[{"id":47065,"date":"2026-04-15T09:21:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47065"},"modified":"2026-04-15T09:21:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:21:58","slug":"boehm-grows-in-second-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/boehm-grows-in-second-season","title":{"rendered":"Boehm grows in second season"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY: PERRY BERGSON<\/strong><\/em>
\nBRANDON SUN<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever wondered about the benefits of confidence for a Western Hockey league player, Nigel Boehm might be Exhibit A.<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old Brandon Wheat Kings defenceman from Corman Park, Sask., made incredible strides in his second Western Hockey League season, which may have been best reflected by his newfound willingness to carry the puck and get shots on net.<\/p>\n

\u201cConfidence is a big thing,\u201d Boehm said. \u201cEspecially being a defenceman, everyone relies on you and it starts with you. It\u2019s a big thing moving forward into these playoffs, being able to rely on yourself and trust yourself to make plays. It\u2019s good to be a dependable player from the back end on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI put up more points than last year \u2014 pretty much double \u2014 and it\u2019s going to be a huge thing moving on,\u201d he added. \u201cEspecially in the playoffs confidence-wise, having that switch from last year will be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wheat Kings were swept out of the playoffs by the Calgary Hitmen, falling 4-2 in Game 4 to end their season.<\/p>\n

The numbers tell the story for Boehm. As a rookie, the six-foot-one, 190-pound blue-liner had a goal, six assists and a plus-minus of -3 in 61 games.<\/p>\n

In 63 games this season, he had two goals, 14 assists and a plus-minus of +22, which was third best on the team.<\/p>\n

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray has certainly noticed Boehm\u2019s maturation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really come into his own,\u201d Murray said. \u201cEven on the offensive side, I don\u2019t think we give him much credit. He\u2019s more confident carrying the puck and creating a little offence. He knows that\u2019s not the 1-A part of his game but you can see the growth and confidence in him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a defensive defenceman who is close to +20 over the course of the year. He\u2019s one of those guys who is heavy and hard to play against and has really made some nice strides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boehm\u2019s first goal of the season certainly illustrated how he was feeling. On Jan. 10, against the visiting Regina Pats, Boehm jumped up into the rush, accepted a pass from Joby Baumuller, went to the net, held onto the puck and then lifted it past goalie Taylor Tabashniuk.<\/p>\n

Boehm\u2019s second goal of the season was also a beauty, and also came against the Pats. On March 20, he jumped out of the penalty box, took a stretch pass from Baumuller, went in on a two-on-one with Brady Turko and elected to shoot, sending the puck over the glove of Marek Schlenker.<\/p>\n

While those were the plays that worked, Boehm has also been more willing this season to walk the blue-line looking for a shooting land and then carry the puck.<\/p>\n

Last year he likely would have the quick, short pass down low.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to not just handle the puck but shoot the puck is a big aspect of the game,\u201d Boehm said. \u201cBeing able to get pucks on net from the point is big for the forwards especially to be able to get rebounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brandon grabbed Boehm in the second round of the 2023 WHL draft with the 28th overall pick, after they had already taken forward Jaxon Jacobson fifth and blue-liner Gio Pantelas 19th. (They also picked current players Ryan Boyce 94th and Cameron Allard 160th.)<\/p>\n

Boehm said it didn\u2019t take long in his rookie season last year to tell he was defending against a different level.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s for sure hard,\u201d Boehm said. \u201cYou can tell when you\u2019re facing a skilled player.\u201d<\/p>\n

His physical, stay-at-home presence was immediately evident, but it still took time for him to adapt to the speed and size in major junior.<\/p>\n

When he returned this year, half of the 2024-25 team was back and that immediately made it easier for him to settle in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the new guys coming in, it\u2019s easier to build chemistry when you have old chemistry,\u201d Boehm said. \u201cThe confidence going into the playoffs this year is super high and that\u2019s throughout the room. We\u2019re ready to give it everything we\u2019ve got here in the first round.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that experience, plus the blue-line losses of graduates Luke Shipley and captain Quinn Mantei, the mid-season trades of Charlie Elick and Rhett Ravndahl, the summer release of Slovakia\u2019s Adam Belusko and the season-long injury to Merrek Arpin, opportunity opened up on the Brandon blue-line.<\/p>\n

One way that\u2019s been reflected for Boehm is his regular presence on Brandon\u2019s penalty-killing units.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a dependable player on the PK is huge,\u201d Boehm said. \u201cOn our back end, pretty much all of us can be reliable and it doesn\u2019t matter, one through seven, we can all be dependable and go out and kill. It\u2019s good and having the coaches behind me, my confidence is up because they\u2019ve shown they trust me and will put me out there in the last couple of minutes when you need a kill.\u201d<\/p>\n

