Wheat Kings eager to see teddys fly

The fur is about to fly again tonight as the Brandon Wheat Kings meet the Kelowna Rockets in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

The Wheat Kings are holding their annual teddy-bear toss game tonight, and since Jaxon Jacobson actually grew up in Brandon, he attended many times as a youngster. As a result, he has a keen appreciation for the event.

“As a kid, it was always the coolest game to come to,” Jacobson said. “I was lucky to be a part of it when I was a call-up and saw Roers (Rylen Roersma) score. That was my first experience of ‘Wow, this is pretty cool.’

“Last year I was hurt, so that was tough to be out for. It’s a really cool game, the most important games for the kids around the community to come to. It will be fun to play.”

One thing is for sure. If Brandon gets the goal, and they’ve never gone beyond the second period in the past, it will be someone new who gets it.

The last four goal scorers are Rhett Ravndahl (now of the Kamloops Blazers), Roersma (University of Alaska-Fairbanks), Nate Danielson (Detroit Red Wings), and Brett Hyland (University of Nebraska-Omaha).

The Rockets are the foe for the fourth time since 2009: In the last three meetings the goal has been scored inside the first eight minutes.

• Dec. 12, 2015 — Tyler Coulter — 7:30 1st (5-1 win).

• Dec. 13, 2013 — Rene Hunter — 0:29 1st (6-5 OT loss).

• Dec. 11, 2009 — Jesse Sinatynski — 6:00 1st (8-4 win).

“Everyone thinks about ‘What if? What would you do after?’” Jacobson said. “I don’t know what I would do after. I would just black out. It would be a pretty crazy feeling.”

A few other Wheat Kings were also asked what the game and the goal means:

• NICK JOHNSON: “It would be pretty nice. Everyone almost dreams of scoring it and then being on the ice and having all the teddy bears thrown down on you. There is a lot of talk in the room and a lot of guys guessing who will score it. It’s a lot of fun. It’s one of the bigger games all year.”

• CALEB HADLAND: “Everyone looks forward to that. It’s probably one of the bigger goals of your career if you score it. Everyone is lurking for it, but we have to stay focused on the game and not get too selfish out there. But if you score it, it will be pretty special.”

• JAYDEN KRAUS: “I love it. Teddy bear toss is one of the most amazing nights playing in the Western Hockey League. It’s amazing, it’s amazing for the kids. We have lots of fans in the crowd to support us, and the guys love it. Every single guy in this room wants to score the goal. It’s pretty fun. It’s usually the guy you least suspect who scores it. I’m excited to see what happens.”

• MAX LAVOIE: “I think it’s pretty special, not just because everyone wants to score the goal, but the cause as well is a pretty cool cause. I’m really excited.”

While the tradition started two years after Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray graduated from the team — Peter Schaefer scored the first one on Dec. 6, 1996 — he did participate in the games elsewhere.

Murray chuckled when asked what his advice would be to his players before the teddy bear toss game started.

“Get it early,” Murray said with a laugh. “It’s kind of stressful when it doesn’t happen, but just enjoy it. It’s a fun night. I’m sure every team across the league has this night on their calendar. It’s a fun night for a great cause, obviously. We’ll see how it shakes down.”

The puck drops at 7 tonight, and based on Brandon’s performance in past teddy bear games, fans may want to be seated when it begins. In 28 games, the Wheat Kings have scored 23 teddy bear goals in the first period and six times in the first two minutes.

The Wheat Kings also had something else to celebrate on Thursday at Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

After the formal part of the practice ends, the team always gathers in a circle at centre ice for a stretch, with one of the players in the middle directing the others through counts to 10.

At practice on Thursday, Jacobson was at centre ice, and when he wasn’t looking, he got an impromptu water bottle shower from some of his teammates to celebrate his 17th birthday, which drew loud laughter from the entire group.

“It’s just tradition,” Jacobson said with a wide smile after practice. “I regretted getting into the middle of that circle, but I kind of knew. I’ve done it to guys before and it was just my turn.”

Above and beyond the fun tonight, there should be a pretty good hockey game.

Brandon (15-11-1-0) is in third place in the East Division, a point back of the Saskatoon Blades but with three games in hand. Kelowna (14-9-3-1), meanwhile, is tied for third place with Kamloops in the B.C. Division, a point back of the Penticton Vees.

The Rockets will be without two of their top forwards, Tij Iginla and Tomas Poletin, who are away at their respective world junior camps for Canada and Czechia. They are also missing a pair of injured defencemen, Peyton Kettles and Nate Corbet.

“They’re dialled in pretty good,” Murray said. “They’ve been playing really good hockey the last little while. I think they’ve added some pieces that have really helped their identity and they’re really well coached. They’re missing a couple of key personnel with the world juniors, but we expect a real hard matchup.”

The Rockets will have their captain, Carson Wetsch, the longtime Calgary Hitmen forward who had three goals and five assists against the Wheat Kings in eight games over the past two seasons.

“The obvious standout is they’re the Memorial Cup hosts,” Jacobson said. “I think our goal as a team is to win the Memorial Cup, so the best statement we can make is dominating them.”

The good news for Brandon is that they’re currently as healthy as they’ve been all season. A pair of defencemen, Merrek Arpin and Adam Hlinsky, remain out indefinitely, but Russian blue-liner Daniil Skvortsov is back.

In addition, forwards Easton Odut and Ryan Boyce both played in Wednesday’s 7-3 victory over the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes, giving Brandon seven defencemen and 14 forwards for the first time since early October.

Another of the forwards who just returned is Jacobson, who sustained a lower body injury early in a matchup against the Prince Albert Raiders on Nov. 21 and missed five games.

“It was really good,” Jacobson said of the Lethbridge game. “Taking time off is my least favourite part of hockey. I hate it so much, but coming back is a great feeling and getting a win with the guys and being on a roll is really, really good.”

Brandon has now won four games in a row. After starting the season 2-6-1-0, Brandon is 13-5-0-0.

Murray noted the team has made some real strides and is coming closer to the consistent play that eluded it early on. They’ve also done a much better job defending their net.

“The offence has been there since the start of the year, but we were dropping really high-scoring games,” said Jacobson, who leads the team with 39 points in 22 games. “That’s not something we wanted to do, so the area of focus since the start of the year is that we have to dial in our details defensively. I think it’s starting to show more and more.

“We’re starting to have lower-scoring games, but we’re still producing offence. I think it’s really showing in the win column.”

ICINGS: In a big deal on Tuesday, the Saskatoon Blades sent former Wheat Kings overage forward Dominik Petr and a fifth-round pick in 2029 to the Spokane Chiefs for 19-year-old German forward Elias Pul and 17-year-old defenceman Kaden Allan of Hamiota. The former U15 Yellowhead Chiefs captain has played in 19 games this season as he battled a pair of injuries.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com