Wheat Kings aim to pilfer points from Ice

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This article was published 15/12/2022 (694 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings head into their final weekend before the Western Hockey League’s Christmas break hoping to leave a lump of coal in the stockings of their powerful provincial rivals.

The Wheat Kings (12-16-3-0) host the Winnipeg Ice (25-4-0-0) tonight at 7 o’clock and visit Wayne Fleming Arena on Saturday at 7:05 p.m., and then scatter across Western Canada until after Christmas.

“It would be really nice,” second-year forward Trae Johnson said. “We’ll try to get the win at home and work for another game on the road on Saturday and then it will be nice to get home and see some family, Hopefully we’ll get some wins and have a good feeling going into the holidays.”

There is some recent precedent.

While Brandon was a much improved team by Christmas after their injury-riddled start to the 2021-22 season, they were well behind the eventual East Division champion Ice in the standings when the teams met for the final two games before Christmas a year ago.

Karter Prosofsky scored in overtime to give the ice a 4-3 victory on Dec. 17, 2021 in Brandon, but a night later, Riley Ginnell’s hat trick led the Wheat Kings to a 4-2 upset in Winnipeg.

“It would be huge to get some points out of this weekend, especially heading into the break so when we come back we’ll be in good spirits and ready to keep going,” third-year forward Rylen Roersma said. But it won’t be easy.

The Wheat Kings have lost all four games against the Ice this season — 4-3 in overtime on Sept. 24 in Brandon, 4-1 on Oct. 28 in Brandon, 4-3 on Oct. 29 in Winnipeg and 8-3 on Nov. 12 in Winnipeg — In both of the 4-3 losses, Brandon led 3-2 in the third period but allowed the game to slip away.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said that showed his players they could skate with the Ice

“Two of the four games we’ve had leads going into the last 10 minutes and found a way to come out on the wrong side of it,” Murray said. “They’re human. Swift Current and Lethbridge went in there and gave them two tough games … One thing about them is that they know how to win.

“All of those guys have been winners their whole careers so you can see a calmness in their game, even in the games we were up with under 10 minutes left in the third, you can see the calmness. There’s no chaos. They just stuck to their game plan and found a way to get it done.

“There are things we can learn from as a group.”

If it seems like one team is dominant in the battle of Manitoba every season, you’re right. Winnipeg went 8-1-1-0 against Brandon last season, while the Wheat Kings won all four games in the Regina hub in 2021.

To find any kind of parity in the battle, you have to go back to the first season after the Ice moved from the British Columbia city of Kootenay to Winnipeg in 2019-20, with each team winning four times before the COVID shutdown.

Even though they’re winless in four games this season, Johnson isn’t conceding anything.

“When we’re on our game, we’re definitely a team that can compete against those top teams,” Johnson said. “We can win those games. We just need to play a full 60. Last game, we let it go in the last 10 minutes so we’ll have to make sure we’re bearing down for the full 60.”

But that doesn’t mean the Wheat Kings don’t understand the challenge. The Ice have three National Hockey League first-round picks — Strathclair’s Conor Geekie, Matt Savoie and Carson Lambos — and none of them are in the top four in team scoring.

Six players are averaging more than a point per game, and the Ice are leading the league in goals while surrendering the fifth fewest.

“They’re a really fast team,” Roersma said. “They move pucks fast, quick transitions, so it’s important that we’re on top of them in a good defensive position or else they’ll take advantage of our lapses in judgment. We can’t make any mistakes against them or else they’ll capitalize for sure.”

Johnson said they also have an elite ability to bury their chances.

“They’re a very opportunistic team,” Johnson said. “They have a lot of high-skill players so we can’t give them those great scoring chances. We have to be real tight in the D-zone and limit the odd-man rushes they get.”

Winnipeg has been ranked in the top three in the Canadian Hockey League’s weekly rankings all season, although the Seattle Thunderbirds currently hold down the top spot.

Murray noted Winnipeg’s depth is also a key factor. They have 11 players with 10 or more points, while Brandon has eight.

“You can keep one line off the scoresheet one night and still have six or eight other guys to worry about,” Murray said.

“They have to be the top team in Canada, even though they slipped,” Murray added. “They can beat you a lot of ways. If you make mistakes, they’ll make you pay. To beat them, you have to play a real clean game. We’ve played them well in spurts but we just haven’t put a full 60 together.”

Brandon’s first game of the second half of the season is at the Brandt Centre on Dec. 28 when they visit the Regina Pats. The Wheat Kings’ first home game after Christmas is on Dec. 31 when the Moose Jaw Warriors visit at 5 p.m.

ICINGS: Forward Ben Thornton and defenceman Charlie Elick were on the ice at practice on Thursday but both were in red, non-contact jerseys and didn’t fully participate in drills. The team’s other injured player, rookie forward Caleb Hadland, remains at home in Alberta recuperating from a lower-body injury he sustained at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in November … Forward Jake Chiasson suffered a bad cut above his lip at practice on Wednesday and was in a full cage at practice on Thursday … In an echo of Brandon’s start to the 2021-22 season, the Everett Silvertips had eight injured players on the weekly report, and also lost defenceman Olen Zellweger to Canada’s world junior team. To put that into context, the teams with the next most injured players are the Portland Winterhawks and Regina Pats, with four each. Seven of the injuries around the WHL are listed as indefinite … There were a pair of suspensions stemming from weekend action, with both players earning extra discipline as repeat offenders. Corbin Vaughan of the Regina Pats was given three games for a check-to-the-head major and game misconduct against Winnipeg on Sunday, and Swift Current’s Josh Davies earned two games for a boarding major and game misconduct versus the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Saturday.

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