The obvious goal of the penalty kill is trying to prevent goals. Boehm said the method is deceptively simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, work ethic is a big thing and being out there four against five, you have to be able to carry your weight and work hard on the other team,\u201d Boehm said. \u201cUltimately, that\u2019s what it comes down to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, he was named the team\u2019s hardest-working player in the year-end awards, and also channelled that into school, earning the nod as the Wheat Kings\u2019 top academic player for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n

Like all players with a larger goal, Boehm is quick to deflect his personal success and instead focus on the club\u2019s collective performance this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this year went really good,\u201d Boehm said. \u201cI had a fun year and we got 40 wins, that was big as a team and we\u2019re very proud of that accomplishment. We\u2019re one of seven teams to do it so that\u2019s a big thing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY: PERRY BERGSON BRANDON SUN   If you\u2019ve ever wondered about the benefits of confidence for a Western Hockey league player, Nigel Boehm might be Exhibit A. The 17-year-old Brandon Wheat Kings defenceman from Corman Park, Sask., made incredible strides in his second Western Hockey League season, which may have been best reflected by his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47065","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\/15092111\/QO3A8275-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\/47065","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=47065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47052,"date":"2026-04-13T08:17:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47052"},"modified":"2026-04-13T08:19:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:19:03","slug":"allard-grows-develops-in-rookie-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/allard-grows-develops-in-rookie-campaign","title":{"rendered":"Allard grows, develops in rookie campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY PERRY BERGSON<\/strong><\/em>
\nBRANDON SUN<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cameron Allard may have gotten a taste of the Western Hockey League last season, but the Brandon Wheat King has discovered there are a lot of ways for a young defenceman to lose his appetite in his rookie season.<\/p>\n

The six-foot-three, 196-pound blue-liner from Yorkton, Sask., said the level of players he has faced in major junior has been a revelation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is super skilled,\u201d Allard said. \u201cYou can be playing a fourth line and there are still unbelievable players. There isn\u2019t really a bad player in this league. Then you have the top-end guys, and some are going to the NHL next year, and it\u2019s a whole different beast.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like you\u2019re playing an NHL player pretty much so it\u2019s definitely more difficult but once you adapt into learning how to defend against these kinds of players, it makes it seem likes the next level gets closer and closer every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wheat Kings were swept out of the playoffs by the Calgary Hitmen, falling 4-2 in Game 4 to end their season.<\/p>\n

Allard, who turned 18 in January, nearly made the club at 16 but was ultimately reassigned to the Saskatchewan Male AAA Hockey League\u2019s Estevan Bears. After a slow start, he put up 36 points in 44 games.<\/p>\n

He also suited up in 13 regular season WHL games \u2014 all after Christmas \u2014 and three playoff games with the Wheat Kings.<\/p>\n

While that helped, he said being a full-time major junior player is a revelation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a lot different than last year when I was a call-up,\u201d Allard said. \u201cI\u2019ve been billeting for a couple of years so I know what that\u2019s like but it\u2019s just the grind, the late-night bus rides, getting home at 4 in the morning and then playing \u2026 at 6 that night is a whole different animal.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing that 68 times a year makes that even more crazy but I love it and I think all the guys love it. Everyone has a love for the sport and that\u2019s what makes the league so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allard graduated last year but is taking university courses this season to stay sharp scholastically.<\/p>\n

Players usually talk about some combination of the size, strength, speed, skill and smarts of players at the major junior level, and Allard doesn\u2019t hesitate when asked if there are elements on that list that stand out for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say the speed, and the size comes along with the speed,\u201d Allard said. \u201cGuys are moving faster and they\u2019re bigger so it seems like there is a lot less time on the ice and then the others are just extra add-ons that every player has. There are lots of smart players in this league, lots of skilled players in this league, but the biggest are the size and the speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allard is a member of the team\u2019s draft class of 2023, joining his current teammates Jaxon Jacobson (fifth), Gio Pantelas (19th), Nigel Boehm (28th) and Ryan Boyce (94th). The difference is that Allard was selected in the eighth round, 160th overall, making him an absolute steal for the club.<\/p>\n

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said the rookie blue-liner has built on his experience and blossomed on a pairing with Nigel Boehm.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got a taste and got his feet wet last year,\u201d Murray said. \u201cI think his biggest asset is breaking pucks out and making plays. He\u2019s turned into a pretty solid defenceman, and that pairing in particular has done a real nice job.\u201d<\/p>\n

