Wheat Kings, Ice postpone home games

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This article was published 31/01/2022 (1513 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings and Winnipeg Ice have postponed their next home games as they wait for the provincial government to lift restrictions on crowd sizes.

The Western Hockey League made the announcement on Monday afternoon.

The province is currently limiting attendance at sporting events or concerts to 50 per cent capacity or 250 people — whichever is fewer — with proof of vaccination required. The current orders began today and are set to expire next Tuesday. The province has been revisiting them on a weekly basis.

Wheat Kings general manager Doug Gasper said it was another tough day in a season full of them.

“It’s disappointing for sure,” Gasper said. “It’s disappointing not only for us, for the players, for the fans. You can tell by our record that we feel we have a pretty good team and it’s really hard to not show that in front of our fans. You always want to play at home. It just makes everything a little bit tougher every day.”

Brandon, which is 20-14-2-2 and tied for fifth in the Eastern Conference, was set to play the Medicine Hat Tigers on Friday, Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday and Red Deer Rebels on Monday at Westoba Place. The Red Deer game remains on the schedule, at least for now.

Winnipeg was scheduled to face Medicine Hat on Saturday and Sunday at Wayne Fleming Arena.

Next week, Winnipeg hosts Brandon on Thursday, Feb. 10, and Brandon is then scheduled to play the visiting Swift Current Broncos one night later.

Gasper said his team is holding up pretty well.

“We’re very fortunate that we have some outstanding young men here with us,” Gasper said. “They understand things are out of our control. They’re a pretty mature group. The frustrating part is you just get back into game mode and game shape and playing games. We’ve had a 12-day sit-down and then a COVID sit-down and this will be another roughly seven days between games depending on what happens.

“It’s frustrating but the guys are doing pretty good.”

Since Brandon’s final game prior to the Christmas break on Dec. 18, they’ve played just eight games, with the last six on the road. The last WHL game played in Brandon, which was held without fans in the building, was on Dec. 30 against the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Winnipeg’s last home game was Dec. 18 when they hosted Brandon.

Brandon’s next scheduled game outside of Manitoba is on Feb. 15 when they head to Saskatchewan to visit the Swift Current Broncos.

It’s also been an unprecedented time for the coaching staff, which includes head coach Don MacGillivray and assistants Mark Derlago and Daniel Johnston. Gasper has been impressed with how they’ve reacted to uncharted waters.

“Our coaching staff, led by Don, has done a tremendous job with flexibility and just adjusting game plans and practices when we needed to,” Gasper said. “They’ve really done a great job of keeping a positive attitude with the guys and keeping them in the right frame of mind. They’re always looking at it like ‘It will come. We just have to keep working. It will come.’ They’ve done a great job with the creativity in their practices and keeping the interest level up.”

While it’s difficult not to be playing now, the more worrisome aspect now lies ahead of them. Every game postponed now will have to be jammed into a rapidly contracting window. Brandon still has 30 games to play to complete their 68-game season, with the end of the WHL season set for April 3.

“There’s a reason why we try not to play three in threes or four in fives as much as we can,” Gasper said. “These young men, their bodies need time to recoup and injuries are always a concern. The more you pack games in, the higher the probability that can happen. It’s trying to manage giving them good minutes but also managing their rest and looking for the playoffs as well if we get there.”

Meanwhile, in Winnipeg, Ice head coach James Patrick said his team sighed after he told them the news.

“Last game, I thought, ‘Jeez, when are we going to get the last change in the game?’” Patrick told the Winnipeg Free Press’s Mike Sawatzky. “But saying that, every team has had stoppages and setbacks and protocols that you have to follow and we’re no different. I do understand that young, emotional kids can get frustrated and we’ve really tried to talk a lot about focusing on what is in our control.

“Every league in every sport and society there’s been locked downs and shutdowns and setbacks and they suck.

“I feel bad for the guys but we’ve just to keep our eyes straight ahead and focus on trying to get better and getting ready for when we do get the chance to play because we are going to play.”

ICINGS: Kamloops Blazers forward Logan Stankoven was named player of the week on Monday after piling up five goals and eight assists in four games last week. The 18-year-old Dallas Stars product is from Kamloops. Meanwhile, Portland Winterhawks netminder Taylor Gauthier was named goaltender of the week after winning his two starts with a 0.50 goals-against average, a .977 save percentage and a shutout. The 20-year-old Calgary product, who was recently acquired from the Prince George Cougars, also won the award earlier in January … Former Wheat Kings goalie Logan Thompson signed a three-year extension with the Vegas Golden Knights on the weekend … Former Wheat Kings forward Cole Reinhardt was called up to the Ottawa Senators taxi squad on Sunday … In announcing their return to play plans on Friday, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League said that a new schedule for the 2022 Memorial Cup will be released in the coming weeks. The event, which is to be held in Saint John, N.B. was supposed to run from June 4-13 but has been pushed back due to the QMJHL playoffs now starting and finishing at a later date.

 

» With files from the Winnipeg Free Press

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson