1978-79 BWK Series — Day 12 — Kelly McCrimmon’s path with club began in 1978

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This article was published 09/08/2021 (1753 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nobody has cast a greater shadow over the Brandon Wheat Kings franchise than Kelly McCrimmon.

But in 1978-79, he wasn’t the owner, general manager and head coach who took the team to new levels of sustained success. He was a rookie forward who just happened to be the younger brother of one of the best defencemen in team history. 

By sheer force of will, Kelly McCrimmon carved out his own niche on the 1978-79 team as a hard-working, edgy forward who could contribute at both ends of the ice.

Unfortunately, he had some rotten luck. He earned an eight-game suspension on Dec. 14 for leaving the bench during a brawl, came back on Jan. 15, missed 13 games due to a cracked bone in his arm, suffered an ankle injury on March 2 and then reinjured his arm again during Game 2 of the league final and missed the rest of the season.

He returned the next year, and after graduating, headed to the University of Michigan for four years, and upon earning his degree, went home to the farm.

After coaching near Plenty, Sask., farm, he took a job with the Wheat Kings in 1988, and within a few years was a partial owner of the team, later buying the rest of the club from Bob Cornell.

After winning a Western Hockey League championship in 2016, McCrimmon joined the National Hockey League’s Vegas Golden Knights as assistant general manager, and was later promoted to GM. He sold the team to Jared Jacobson last September. 

TIM LOCKRIDGE: “The professor. The one thing I remember about Kelly was his detail for the game. His wheels were always turning. He was constantly analyzing everything so you knew he was going to go on somewhere and do very well for himself, which obviously he has. He was Brad’s little brother, and you could see some things that were the same in him but they were both very independent. Brad would help coach in practice and Kelly was the same way. He understood the game and he wanted to learn more and do more in the game.” 

WES COULSON: “Kelly was quite the character. Him and I shared a bunk on the bus so I got to know Kelly quite a bit. He was another one of those guys who was happy with life. He just had a hate on for Kenny Federko, just an absolute hate. It might be because he had a hate on for Saskatoon. He couldn’t stand the Saskatoon Blades. He grew up around Saskatoon but he couldn’t stand Ken Federko. I remember one night in Saskatoon and we’re down in our end. We came out first and all of a sudden Kelly takes off and stands right by the door where the Blades come out. Out comes Kenny Federko and he takes a swing at him (laughs). ‘What are you doing?’”

STEPHEN PATRICK: “I remember this one time he ran a guy in warmup. It was Bernie Federko’s younger brother. It was amazing.”

DAVE STEWART: “Kelly is Kelly. He didn’t have a ton of talent, that’s for sure, not like his brother, but he had his place. He killed penalties and he would get in front of the net and cause s—. He was good at that, and you always need players like that. Did I think he would be where he is now? No, I thought he would head back to the farm.”

RICK KNICKLE: “Kelly was another guy on our team — with Brad being the star defenceman and getting all the accolades — who was really important on our team. I believe if he wasn’t hurt, we would have won the Memorial Cup.”

DON GILLEN: “He understood the game very well. He understood the little things. He was a very smart hockey player. He had a couple of unfortunate injuries. The wrist, I believe, he broke a couple of times and that sets you back for a few months. And when you come back, is your shot the way it was? You always knew you could count on him. The other team always knew he was on the ice.”

WES COULSON: “He didn’t have the talent that a lot of the other guys had on the team but he worked hard and he would stand up for you. He didn’t give a s— about nothing. If somebody was picking on somebody, he would give them a little tap, and if you wanted to go, fine. If you didn’t want to go, he would give you another tap. He was quite the character.”

MIKE PEROVICH: “Kelly was a good penalty killer. He worked hard.”

STEPHEN PATRICK: “Kelly was great in the dressing room. I didn’t see that he felt any kind of pressure because his brother was a great player. Kelly would always have guys around his locker because he had a great sense of humour. He was a real good penalty killer and he was a bugger to play against … He was a great teammate.”

DAVE CHARTIER: “Kelly and I played together on the penalty kill. He was a buzzer. What he lacked in talent, he was unbelievable in heart. He was a good player. He was like a bulldog. He would never give up, worked hard all the time. Look at what he has now. That’s his work ethic, and he had it back then too. A lot of it came from home obviously but he worked his tale off. He was so smart.”

DON GILLEN: “When we went down to Billings, they had a booster club down there and it was quite active in a new organization. They used to put signs up for the opposing team and I still remember “#18 is McCriminal.” (laughs)

RAY ALLISON: “Kelly was pretty funny too. There were about three or four of those guys they were like peas in a pod, Donny Gillen and Kelly and Donny Dietrich and (Mike) Perovich. They would get going and it was pretty funny. The locker room was a pretty fun room at times, and we always had a good time.”

GREGG DRINNAN (Brandon Sun): “Kelly was a hard worker, and his penalty killing was unbelievable. His anticipation of where the puck was going was second to none. I know it’s a cliche, but people talk now about a good stick and he had a really good stick, knocking down pucks and getting into lanes. One of the things people forget about is the injuries, the arm he broke twice and issues with calcification in the healing process. They would have been a better team if he was healthy through the whole season because I would suggest he was the best defensive player on the team. He was also really hard to play against. Chartier was a pest and he didn’t mind who knew it or how out in the open it was that he was doing this goofiness. Kelly was the same way but he was a lot slyer. Kelly knew where the referee was all the time and Kelly didn’t care who you were or how big you were. He would do anything to win.”

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