After posting a pair of assists in the 13 games last season, Allard contributed seven goals, 14 assists, 29 penalty minutes and a plus-minus of +12.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy about it,\u201d Allard said of his season. \u201cI had goals at the start of the year and some got reached and some didn\u2019t, but overall I\u2019m happy with how I developed throughout the year. One of the goals was to feel like I was getting better every day, every time I was on the ice, and I think I achieved that.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was also some external validation for that belief. The right-shooting defenceman was listed as a player to watch on Central Scouting\u2019s initial rankings and was listed as 190th among North American skater in the mid-terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely gained a lot of confidence throughout the year, and around Christmas it really flipped into being \u2018OK, I can try things, I don\u2019t need to be simple, I can try new things,\u2019 and I think it\u2019s worked out well for me,\u201d Allard said.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously I\u2019ve put some pucks in the net. Once I found my confidence, that\u2019s when my game really boosted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge in the offensive end is simply getting the puck to the net. In a new era of the game where forwards usually embrace the defensive structure at the top of their zone, blasting the puck through a maze of shot blockers isn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard,\u201d Allard said. \u201cWith the size of guys, it seems like shin pads get a lot bigger and they get a lot closer as you get the puck and hold it for a couple of seconds. I think that\u2019s one of the strengths of my game is finding lanes to shoot pucks through. It is tough but I think that\u2019s one of the things I can do well.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Allard is a smooth puck carrier who doesn\u2019t mind having it on his stick, which is not common for rookie defencemen in the WHL, he said it\u2019s been a work in progress. Still, when Brandon drafted him, he was viewed as a two-way player who had that ability in his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve developed the offensive side of my game a lot,\u201d Allard said. \u201cI know in U18 AAA I was considered more of a defensive defenceman than an offensive guy and I think now I\u2019ve shifted that into kind of a two-way defenceman who can make an impact in both ends.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, in the league you have to be able to do everything and I think I\u2019ve adapted well into that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY PERRY BERGSON BRANDON SUN   Cameron Allard may have gotten a taste of the Western Hockey League last season, but the Brandon Wheat King has discovered there are a lot of ways for a young defenceman to lose his appetite in his rookie season. The six-foot-three, 196-pound blue-liner from Yorkton, Sask., said the level…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47052","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\/13081855\/1-21-26-LETvsBDN_201-scaled.jpg",2560,1704,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\/47052","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=47052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47050,"date":"2026-04-13T08:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47050"},"modified":"2026-04-13T08:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:16:08","slug":"burzynski-makes-manitoba-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/burzynski-makes-manitoba-memories","title":{"rendered":"Burzynski makes Manitoba memories"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY PERRY BERGSON<\/strong><\/em>
\nBRANDON SUN<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

After his Western Hockey League drew to a close on April 2, Grayson Burzynski learned an important lesson about how time plays tricks on us all.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old Brandon Wheat Kings defenceman, who is headed to college next season, said it certainly doesn\u2019t feel like five years ago that he earned a spot at age 16 with the Swift Current Broncos.<\/p>\n

\u201cWay too quick, to be honest,\u201d Burzynski said of how fast those years passed by. \u201cI was just thinking about that. I didn\u2019t have a suit in Swift Current because I didn\u2019t know you had to wear a suit to games. I remember the day before my first regular season game, I had to go buy a suit and it literally feels like yesterday that I went and did that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played so many games and some of them stick out but a lot of them have blended together. I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s been five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WILD ROAD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burzynski\u2019s path to Brandon has certainly had some detours.<\/p>\n

He was born in Iowa City, Iowa when his physician father Jeff was in his residency. After time in Newfoundland, his family, including mother Jen and sisters Sidney and Piper, later moved to Victoria and eventually Winnipeg, where Burzynski grew up.<\/p>\n

Burzynski didn\u2019t know anything about the WHL draft until the 2019-20 season arrived, and found out because his coach scouted for the Edmonton Oil Kings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was literally just there to have fun and hang out with my friends,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cI had no idea this is what it was going to lead to. I can\u2019t believe how naive I was with everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broncos grabbed him with the 44th overall pick in 2020. He said the first massive influence on him was then-overage Broncos goalie Isaac Poulter of Winnipeg, who Burzynski said would have been captain if he played out.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the best with everybody,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cHe was professional but he was always there when I needed something or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said overage forward Cole Nagy showed him it was OK to have fun, and Sam McGinley and Raphael Pelletier were both great people.<\/p>\n

The Broncos traded for Tyson Galloway when he was 18, and the former Calgary Hitmen defenceman was quickly named captain after the current captain, Owen Pickering, said it simply made sense.<\/p>\n

Burzynski said the entire experience changed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn every single way, it forced me to be way more mature,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cI was 15 when I got drafted and I was just there to have fun. I was the goofiest guy \u2014 I\u2019m still pretty goofy \u2014 but I had no focus, nothing. That was the first thing that changed when I was 16, realizing that this is what people work their whole lives for and I was just lucky enough to get there with my skill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another lesson was that he had to get along with everybody on his team, whether he liked them or not, and said he is now able to put up with a lot more from people.<\/p>\n

