, 193rd overall<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The only goaltender the Wheat Kings selected in this year\u2019s draft, Nuttall already boasts some size at six feet tall, but far more impressive are his sterling results with the Calgary Northstars: in 19 games he posted a 2.66 GAA and an eye-popping .931 save percentage. In his only playoff start, he did everything he could to keep his team in it, posting a .953 save percentage.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Moulton: \u201cA steady guy. Every time we watched him play, he kept his team in games. His team was a good team, but his goaltending made them better I thought. Kasen was one of those guys when you went there, you always walked away thinking he\u2019d made the saves he had to make but he also made some saves that kept his team in games. We\u2019ve liked him all along, and we have a couple of guys on our staff that take some pride in knowing their goaltenders. \u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wyatt Lowther: Forward, 9th round, 198th overall<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For their final pick of the day, the Wheat Kings went the furthest west of any of their picks to Maple Ridge\u2019s own Wyatt Lowther, who played with the Burnaby Winter Club\u2019s U15 prep team. With 33 points in 30 games played, he showed some offensive chops while playing a complete game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cComplete, just a complete guy. He can score, he can bring some offense, but he\u2019s never afraid to go into traffic, never afraid to finish a check, never afraid to get in on defensemen on the forecheck. He played on a good team, he played in a good league, and one of those guys that maybe should\u2019ve been a little bit higher. We were ecstatic to get him. Our basic premise of our group this year is we wanted guys that will compete every night and aren\u2019t afraid to push back. He\u2019s exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; BY ROB MAHON QCountry Two straight days of zoom meetings, phone calls, anticipation, deliberation, and debate netted the Brandon Wheat Kings nine young players who they hope will one day be cornerstones of their organization. And they\u2019re feeling pleased with the cornerstones they picked up. After a successful first day of the draft\u00a0(in which&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","category-266","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/05\/08093035\/Sequence-01.00_08_12_39.Still001.jpg",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":[[{"file":"https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/05\/08092739\/Round2Interview_1.mp4"}]],"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47086,"date":"2026-05-05T17:00:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T22:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47086"},"modified":"2026-05-05T15:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:36:07","slug":"wheat-kings-enter-new-look-prospects-draft-in-position-of-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/wheat-kings-enter-new-look-prospects-draft-in-position-of-strength","title":{"rendered":"Wheat Kings enter new-look prospects draft in position of strength"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"content-header template-image_above\">\n<div class=\"feature-info\">\n<div class=\"ch-detail text-sm\"><em><strong><span class=\"sc-author\">By Rob Mahon<br \/>\nQ COUNTRY<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"sc-sidebar-wrapper  sidebar-align-right\" data-hascontent=\"true\">\n<div class=\"sc-content\">\n<article class=\"mainArticle\">If you\u2019ve ever wondered how excited scouts and management groups get for events like the WHL Prospects Draft, many scouts will refer to the draft as everything from their Super Bowl to Christmas Day.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s no different in the Brandon Wheat Kings office, where Director of Hockey Operations Chris Moulton and Head Coach and GM Marty Murray preside over a mountain of scouting reports and a bevy of screens connecting them to members of their staff across the hockey world. Draft day is quite a production, as befits the culmination of so much work, but it can also be a fun day as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re in the rinks from September to April, enduring good rinks and bad rinks, cold rinks and warm rinks, all that work comes to fruition over two days,\u201d Moulton said. \u201cAll the work gets us to where we want to be, and all the kids we\u2019ve liked, we get to pick seven to ten of them and that\u2019s always exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The draft will be split into two days once again, with the first round of the draft taking place on the night of Wednesday, May 6 and the remaining rounds beginning at 11:00 AM the following day. The Wheat Kings hold the 15th overall pick in the first round.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody has a judgement early and a judgement late, and usually everybody gets players they like,\u201d said Moulton. \u201cOn the top end of the draft, there are a lot of good players. I would say there might not be the depth on the back end, but the exciting part is just seeing what arises, and this year will be different than others. We\u2019re excited for what will happen early.