Female U18 AAA Wheat Kings fold

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This article was published 30/05/2025 (382 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings won’t be back next season for what promises to be the final season of the existing format for the Manitoba Female Hockey League U18 AAA.

Hockey Manitoba announced the addition of the Brandon franchise in the spring of 2024, and in their one and only season, the Wheat Kings finished fifth of nine clubs in the regular season with a record of 17-17-3.

They were subsequently ousted by the Yellowhead Chiefs in overtime of Game 5 of their best-of-five quarterfinal series on March 1.

The one-year run ended with the graduation of six of the team’s 18 players and the decision by four others to head to prep schools next winter. A big sign of trouble came when the U18 club didn’t draw enough interest to even hold its identification camp.

Hockey Brandon president Tim Lang said the decision is the unfortunate reality of the current situation.

“We’re bound by the numbers we have,” Lang said. “If we looked at all the potential players that could play, we could probably have a team that could compete but when you lose a few to other places, and you can’t force people to play AAA hockey either. Some people are not interested in that commitment, they have other things going on, whether it be volleyball or other activities.

“It’s disappointing from our standpoint because I think we worked hard to get that team in place to give our local girls a place to play and to not have one this year is a tough pill to swallow.”

All local players now become free agents who can try out anywhere since Brandon becomes an open region.

Wheat Kings head coach Karissa Kirkup removed herself from the final decision, and learned about it last Saturday. She said it’s unfortunate to see the team go.

“You have to do what’s best for those players who are still involved with Hockey Brandon,” Kirkup said. “As far as being disappointed, it was a competitive team and there are still competitive opportunities clearly. The facts are the facts on the numbers. I try to stay objective about it. It’s not that those girls in Hockey Brandon aren’t going to have a place to play, they’ll still have teams to try out for.

“If it was the case that they had nowhere to play, that would be a whole other story.”

There is also apparently a chance for coaches to find new opportunities.

With Troy Gould not returning behind the bench for the Westman Wildcats, the organization monitored the Wheat Kings situation, and when it was clear the team was not returning, offered the job to Kirkup, who accepted on Monday.

It was a nice moment for Kirkup in a tough time, since she played with the Wildcats for four seasons prior to embarking on her five-year university career in the United States and Canada.

“Once the Brandon decision was made, I was making a decision there,” Kirkup said. “Really, it was a no-brainer once I got that opportunity. It’s a huge honour and a privilege and I’m really looking forward to it.”

However, it is possible Brandon won’t be without the U18 girls program for long.

There is a significant change afoot in the province, with the long-discussed elite league finally launching in the 2026-27 season. It will see the number of girls teams reduced from eight to six, with two based in Winnipeg.

“Hockey Manitoba is looking to be more competitive at some of those (national) tournaments but balancing that with allowing competitive hockey to be played and have sports for people to play competitive hockey so that they can pursue that post-secondary student-athlete life too,” Kirkup said. “There are lots of factors at play.”

After this season, rural Manitoba becomes one open territory and Winnipeg becomes another, with players free to try out with whatever team they want inside their territory.

In Westman, there will be two hub teams representing the Parkland, Yellowhead, Brandon and Westman South associations, with the hosts yet to be determined.

Brandon will be applying to host one of the hub teams, a process that begins in June when the requirements are released. The applications are due in mid-September, so Brandon will put together a committee to work on the application.

“Our long-term goal if we are successful in getting a hub is to have a very similar setup to the male U18 program where they have their own board of directors and are operated in that way rather than being under Hockey Brandon,” Lang said. “We feel that’s probably the best road to go, and the U18 male team has been very forthcoming as well. They’re willing to help out once we get that process started in terms of forming a board and giving guidance on how they run things.”

The final decision could come as early as October to allow teams to spend nearly a year preparing rather than trying to throw it all together over the summer.

While the loss of the U18 Wheat Kings this season is certainly a setback for girls hockey in Brandon, Lang said the female game is in a good place in the younger age groups.

The under-7 and U9 age groups are especially strong, although it’s a common refrain in all minor sports that teenagers start to fall away as jobs, time at the lake, dating and other factors begin to enter the equation.

“It is tough because at every age, whether it’s male or female, as they get older we seem to lose players to different activities,” Lang said. “It’s tough to estimate what things will look like when they get to the U18 age group but we do have very strong U7 and U9 numbers.

“We had all-female teams at U7, which is something we’ve historically never had, and that’s happened in the last couple of years here. There are a lot of positives at the younger age groups.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com