He said there is still a stigma about junior hockey and their players, and while he has met the occasional \u201crotten\u201d person, the overwhelming majority have been good people.<\/p>\n

He said the experience also forced him to deal with his mental health for the first time as he struggled with his confidence early on, with six, 12 and 13 points in his first three seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the things I had to deal with mentally made me more mindful in my every-day life,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cIt\u2019s just being grateful for the moment. Some of the really hard things I\u2019ve gone through, just being away from home and missing my family and some other things made me a better person just because I went through them.\u201d<\/p>\n

BACK TO MANITOBA<\/strong><\/p>\n

After exploding for 11 goals and 36 assists last year in his 19-year-old season, Burzynski expected to be dealt from the rebuilding Broncos.<\/p>\n

The deal came sooner than expected when Brandon and Swift Current engineered a blockbuster trade on May 7, 2025 after the Wheat Kings learned overage defenceman Quinn Mantei was heading to college and wouldn\u2019t be returning.<\/p>\n

Burzynski and Mistelbacher were acquired from Swift Current for the Wheat Kings\u2019 own pick in the first round, 15th overall, plus 15-year-old prospect Alex Letourneau, a second-round pick in 2025 originally belonging to the Saskatoon Blades, third-round picks in 2027 and 2028 and a sixth-round pick in 2028.<\/p>\n

Burzynski said when he lived in Swift Current, it felt like he was a long way from home. When he was moving home for good from Brandon to Winnipeg on the weekend, he was driving two hours on the Trans-Canada Highway and meeting his family for brunch.<\/p>\n

He especially noticed it early on when Brandon had a heavy home schedule, because at least one of his parents was in the arena virtually every night.<\/p>\n

In 59 games this season, he has 11 goals and 47 assists, with 58 penalty minutes and a plus-minus of 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy with my season,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cI would have liked one more point to get to that point-per-game but that\u2019s nitpicking. I wish I didn\u2019t get suspended for five games so I could have played a little bit more. Offensively I had a good season. I really thank the coaching staff for letting me play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a gruelling three years of having no confidence playing and it was really hard at 16, 17 and 18 in Swift Current. Last year I started getting that and this year the coaches gave me free rein, it felt like, and that was really nice to play free and make plays and do what I want on the ice but playing within our systems. I think I grew a lot as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first time in his career, the six-foot-four, 211-pound left shot served as an alternate captain. He certainly had some good influences in Swift Current to learn from, but also has his own outgoing personality to lean on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I was ever going to be the serious pro type that Poulter was or have the grasp on the locker room like those guys did, but I think I had it in a different way,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cIf we really needed to be serious, my voice could kind of change. I think they listened when I talked, which I think was important. I took little things from what they did and how they held themselves to take control of the room and lead more by example.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the knowledge his days in the league were winding down, Burzynski took time to enjoy his final visits to arenas. Of course there was one big exception.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the buildings I was nostalgic,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cI can tell you right now the Art Hauser (Centre in Prince Albert), I was very excited to never go back to. Obviously my last game in the iPlex in Swift Current was a big game for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t get to play my last game in Brandon (because the playoffs were in Virden), but even if I was on an away team, that would have been a game marked on my calendar because Brandon felt like my hometown team. It\u2019s always been special to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool playing in those NHL buildings and the Saddledome is getting torn down and a lot of those buildings I\u2019m never going to be in again. Most buildings I was pretty nostalgic about but there were definitely some that stood out more than others.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

COLLEGE BOUND<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the NCAA changed its eligibility rules for major junior players, Burzynski had a pretty good sense of where his future would be.<\/p>\n

Burzynski was talking to a number of schools when Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) reached out to him for the first time around Halloween. After he did a Zoom call with his parents and the RPI staff and spoke to head coach Eric Lang, he was sold.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s so down to earth,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cI loved how hands on he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some other head coaches he dealt with were essentially put on a pedestal, and he was made to feel like it was a privilege for him to even interact with him. As a player, he was expected to deal with the assistant coaches instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought it was so weird,\u201d Burzynski said.<\/p>\n

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is located in Troy, N.Y., just north of the state capital Albany, and about 250 kilometres north of New York City. RPI was founded in 1824, and is the oldest technological university in the United States.<\/p>\n

The Engineers hockey team is one of 12 Division I programs that play in ECAC Hockey, including the six Ivy league schools. RPI, which was ninth last season with a conference record of 8-13-1, hasn\u2019t won a title since 1984-85.<\/p>\n

Burzynski wont be headed down alone, however. His current Wheat Kings teammates Caleb Hadland and Jordan Gavin are also going.<\/p>\n

