Brandon ready to make Virden home

When Grayson Burzynski was with the Swift Current Broncos last season, he watched from afar as the Brandon Wheat Kings played their home games in Virden in the Western Hockey League playoffs.

The 20-year-old defenceman from Winnipeg found it funny at the time but views the whole situation a little differently now.

“Last year we made fun of it,” Burzynski said with a chuckle. “It was, ‘Can you imagine if we played somewhere else?’ Living it now is a little bit weird, but we’ll get through it. We should be able to get through these guys, but it will be a little bit different going there on day trips, but it should be all right.”

The Wheat Kings are unable to use Assiniboine Credit Union Place because the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair is taking over the entire Keystone Centre.

If Brandon had finished fourth, they could have hosted Games 1 and 2 before the fair transition began. Instead, they finished fifth and will start on the road against the Calgary Hitmen.

After Games 1 and 2 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Friday and Sunday, the series shifts back to Manitoba for games on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday as the WHL navigates around the schedule of the building’s primary tenant, the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Virden Oil Capitals.

Brandon will practise in Virden this morning and then hit the Trans-Canada Highway to Swift Current. The Wheat Kings will practise there on Thursday morning due to an ice shortage in Calgary, and then make the five-hour trip to Calgary in the afternoon.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said the chance to spend time in Virden was important for his group.

A year ago, Brandon was down 2-0 to the Lethbridge Hurricanes when the series switched to Virden.

In Game 3 on April 1, 2025, the Hurricanes scored twice in the first nine minutes and then added a late empty-netter for a 3-1 victory in front of 1,430 people.

With their backs to the wall, Brandon responded with a 6-4 victory on April 2, with Ethan Eskit making 38 saves and Matteo Michels scoring twice in front of a crowd of 1,480.

The series ended two nights later back in Lethbridge.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s still close enough and we still have our fans,” veteran forward Nick Johnson said. “There were a lot of people there. It’s a smaller rink, but if it fills it can get loud and hopefully it does.”

Rookie defenceman Cameron Allard suited up for both games in Virden and Game 5 in Lethbridge with the Wheat Kings last spring after they called him up.

“I think it’s just another ice surface,” Allard said. “It feels probably a little bit smaller as you play just because of the size of the building. The glass is a little more stiff than the glass here, but really, not a lot is different compared to the Assiniboine.”

Rookie forward Brett Wilson skated with the BCHL’s Okotoks Oilers until he joined the Wheat Kings in early February, and will now be back in a Junior A building for the playoffs. While it’s not a development he could have predicted, he’s philosophical about it.

“It’s going to be a bit weird and a bit of an adjustment not to be playing at home, so to speak,” Wilson said. “It’s still at home, but it’s not your rink. You’re going to have to get used to that layout. We were pushing for home-ice advantage to stay here, we gave it our all, but we came up short.

“We’re just going to have to adjust on the fly and take home-ice advantage as much as we can there.”

The Brandon-Calgary series is one of just two quarterfinals that are using the 2-3-2 home-and-away format, with all the others employing the traditional 2-2-1-1-1.

The other 2-3-2 series is between the Prince George Cougars and Spokane Chiefs, where the rinks are located 1,049 kilometres apart.

The Scotiabank Saddledome and Tundra Oil and Gas Place are 1,043 kilometres apart.

“I’m really liking that for sure,” Johnson said of the format. “It’s long travel, but even if we can have a couple of good away games, then have three at home, that will give us more time to settle in and look at what we have to do differently.”

The Hitmen also have an arena issue since the Calgary Flames host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. That’s why Game 2 is on Sunday.

Murray agreed the 2-3-2 is the best format with all that’s going on.

“It’s a long series with a lot of travel,” Murray said. “I think both clubs have their challenges with their arenas, so it worked out as best as it could have. We’ll start with two on the road — a barn we played pretty well in this year — and we’ll focus on that part of the series and then we’ll worry about playing in Virden when we get back.”

Regardless of when and where the games are played, the playoffs have finally arrived after a 68-game season that began on Sept. 19. That’s a span of 189 days until Game 1.

“We’re super excited,” Allard said. “Everyone is excited for the playoff season. Obviously we have a good matchup. They’re a good team and we’ll see what we can do. Hopefully Virden will have a good atmosphere for the guys. It’s a lot of travel but it all should be good. It’s fun, the best time of the year.”

» Watch for extensive playoff previews in The Brandon Sun all week.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com