Propp thrilled with Wheat Kings honours

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This article was published 14/03/2025 (237 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If Brian Propp harboured any doubts about whether the Brandon Wheat Kings and the organization’s fans remembered him, it’s safe to say they’ve been answered.

The 66-year-old returned to the Wheat City on Wednesday for the first time in more than a decade, and skated in a National Hockey League legends game, visited with his former billets and other friends, was inducted into the team’s new Hall of Fame, had a street named after him and dropped the puck prior to Friday’s game against the Moose Jaw Warriors.

The product of Neudorf, Sask., was touched by the attention.

“It means a lot to me,” Propp said. “As most people know, I had a massive stroke nine years ago where I couldn’t talk or walk and so I’m just happy to be alive every day. It means a lot to me, especially for all the people in Brandon and Saskatchewan, the people I know and the family and the team that was so good for three years.

“It’s really special for me because we played as a team, I get honoured because of scoring but the coaching and management and players made a big difference.”

He certainly deserves everything he’s received.

In 213 regular season games — he missed just three contests during his entire three-year Western Hockey League career — Propp piled up an amazing 511 points. He also had 77 points in the playoffs and 11 at the 1979 Memorial Cup.

In 1999, Propp was named to the MasterCard Canadian Junior All-Time team alongside Mario Lemieux, Guy Lafleur, Bobby Orr, Denis Potvin and Bernie Parent. The WHL named him the 14th best player in league history in 2016.

The Wheat Kings event kicked off on Wednesday evening with an NHL legends game that was put on after Brandon’s 5-2 victory over the visiting Saskatoon Blades. It included a bevy of former NHL stars, including several from Westman, plus some local players.

Propp has put on similar charity games in New Jersey involving former New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils.

On Thursday, the team held its annual Black and Gold Gala at the Keystone Centre’s Manitoba Room, and for the second year in a row, someone was added to the team’s new Hall of Fame.

It was launched in 2024 with the induction of player Bill Fairbairn and player, coach and executive Glen Lawson. Propp was another obvious candidate.

Wheat Kings owner Jared Jacobson said it’s important for the franchise to recognize its greatest contributors.

“I think Brian is a huge part of the history of our team,” Jacobson said. “For the past couple of years when we started doing the Hall of Fame, we were identifying possible candidates we wanted to talk to first and bring in first. With that whole team in that era that had that winning mentality and is a part of franchise history, I thought it was important to include some of those guys, and Brian was out number one candidate.”

Propp was pleased to be honoured.

“The older guys deserved it at the start,” Propp said. “Thankfully I’m here and alive. You know a couple of people who aren’t around anymore so I’m thankful every day that I’m alive because something could happen at any time. It’s nice to enjoy something together. It was sold out and a nice event. I got to talk to a lot of people and sign some cards.”

Propp’s father was a Lutheran minister who taught him to always be a humble and to give back, which he says always sticks with him. He’s certainly not forgotten the people who helped him along the way.

When he played in Brandon, Propp stayed with McCallum’s friends Larry and Ellen Decock in Brandon, a short walk to the rink on 13th Street. They met for lunch on Thursday.

On Friday, he shared a meal with his former Melville Millionaries teammate Bill Flynn of Birtle.

“It’s amazing,” Jacobson said, noting Propp’s excellence goes well beyond the points. “One of the biggest things is his values that match our values too. It’s interesting to see how long ago that was and the values are still the same. Even going from ownership to ownership to ownership, it seems like the values have transferred through.

“He is such a quality, humble, smart, well-respected person and understands what the Wheat Kings are about on and off the ice, and that’s a big part of why we think he was a perfect fit as well.”

In the 1979 NHL draft, Propp was one of 10 Wheat Kings drafted when the Philadelphia Flyers grabbed him 14th overall in the first round. He went to play 1,016 regular season NHL games over 15 seasons, and 160 more playoff games. He retired following the 1994-95 season in Europe.

Propp pursued opportunities in business and later real estate, and has recovered from a stroke he suffered in 2015. He lives in New Jersey.

There was one part of this week’s agenda that the team kept from Propp.

On Friday afternoon, Wheat Kings vice president of business operations Mike Filipchuk drove Propp and his wife Eileen to the Bellafield Development in the southwest corner of the city, where the former scoring star learned a street will be called Propp Place in his honour.

It will join Derlago Drive, Hanlon Crescent, Fairbairn Place, Boschman Bay, Chipperfield Drive, Allison Way, Ferraro Drive and Dietrich Bay in streets named after former Wheat Kings since the development began in 2015.

Construction on Propp Place is set to begin on single family homes in late 2025.

“I didn’t know what they were going to do,” Propp said. “For my name to be on that, Propp Place, that means a lot to me. A lot of the other guys from Brandon are already on it so it’s special to get something named after you. It will be there forever.”

It won’t be the only mark he made in Brandon that will live well into the future.

After the team’s incredible 1978-79 season that saw them set a record that still stands with 125 points, win a league championship and ultimately fall in overtime in the Memorial Cup final, a very tangible sign of that magic season remains.

While the dressing room has been redone multiple times since 1979, a single square of the original brick wall remains untouched, where Propp wrote “125 pts, try to beat that!” The ink has faded badly over the years, especially on the bottom line, but the 125 was still easy to make out.

One of Propp’s chores when he was back was to touch up his original bit of dressing room graffiti, which will be more carefully preserved this time.

“It’s so nice,” Propp said. “It meant a lot to us. I was pretty shy but I just wanted to do it and write my name and put ‘Hey, try to beat this.’ It’s lasted for a lot of years.

“They’ve done all the rooms so you would think over time, somebody would just take it away. Thankfully they kept it, because it’s something that might never be broken.”

Propp, who dropped the puck in the ceremonial faceoff prior to Friday’s game against visiting Moose Jaw, marvelled at the state of the Keystone Centre.

When he launched his career in Brandon in the fall of 1976, the building was only a few years old. He was delighted at how good it looks nearly five decades later.

“It’s kind of neat,” Propp said. “The character of the rink was special — especially when we played, we filled the place — but I remember the smell of the cattle. That was a little bit of the character, the seats were coloured. It was so nice just to be with the people in Brandon.”

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