The trio plan to make their first trip down to Troy together in the spring to look around.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be pretty awesome,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cSeptember-October-November, we hung out a lot, the three of us and Joby (Baumuller, who is Hadland\u2019s roommate). The three of us were kind of always on board with trying to go somewhere together and it really just happened to work out like that, and I can\u2019t believe it. We\u2019re just trying to find a fourth right now to live with, but there are two of the best guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if he was going to reach out to Harrison Lodewyk, the Calgary Hitmen forward who is also heading to RPI, Burzynski said with a chuckle he can make that after the Hitmen swept them out of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

FOND FAREWELLS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first person with ties to the Wheat Kings that Burzynski spoke to was general manager and head coach Marty Murray. They built a quick rapport that day that lasted, and came to include assistant coaches Mark (Billy) Derlago and Del Pedrick.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarty put together a really good roster and everybody could see that,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cWe had an excellent team. I think it was better people too, it wasn\u2019t just players on the ice, it was the people off the ice that were important \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a really good relationship with Billy, he really let me play and the others guys felt like that with Billy. He was low stress, which was really nice for some guys, especially the young guys, because you can relax and just play. It can be stressful getting yelled after you make a mistake as a 16 or 17 year old, it\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Del, he\u2019s a great human. He\u2019s really easy to talk to. They were good in different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also became fond of Wheat Kings athletic therapist Zach Hartwick and equipment manager Jake McKercher.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody loves those two,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cJake is the best Wheat King pickup in recent modern history. He\u2019s awesome. There\u2019s not a soul who doesn\u2019t like Jake. \u201cZach, it\u2019s the same thing. He\u2019s really low key and nice to have. He was always there to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Off the ice, Burzynski lived with the Terri and Calvin Andres for all four years in Swift Current, and remains indebted to them. Since he wasn\u2019t expected to stay at 16, he was \u201ctemporarily\u201d billeted with them in a spare room.<\/p>\n

The other player they had quit the team, and since Burzynski had quickly made a good impression on the couple, he moved into the former player\u2019s bedroom and never left.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re my second set of parents now, along with my Brandon billets,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cThey were always there for me. They knew how hard that first year or two years were for me. My billet mom is an awesome cook, she baked way too many cookies. They were awesome. My billet dad was always there to have a chat or have a whiskey with. They\u2019re two awesome people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Brandon, he lived with Tony, Linda and Riley Strickland, who had previously billeted another top Wheat Kings defenceman, Mantei.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was their third son for the season \u2014 Quinn Mantei was there before me so I\u2019ll take third spot \u2014 but just how much love and care they shared with me for only being there for one season was pretty special,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cIt felt like I had always lived there, which was a really nice feeling. As soon as I moved in, they were \u2018You don\u2019t have to worry about anything, this is your house.\u2019 \u201cIt was nice and casual and there was no stress involved at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Burzynski thinks about Brandon, it\u2019s the people he says he\u2019ll miss. That\u2019s also true of Swift Current for the kid who didn\u2019t know much about the WHL when he was drafted and went on to play five years in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year, it\u2019s a different kind of vibe, and I recall different signs from each year,\u201d Burzynski said. \u201cThis year, I\u2019m just going to remember how much we hung out in the room and the lounge and shooting the s\u2026 or just hanging out in the room or the gym. We had a movie group and watched a ton of movies together and played a bunch of board games. We did stuff like that outside of the rink.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously I\u2019ll remember the on-ice stuff but a lot of it from even the years before, it was just spending time with people outside the rink, the people I\u2019m really close with. It\u2019s a lot of hanging out and doing nothing, and enjoying every second of it, which is what I\u2019m going to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY PERRY BERGSON BRANDON SUN After his Western Hockey League drew to a close on April 2, Grayson Burzynski learned an important lesson about how time plays tricks on us all. The 20-year-old Brandon Wheat Kings defenceman, who is headed to college next season, said it certainly doesn\u2019t feel like five years ago that he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47050","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\/13081554\/1C5A7995-2-scaled.jpg",2560,1706,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\/47050","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=47050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47041,"date":"2026-04-02T21:56:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T02:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47041"},"modified":"2026-04-02T21:56:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T02:56:25","slug":"hitmen-end-wheat-kings-season-with-third-period-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/hitmen-end-wheat-kings-season-with-third-period-rally","title":{"rendered":"Hitmen end Wheat Kings’ season with third period rally"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]With their season on the line, the Wheat Kings came out of the gate with their best start of the series so far. Little by little, however, the Hitmen ate away at the lead Brandon had built.<\/p>\n

Grayson Burzynski\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Chase Surkan\u00a0<\/strong>scored, and\u00a0Filip Ruzicka\u00a0<\/strong>made 23 saves but it wasn’t enough to save the Wheat Kings’ season as they fell to the Calgary Hitmen 4-2.<\/p>\n

“We came out extremely hard, that was probably some of our best hockey that we’ve played in the first ten minutes of the game tonight,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray<\/strong>. “We got up two and we were humming. It would’ve been nice to get the third one and stretch it out. We took some penalties in the first that took the momentum away from us and after that it was kind of a see-saw battle.”<\/p>\n

