By James Shewaga /
The Brandon Wheat Kings opened their Memorial Cup campaign missing six prime players who are being counted on to be key cogs in their Cup run this season.
The Wheat Kings were without their six NHL draft picks in centres Brayden Schenn (Los Angeles Kings) and Scott Glennie (Dallas Stars), left-winger Matt Calvert (Columbus Blue Jackets), injured Finnish right-winger Toni Rajala (Edmonton Oilers) and defencemen Colby Robak (Florida Panthers) and new Swedish import Alexander Urbom (New
Jersey Devils).
Their absence was clearly evident as Brandon began the Western Hockey League regular season in Prince Albert on Sept. 18 by suffering a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of the Raiders. Robak returned in time for Game 2 and set up the opening goal in a 3-0 victory in Regina the next night.
“We feel if we get our players back from the National Hockey League ... we’re gonna have a good core of our own guys that will allow us to start out and see exactly what we look like,” said Wheat Kings head coach/general manager Kelly McCrimmon.
Serving as the host team for the 2010 Memorial Cup — slated for May 14-23 at Brandon’s Westman Place — there is pressure from fans, the media and the other 21 teams in the WHL, for the Wheat Kings to ice a championship-calibre team and not embarrass the league in the tournament. But with a strong core of veterans eligible to return this season — led by the dynamic duo of Schenn (drafted fifth overall by the Kings in 2009) and Glennie (selected eighth overall by the Stars) — McCrimmon was confident he had the makings of a strong club coming off a season in which Brandon posted an impressive 48-19-3-2 record on their way to advancing to the Eastern Conference final.
And while the Memorial Cup remains the ultimate goal and trades a strong possibility as the season progresses, McCrimmon is determined to keep his players focused on the task at hand.
“I think for us, it’s to focus on the process of becoming a good team,” said McCrimmon. “I think that’s going to enable us to show the most growth, the most development. I think that’s the proper approach in terms of managing our team.”
BRANDON BITS: The Wheat Kings began the regular season having sold a franchise-record 3,371 season tickets, with more trickling in each day prior to their Sept. 25 home opener against the Swift Current Broncos. The overwhelming demand prompted the CHL to free up another 350 Memorial Cup passes for local fans, giving as many as 3,652 potential season ticket holders first crack at tournament ticket packages ... The Wheat Kings made a surprise move just prior to opening the season by re-assigning former first-round WHL bantam draft pick Sanfred King, a 19-year-old homegrown forward from Brandon, to the Junior A ranks ... Shaw Cable is scheduled to broadcast four Wheat King games this season: Nov. 20 versus Calgary, Dec. 9 in Saskatoon, Jan. 26 against Kootenay in Cranbrook, B.C., and March 7 versus Saskatoon.