By James Shewaga /

The Brandon Wheat Kings have decided that replacing Keith Aulie as captain is a two-man job.

The WHL club named forwards and linemates Matt Calvert and Brayden Schenn as co-captains this season.

They take over for Aulie — the 51st captain in franchise history — who has graduated to the professional ranks and is playing in the AHL as a 20-year-old with the Abbotsford Heat.

Calvert is now wearing the captain’s ‘C’ in home games over the first half of the season, with Schenn serving as captain on the road.

“It’s definitely a proud moment, especially this year with Brayden Schenn, too,” said Calvert, who displayed a captain’s commitment by turning down a professional contract offer from the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets to return to the Wheat Kings for his overage year with Brandon slated to host the 2010 
Memorial Cup.

“(Schenn’s) a great leader and it helps when you’ve got two captains ... And we’ve got a bunch of leaders on this team.”

Like Calvert, Schenn welcomed taking on a leadership role.

“Obviously it’s a real honour getting named co-captain,” said Schenn, who received a long look from the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, who considered keeping the 18-year-old centre before returning him to the WHL.

“There have been a lot of good captains in Wheat King history and I am just happy to be a part of that group of captains, me and Matty. We’re not the only leaders on the team, there’s lots of leaders.”

It’s the first time in 12 years the Wheat Kings have had two players serving as co-captains, since Daniel Tetrault and Burke Henry shared the ‘C’ during the 1998-99 season.

For Wheat Kings head coach/general manager Kelly McCrimmon, having two captains made sense this season.

“Brayden and Matt, to me, have epitomized what we look for in our captain,” said McCrimmon. “I think that they have established themselves in their previous two years as great players who play hard every night, that lead by example, that care about their teammates and are going to really take on even more responsibility and larger roles this year as third-year players. And we felt this was a real logical step for both guys.”

Joining Calvert and Schenn in wearing letters are alternate captains Jay Fehr, 20, and Colby Robak, 19.

BRANDON BITS
With Brandon’s 4-1 victory in Edmonton on Oct. 12, head coach Kelly McCrimmon recorded his 252nd career coaching victory, moving past the late Dunc McCallum into second place on the Wheat Kings’ all-time list behind Bob Lowes (363 victories) ... The Wheat Kings released left-winger Del Cowan on Oct. 15 to finalize their overage contingent and also traded centre Brendan Rouse, 17, to Seattle for goaltender Jacob De Serres, 19, on the same day ... Brandon expects to be without right-winger Mark Stone (broken thumb) and right-winger Jordan DePape (broken foot) until the first week of December.