For the first time in the series, it was the Wheat Kings who opened the scoring.\u00a0Jordan Gavin\u00a0<\/strong>broke in up the left wing and wrapped it back out front for a pinching Burzynski, who snapped home his second of the series and the first of the game.<\/p>\n

On their first power play of the game, the Wheat Kings doubled their lead. Burzynski fed the puck out front to\u00a0Joby Baumuller<\/strong>, and rather than shoot the 40-goal scorer spun the puck back-door to Surkan, who wired it past Eric Tu.<\/p>\n

The Hitmen answered back in the second period. After Ruzicka made back-to-back saves in close, the puck bounced back out front off a Wheat Kings’ skate, and Kale Dach was ready and waiting for it, cashing in with his second of the series.<\/p>\n

But the third period turned against the Wheat Kings sharply. First, just as a power play expired, Harrison Lodewyk tapped in a cross-crease pass from Dach to make it a tie game. Then, veteran forward Ethan Moore broke up the right wing and rifled home what would prove to be his fourth straight game-winning goal.<\/p>\n

The Wheat Kings made a last minute bid with the net empty, but it was not to be. Julien Maze made a strip in the offensive zone and fired home the insurance marker.<\/p>\n

The loss ends the season for the Wheat Kings. Features on graduating players will appear in the coming weeks.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]With their season on the line, the Wheat Kings came out of the gate with their best start of the series so far. Little by little, however, the Hitmen ate away at the lead Brandon had built. Grayson Burzynski\u00a0and\u00a0Chase Surkan\u00a0scored, and\u00a0Filip Ruzicka\u00a0made 23 saves but it wasn’t enough to save the Wheat Kings’ season…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":510,"featured_media":47042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47041","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\/02215527\/QO3A1735-1.jpg",1024,683,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\/47041","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\/510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47036,"date":"2026-03-31T23:24:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T04:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47036"},"modified":"2026-03-31T23:24:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T04:24:39","slug":"highlights-cgy-3-bdn-1-final-playoffs-game-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/PkUumUpQ7WA","title":{"rendered":"HIGHLIGHTS: CGY (3) @ BDN (1) – FINAL (Playoffs Game 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47036","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\/03\/31232429\/QO3A0968-1-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\/47036","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=47036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47034,"date":"2026-03-31T22:12:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T03:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47034"},"modified":"2026-03-31T22:12:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T03:12:06","slug":"wheat-kings-pushed-to-brink-after-game-three-loss-against-hitmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/wheat-kings-pushed-to-brink-after-game-three-loss-against-hitmen","title":{"rendered":"Wheat Kings pushed to brink after game three loss against Hitmen"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Another close game, this one in regulation, went against the Brandon Wheat Kings in Virden as they faced the Calgary Hitmen in game three of their first round series.<\/p>\n

Luke Mistelbacher <\/strong>scored, and\u00a0Filip Ruzicka\u00a0<\/strong>was stellar again with 48 saves, but the Wheat Kings fell 3-1 with an empty netter. Eric Tu made 35 saves on 36 shots for Calgary.<\/p>\n

“I thought our exits were missing execution,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray<\/strong>. “Having clean breakouts, sometimes we’d turn it over or there would be a muffed puck in the neutral zone that would come back at us. Our exits, certainly, we struggled with tonight. Our strength all year has been our depth in scoring and we’ve had a number of guys kind of go dry here.”<\/p>\n

Late in the first, after some good chances for the Wheat Kings at 4-on-4, the Hitmen opened the scoring. Andrei Molgachev dodged a check at centre, broke up the left wing, and rifled a shot past Ruzicka for the 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n

A bad bounce cost the Wheat Kings the next goal. After getting a breakaway save from Eric Tu at one end, the Hitmen got it back into the Wheat Kings’ end, and even though Ethan Moore fanned on his one-timer, it rolled off a Wheat Kings’ skate, through Ruzicka’s five-hole, and in.<\/p>\n

Brandon got their counter before the period was out.\u00a0Prabh Bhathal\u00a0<\/strong>took a hit to make a play at centre, dropping it off to\u00a0Jaxon Jacobson,\u00a0<\/strong>who broke in with speed and fed it back out front to a waiting Mistelbacher for the tap-in.<\/p>\n

Neither team had any luck on the scoreclock in the third until there was just 1:44 remaining. With the Wheat Kings’ net empty, the Hitmen picked off a pass and Landon Amrhein sent the puck all the way down the ice and into the empty.<\/p>\n

