With social distancing measures in place to limit the spread of COVID-19, local folks are having to experience change to more and more aspects of day-to-day life that might otherwise be taken for granted.
For more than 3000 local hockey fans on Friday night, that included staying at home in the greater public health interest rather than being at Westoba Place to watch what would have been a key late season scheduled matchup between the Wheat Kings and Regina Pats.
For BWK faithful, the hockey club on Friday evening made the best of the situation under the circumstances, offering up about the closest thing youâll get to live hockey action at the moment. In making use of popular streaming service Twitch an EA Sportsâ NHL 20 the hockey club broadcast a live simulated matchup between the same Wheat Kings and Pats complete with current rosters and I have to say the action had its share of moments.
While nobody would accuse a 12-8 Pats win in a game that saw goalies see 140 combined shots of digital rubber of taking the place of the real thing, it turned out to be a fun distraction and a reminder of whatâs waiting after the community, country and globe persevere through the pandemic.
By the time all was said and done the stream saw 130 viewers check in, enough of a success that the digital version of the Wheat Kings and Saskatoon Blades are planned to lock simulated horns on Saturday night beginning at the same 7:30pm time that the weekendâs real matchup between the clubs would have been played at.
You can follow the Wheat Kingsâ Twitch channel at http://twitch.tv/bdnwheatkings
The WHL announced on Thursday the pausing of its season until further notice amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The full announcement can be read at https://wheatkings.com/article/whl-to-pause-season-until-further-notice
For resources on COVID-19 and the response in Manitoba, please visit https://www.gov.mb.ca/health/coronavirus/
Photo: Submitted