The Brandon Wheat Kings have always been an outlier of sort in the Western Hockey League. All by their lonesome as the only club within Manitoba in the now 22-team league there was never quite the natural rivalry that their Saskatchewan and Alberta counterparts enjoyed. Sure there have been plenty of seasons where the BWK and various Sask teams have, shall we say, not seen eye-to-eye. Each of those clubs however has always had the natural geographical competitor a short drive away for players and fans alike that Brandon has lacked.
That all changes this week when the Winnipeg Ice visit Westoba Place on Friday night for their regular season debut after an off-season relocation from Cranbrook, BC.
The game will be the first of ten head-to-head matchups during the season between Manitoba’s Major Junior teams, with the two clubs having given a preview of what’s to come by splitting two pre-season games earlier this month.
It’s a matchup that I’ve seen in at least one place referred to as the “Manitoba Battle” and so I’ll go with it, but I’ll wager that something with a little more bite evolves by the time game ten of the year between the two has come and gone.
While the geographical part of it is going to be fun for fans, the possible 20 points up for grabs in the head-to-head games over a 68 game schedule is bound to bring extra meaning to any kind of leg up one team can establish over the other. Historically 20 points is quite often the difference between a team winning its division and finishing much lower in the standings and perhaps even missing the playoffs.
After locking horns for two of those points on Friday, the same two teams will head the 200km down the Trans Canada that’s all too familiar to you and I to play in the Ice’s home opener at Winnipeg’s Wayne Fleming Arena the following night.
To add to the intrigue of Friday’s game, Westoba Place’s new scoreclock is scheduled to be unveiled as part of pre-game festivities. Comprised of screens each featuring 1.1 million LEDs, the clock also includes a 25 foot diameter LED ring.
To give fans a chance to take in the new rivalry, the Wheat Kings are running a promotion that gives folks a chance to buy a ‘Manitoba Mini Pack’ of tickets to all five home games against Winnipeg at a 20% discounted rate. Details on that promotion, which has a Friday deadline, can be read at this link.
Tickets to Friday by itself can be found on the Keystone Centre’s ticket page for the game here.