The Wheat Kings get a day off and then it’s backs-against-the-wall time with game four in Virden. Puck drop is 7:00.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Another close game, this one in regulation, went against the Brandon Wheat Kings in Virden as they faced the Calgary Hitmen in game three of their first round series. Luke Mistelbacher scored, and\u00a0Filip Ruzicka\u00a0was stellar again with 48 saves, but the Wheat Kings fell 3-1 with an empty netter. Eric Tu made 35 saves…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":510,"featured_media":47035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47034","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\/03\/31221108\/QO3A1340.jpg",1024,683,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\/47034","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\/510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47030,"date":"2026-03-29T23:25:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T04:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47030"},"modified":"2026-03-29T23:25:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T04:25:22","slug":"second-straight-overtime-gut-punch-for-wheat-kings-in-calgary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/second-straight-overtime-gut-punch-for-wheat-kings-in-calgary","title":{"rendered":"Second straight overtime gut-punch for Wheat Kings in Calgary"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]The Wheat Kings overcame a tough start, took a third period lead, and ultimately saw another playoff game go to overtime in Calgary. And again, it ended in a heartbreaker.<\/p>\n

Luke Mistelbacher\u00a0<\/strong>scored twice, and\u00a0Jaxon Jacobson, Jimmy Egan,\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Grayson Burzynski\u00a0<\/strong>all scored but the Wheat Kings dropped their second consecutive overtime game.\u00a0Filip Ruzicka <\/strong>\u00a0made 38 saves in the loss.<\/p>\n

“The first period was really rough and I can’t really put my finger on it,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray<\/strong>. “It was tough coming off the triple overtime game but we gave them yesterday off and skated today to try and recharge the batteries but we were really flat in the first. We got it going in the second and third.”<\/p>\n

It didn’t take 105 minutes for the opening goal of this one. On a delayed penalty call against the Wheat Kings, Kale Dach picked up the puck at the bottom of the left circle and snapped a drag-shot past Ruzicka and in.<\/p>\n

Moments after the Wheat Kings missed on a power play, the Hitmen came back the other way and made them pay. Andrei Moglachev took a feed that left him alone in front, cut to his backhand, and slipped home the second tally of the game.<\/p>\n

Even shorthanded, the Hitmen pressed. Dach found himself on a clean breakaway on the Wheat Kings’ second power play of the game. Ruzicka stayed right with him, however, and turned his forehand move aside.<\/p>\n

The Wheat Kings rewarded their netminder with some offense in the second period. First,\u00a0Ryan Boyce\u00a0<\/strong>drove the net and though he was robbed by the right pad of Tu, he left a rebound for Egan, who pounced on it and buried the first goal of the playoffs for Brandon.<\/p>\n

Just 90 seconds later, the Wheat Kings struck again. Jacobson spotted Burzynski jumping up into the attack and left him on a 2-on-1. The veteran defenseman kept the shot for himself and beat Tu cleanly.<\/p>\n

But Calgary got a bounce and retook the lead. After a power play on which the Wheat Kings hit a crossbar and were robbed twice by Tu, Julien Maze was sent in alone fresh out of the penalty box and he made no mistake to give the Hitmen back the one-goal advantage.<\/p>\n

Mistelbacher struck twice in the first 1:11 of the third period to give the Wheat Kings their first lead of the series. First, he picked up the puck in the right corner and fired it at the net, bouncing it off Tu’s arm and in.<\/p>\n

Only 14 seconds later, Mistelbacher was at it again.\u00a0Prabh Bhathal <\/strong>won a puck battle and sent Mistelbacher streaking up the left wing, from where he rifled home the go-ahead goal.<\/p>\n

Jacobson built on the Wheat Kings’ lead with a great individual effort. After Bhathal took a hit to make a play in the neutral zone, Jacobson one-handed it to himself, broke in, and as he was falling, chipped it in.<\/p>\n

But the Hitmen were far from finished. First, Ethan Moore buried a rebound on the power play for the first man advantage goal of the series. Then, after a questionable icing call, the Hitmen were allowed to pull their goaltender and made good, with Axel Hurtig redirecting a point shot by Maze to tie the game with 1:11 to go.<\/p>\n

In overtime, the Hitmen power play struck again. Moore found a rebound and, for the second overtime game in a row, ended the contest.<\/p>\n

The Wheat Kings return to Manitoba and prepare for the first of what could be three games in Virden on Tuesday, March 31. Puck drop is 7:00 PM.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]The Wheat Kings overcame a tough start, took a third period lead, and ultimately saw another playoff game go to overtime in Calgary. And again, it ended in a heartbreaker. Luke Mistelbacher\u00a0scored twice, and\u00a0Jaxon Jacobson, Jimmy Egan,\u00a0and\u00a0Grayson Burzynski\u00a0all scored but the Wheat Kings dropped their second consecutive overtime game.\u00a0Filip Ruzicka \u00a0made 38 saves in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":510,"featured_media":47031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47030","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\/03\/29224152\/20260329_CGY_vs_BDN_HIT1118_JP-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\/47030","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\/510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47028,"date":"2026-03-28T00:44:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T05:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47028"},"modified":"2026-03-28T00:44:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T05:44:28","slug":"wheat-kings-fall-in-triple-ot-heartbreaker-in-game-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/article\/wheat-kings-fall-in-triple-ot-heartbreaker-in-game-one","title":{"rendered":"Wheat Kings fall in triple OT heartbreaker in game one"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]A goaltenders duel where both teams battled their hearts out and set the table for one heck of a series ultimately went against the Wheat Kings in Calgary for their playoff opener.<\/p>\n