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps a draft with no standout strengths at any one position is just the thing for the Wheat Kings, whose prospect pool excelled at all positions this past season. Up front, a long string of young forwards put together impressive seasons, while on defense the Wheat Kings had numerous players up for league awards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to go for the best player available,\u201d Moulton said. \u201cWe feel we have an even amount of depth in our prospect pool, both at forward and on defense, and even goaltending. We\u2019re going to take best player as much as we can. We\u2019ll have to have a balance, but going into the draft, there\u2019s no specific area of need other than adding the best players possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThree of our defensemen, two won the defenseman of the year for their league and one was a finalist,\u201d he added. \u201cThe numbers some of our forward prospects put up, we\u2019re grateful that the kids are doing their part. We\u2019re excited and proud that we have a bright future in the immediate future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s prospects draft does promise to be different in some ways outside of the players being selected. First and foremost, the U.S. Priority Selection (which netted the Wheat Kings Levi Ellingsen first overall last year) is no longer taking place. The U.S. and prospects drafts have merged into one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t know how good we had it when we won it (the U.S. lottery) last year,\u201d Moulton said. \u201cWe knew we\u2019d gotten someone special moving forward, but man is it ever crazy to think we won a lottery and got the best player for us and now this year they\u2019ve combined them, so no more American draft. They\u2019re thrown right in with the Western Canadian kids. There are some teams that will utilize that more than others, that\u2019s fine too. Our biggest thing is we\u2019re going to take the best players.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moulton added that while the first round and the remaining rounds being split up makes for good publicity for the league and makes it easier to turn the draft into a more widely viewed event, it doesn\u2019t change his job too much once the draft begins.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Rob Mahon Q COUNTRY If you\u2019ve ever wondered how excited scouts and management groups get for events like the WHL Prospects Draft, many scouts will refer to the draft as everything from their Super Bowl to Christmas Day. That\u2019s no different in the Brandon Wheat Kings office, where Director of Hockey Operations Chris Moulton&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-265","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/05\/05153547\/chris-moulton-brandon-wheat-kings.jpg",800,600,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47084,"date":"2026-05-05T10:11:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T15:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47084"},"modified":"2026-05-05T10:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T15:11:17","slug":"whl-draft-day-eve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/whl-draft-day-eve","title":{"rendered":"WHL Draft Day Eve"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Wheat Kings have 15 draft spots in this years 2026 WHL draft.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pick 15<\/li>\n<li>Pick 42<\/li>\n<li>Pick 102<\/li>\n<li>Pick 105<\/li>\n<li>Pick 130<\/li>\n<li>Pick 153<\/li>\n<li>Pick 176<\/li>\n<li>Pick 193<\/li>\n<li>Pick 199<\/li>\n<li>Pick 222<\/li>\n<li>Pick 245<\/li>\n<li>Pick 268<\/li>\n<li>Pick 291<\/li>\n<li>Pick 314<\/li>\n<li>Pick 337<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Last year the Wheaties drafted 10 new faces to the organization while also acquiring over-agers Luke Mistelbacher and Grayson Burzynski via a trade with Swift Current.<\/p>\n<p>2025 draft picks:<\/p>\n<p>Cruz Jim, 1st Round (12th Overall)<\/p>\n<p>Ahmad Fayad, 2nd Round (38th Overall)<\/p>\n<p>Joffrey Chan, 4th Round (83rd Overall)<\/p>\n<p>Logan Olsen, 5th Round (107th Overall)<\/p>\n<p>Mark Munday, 7th Round (146th Overall)<\/p>\n<p>Logan Dosenberger, 7th Round (153rd Overall)<\/p>\n<p>Brayden Watt, 8th Round (176th Overall)<\/p>\n<p>Liam Green, 10th Round (222nd Overall)<\/p>\n<p>Tristan Will, 11th Round (245th Overall)<\/p>\n<p>Taren Anderson, 12th Round (268th Overall)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Wheat Kings have 15 draft spots in this years 2026 WHL draft. Pick 15 Pick 42 Pick 102 Pick 105 Pick 130 Pick 153 Pick 176 Pick 193 Pick 199 Pick 222 Pick 245 Pick 268 Pick 291 Pick 314 Pick 337 &nbsp; Last year the Wheaties drafted 10 new faces to the organization&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47085,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-265","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/05\/05101104\/Draft-Article.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47082,"date":"2026-04-30T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47082"},"modified":"2026-04-29T15:55:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:55:41","slug":"young-channels-record-breaking-season-into-motivation-for-massive-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/young-channels-record-breaking-season-into-motivation-for-massive-offseason","title":{"rendered":"Young channels record-breaking season into motivation for massive offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>BY ROB MAHON<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>QCountry<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The last twelve months have been a whirlwind for Ethan Young, and before he knew it, the Regina-born defenseman was the voice of experience.