Filip Ruzicka\u00a0<\/strong>was sensational with 64 saves, but the Hitmen took a 1-0 triple overtime victory over Brandon. Both teams went 0-for-3 on the power play.<\/p>\n

“That’s a heartbreaker, no question, to lose a game like that,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray<\/strong>. “It was a hard fought game. Our guys left it all out there. They were gassed at the end, as probably were Calgary. You work that hard and play that long and come out on the wrong side, it’s deflating, but like I told the guys after the game it’s one game and this is a best of seven.”<\/p>\n

Both teams had some great looks from their big guns in the first period, including on the power play. For the Wheat Kings,\u00a0Joby Baumuller\u00a0<\/strong>was denied in the high slot, while for the Hitmen, Caine Wilke hit the post on a one-timer. But the first period came and went with the opening goal of the series still up for grabs.<\/p>\n

The second period progressed much the same way, not only in the goalless score but in the Wheat Kings hitting a post on their power play.\u00a0Grayson Burzynski\u00a0<\/strong>rang iron and, on the same power play, Baumuller was stoned point-blank by the left pad of Eric Tu. And into the second intermission the two teams went, still without the opening goal.<\/p>\n

Again in the third period the two teams had their chances, but a tighter defensive structure both ways was in evidence and the chances didn’t come as easily as they had in the second. The scoreless tie held through the third and the two teams went to overtime.<\/p>\n

And still, the first overtime produced no goals.\u00a0Caleb Hadland\u00a0<\/strong>was robbed by the left pad of Tu with less than a minute to go in the first extra frame, and the Hitmen earned a power play but could not convert, and a second overtime was required.<\/p>\n

The two teams had perhaps their best chances yet in double overtime.\u00a0Luke Mistelbacher\u00a0<\/strong>and Julien Maze both hit posts, and\u00a0Jimmy Egan\u00a0<\/strong>earned a penalty shot, but was turned aside by Tu.<\/p>\n

Triple overtime finally provided the winner. The Hitmen stripped the puck in the left wing corner and fed it out front to a waiting Ethan Moore, who snapped it home.<\/p>\n

The Wheat Kings and Hitmen get a well-earned day off on Saturday before facing off again on Sunday at 7:00 Mountain Time.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]A goaltenders duel where both teams battled their hearts out and set the table for one heck of a series ultimately went against the Wheat Kings in Calgary for their playoff opener. Filip Ruzicka\u00a0was sensational with 64 saves, but the Hitmen took a 1-0 triple overtime victory over Brandon. Both teams went 0-for-3 on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":510,"featured_media":47029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47028","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\/03\/28004335\/20260327_CGY_vs_BDN_HIT1443_JP-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\/47028","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\/510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47018,"date":"2026-03-25T09:09:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T14:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47018"},"modified":"2026-03-25T09:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T14:11:51","slug":"round-1-playoff-tickets-on-sale-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/am.ticketmaster.com\/keystone\/buy","title":{"rendered":"Round 1 Playoff Tickets On-Sale Now!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Game 3: March 31, 7:00pm, Virden Tundra Oil & Gas Place<\/p>\n

Game 4: April 2, 7:00pm, Virden Tundra Oil & Gas Place<\/p>\n

*Game 5: April 3, 7:00pm, Virden Tundra Oil & Gas Place<\/p>\n

*If Necessary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Game 3: March 31, 7:00pm, Virden Tundra Oil & Gas Place Game 4: April 2, 7:00pm, Virden Tundra Oil & Gas Place *Game 5: April 3, 7:00pm, Virden Tundra Oil & Gas Place *If Necessary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":46829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47018","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\/2025\/12\/19153806\/20251219_CGY_vs_BDN_HIT0441_JP-scaled.jpg",2560,1706,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\/47018","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=47018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":47009,"date":"2026-03-21T21:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T02:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/?p=47009"},"modified":"2026-03-21T21:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T02:06:21","slug":"highlights-reg-2-bdn-4-final-03-21-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Tlsu9akc2sU","title":{"rendered":"HIGHLIGHTS: REG (2) @ BDN (4) – FINAL 03\/21\/2026"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":47010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-47009","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\/03\/21210605\/QO3A8348-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\/47009","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=47009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-wheatkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]