<\/p>\n<p>That experience has come quickly after a year in which he accomplished more than many players will their entire careers. After winning the TELUS Cup with the Regina Pat Canadians last season, Young was back at the tournament again this spring after smashing his previous offensive totals (and everyone else\u2019s for that matter) and getting into his first WHL games with the Brandon Wheat Kings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore we left, all of our rookies, guys who hadn\u2019t went before, guys who were in their first year of AAA, they were asking tons of questions about what it was like, what to expect, what was the competition like,\u201d Young said. \u201cTo have that experience meant a lot because I knew everything that was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The experience showed on the ice. Not only was Young a physical force (something he noted his entire team picked up on with relish), he set new TELUS Cup records for points by a defenseman both in a single tournament (14 in seven games) and all-time (19 in 14 games). It\u2019s an impressive pair of records, but not ones the rising star on the blueline wanted to focus on while the tournament was in progress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t like hearing about records, because I feel the pressure when I hear a record is beatable,\u201d Young explained with a chuckle. \u201cUsually I\u2019m pretty good with pressure, but sometimes you just like to play your game. My dad told me after one of the games that I was three points away and I thought, \u2018Ah, I didn\u2019t want to hear that, I was doing so well.\u2019 I\u2019m more of a team guy, personal stats don\u2019t really matter to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For someone who dislikes hearing about records, however, Young was certainly setting a lot of them. His 74 points in 41 games were the most by a defenseman in the Saskatchewan U18 AAA ranks in the modern era (the last defenseman to post more points did so at a time where the league played nearly twice as many games). He finished his 16-year-old season with more than quadruple the 18 points he posted in his 15-year-old campaign, and that was a perfectly respectable total to begin with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy confidence went up drastically,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first five games of the season, I felt way faster. The coaches could trust me, they put me on the ice in almost every scenario, and it helped my confidence so much. I knew I had put tons of hours into hockey in the summer, but I didn\u2019t actually expect it to help me as much as it did. A lot of points is one thing, but being around the guys when you\u2019re putting up numbers and winning games, that\u2019s most important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The season with the Pat Cs wasn\u2019t the first indication that Young had taken a gigantic leap forward. He raised eyebrows aplenty in his training camp with the Wheat Kings, a standout in both his physical play and his poise with the puck. He carried that momentum into the exhibition games, where his steady play continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI heard from a few dads and scouts, \u2018You\u2019re having an unreal camp, just keep doing what you\u2019re doing.\u2019,\u201d Young said. \u201cThat\u2019s obviously a confidence booster when you hear stuff like that. Coming out of training camp and the Black and Gold game, I realized I actually had a chance of cracking the roster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Young said it was disappointing at first not to make the roster, but in hindsight he adds it turned into the best thing for him. Not only did his offensive confidence grow by a leap and a bound, he also made his WHL debut anyway, joining the Wheat Kings for their longest road trip of the season and collecting an assist in his very first WHL game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe best thing about calling me up and giving me that opportunity to get my toes was just practicing those good habits,\u201d said Young. \u201cEven in morning skates, they practice way differently than we do in AAA. It reminded me to keep practicing those good habits every time you\u2019re on the ice. The ultimate goal is to make the team next year, so I needed to build those good habits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In hindsight, making the Wheat Kings at 17 instead of at 16 (he turns 17 on June 2) looks to have been just the right thing for Young on several levels. The developmental side is apparent (one look at his stats tells you much, though not all, of that story) but Young comes away from 2025-26 with a plethora of fond memories.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis season was one of the best years of my life,\u201d he said. \u201cI had so much fun. The guys were all great in the dressing room, it was a blast. TELUS Cup, not many people get to do that in their lives, and to get to go twice is so special. I\u2019m really glad I got to go for one last go-around. Obviously it wasn\u2019t the outcome we wanted but it\u2019s still an opportunity that I understand not many people ever get, which is really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Young came home from his second TELUS Cup with a bronze medal to go along with the gold medal he won last year, which will look good in a trophy case that also includes back-to-back Saskatchewan U18 AAA titles and the league\u2019s defenseman of the year award for 2025-26. It might seem like Young has a spot with the Wheat Kings sewn up for next season, but he\u2019s not approaching his next training camp with that mindset.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot many things in life are given to you, and I just keep thinking that there\u2019s a chance I might not make that squad,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what motivates me through every workout and every skate. Thinking there\u2019s a chance you might get sent back home, I don\u2019t want to ever feel that feeling, especially when I have high goals for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Young added he\u2019s focused on adding some muscle to his 160-pound frame, which means a lot of meals and a lot of time in the weight room over the offseason while still working on his skating and shot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY ROB MAHON QCountry &nbsp; The last twelve months have been a whirlwind for Ethan Young, and before he knew it, the Regina-born defenseman was the voice of experience. That experience has come quickly after a year in which he accomplished more than many players will their entire careers. After winning the TELUS Cup with&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-265","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/04\/29155417\/ethanyoung-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47080,"date":"2026-04-27T08:12:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T13:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47080"},"modified":"2026-04-27T08:12:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T13:12:48","slug":"wheaties-jacobson-scores-twice-canada-bags-second-straight-shutout-at-2026-iihf-u18-world-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/wheaties-jacobson-scores-twice-canada-bags-second-straight-shutout-at-2026-iihf-u18-world-championship","title":{"rendered":"Wheaties\u2019 Jacobson scores twice, Canada bags second-straight shutout at 2026 IIHF U18 World Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Trencin, Slovakia-\u00a0<\/strong>Western Hockey League skaters combined for eight points as Canada routed Norway 8-0 in their third match of the 2026 IIHF U18 World Championship.<\/p>\n<p>Canada\u2019s second-youngest player, Brandon Wheat Kings star Jaxon Jacobson, came up big with two goals in his first appearance of the tournament, and OHL standout Dima Zhilkin netted a hat trick.<\/p>\n<p>Beckett Hamilton (Saskatoon, Sask. \/ Red Deer Rebels) scored the first of the game- and his first-ever goal for Team Canada- after kicking a pass from Ryan Lin (Richmond, B.C. \/ Vancouver Giants) to his stick and lofting it past the Norwegian netminder.<\/p>\n<p>The 5-foot-11, 173-pound winger is ranked 33rd by NHL Central Scouting in the agency\u2019s final list ahead of the 2026 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trencin, Slovakia-\u00a0Western Hockey League skaters combined for eight points as Canada routed Norway 8-0 in their third match of the 2026 IIHF U18 World Championship. Canada\u2019s second-youngest player, Brandon Wheat Kings star Jaxon Jacobson, came up big with two goals in his first appearance of the tournament, and OHL standout Dima Zhilkin netted a hat&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-265","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/04\/27081137\/April-25-1920.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47078,"date":"2026-04-24T09:10:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47078"},"modified":"2026-04-24T09:10:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:10:50","slug":"wheat-kings-prospects-shining-at-telus-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/wheat-kings-prospects-shining-at-telus-cup","title":{"rendered":"Wheat Kings Prospects Shining at Telus Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Regina Pat Canadians are once again back in the Telus Cup after winning Western Regionals over the Winnipeg Bruins, Moose Jaw Warriors, and Thunder Bay Kings. The Pat Canadians have a couple of familiar faces on their roster with Ethan Young and Logan Dosenberger, two Brandon Wheat Kings prospects.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ethan Young currently is leading all defenceman in points and is 2nd only to Maddox Schultz in tournament scoring. Ethan suited up in a couple games this year for the Wheat Kings where he achieved his first ever Western Hockey League point.<\/p>\n<p>Logan Dosenberger currently has yet to make the score sheet but his presence is always known on the ice with his 6&#8217;1 172lb frame on the ice.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Telus Cup will conclude on Sunday, April 26 in Peterborough, ON.\\<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Questions about 2026-27 BWK Tickets visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bwktickets.com\/\">https:\/\/www.bwktickets.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Regina Pat Canadians are once again back in the Telus Cup after winning Western Regionals over the Winnipeg Bruins, Moose Jaw Warriors, and Thunder Bay Kings. The Pat Canadians have a couple of familiar faces on their roster with Ethan Young and Logan Dosenberger, two Brandon Wheat Kings prospects. &nbsp; Ethan Young currently is&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-265","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/04\/24090244\/2026-telus-cup-day1-12.jpg",1400,1560,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47075,"date":"2026-04-24T08:32:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T13:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47075"},"modified":"2026-04-23T08:48:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:48:40","slug":"47075-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fans.winwithdash.com\/team\/brandonwheatkings","title":{"rendered":"Jerseys &#8211; McQueen Bobbleheads &#8211; Memorabilia"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-link","category-275","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/04\/23083805\/social-media-dash-auctions-1920-x-1080-px.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]