Source: Brandon Wheat Kings Toronto, ON – The Canadian Hockey League’s annual Import Draft has come and gone and the Brandon Wheat Kings used it to select two highly touted prospects from the Vegas Golden Knights organization. With their first round pick (37th overall), the Wheat Kings opted for 19-year old Swedish defenceman Erik Brannstrom and in round two, they chose 19-year old goalkeeper Jiri Patera of the Czech Repbulic. A 5’11” 181 lb. puck moving defenceman, Brannstrom was a first round pick and 15th overall selection of the Golden Knights in the 2017 National Hockey League draft while Patera was taken by Vegas in the sixth round (161st overall) last year. “Erik is a highly skilled world caliber junior player,” says Brandon general manager Grant Armstrong. “He’s an excellent skater…has impressive offensive instincts and hockey sense. If he comes to Brandon he could be a difference maker in our lineup.” Signed by the Golden Knights this past season, Brannstrom will be given every opportunity to make the Golden Knights in the fall but if not, the chances of him playing in Brandon will increase dramatically. As a member of HV71 Loan in the Swedish Hockey League in 2017-18, the powerplay specialist scored two goals and 15 points in 44 regular season games. He also helped Sweden capture a silver medal at the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship. In addition to winning silver at the WJHC, Brannstrom helped his club capture a gold medal and was chosen Playoff Most Valuable Player in the Swedish Super Elite League. Patera meanwhile spent the 2017-18 campaign with Cedar Rapids of the USHL. In 34 games with the Roughriders, the 6’2″ 209 lb. netminder compiled a 3.24 goals against average and a .901 save percentage. Prior to coming to North America, Patera was a member of HC Ceske Budejovice and represented his country at the World U18 Junior Hockey Championships. “Jiri is a young goaltender working to mature his game,” says Armstrong. “We have two legitimate number one netminders and that is a position that you can never have enough.” Brandon closed out the 2017-18 season with veteran Dylan Myskiw and rookie Ethan Kruger between the pipes. Not only does Patera become the first ever European goalkeeper to be chosen by the Wheat Kings, this marks the first time in five years that import netminders were eligible for selection. The Wheat Kings, who finished fourth in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Division this past season with a record of 40-27-3-2, were able to select two players after releasing veteran Czech defenceman Daniel Bukac on Wednesday. Bukac landed with Niagara Falls of the Ontario Hockey League Thursday. Meanwhile Martin Kaut, who was the Wheat Kings first round pick in 2017, was chosen in round one (16th overall) by Colorado in last weekend’s National Hockey League Draft. He remains Brandon property which means the Wheat Kings currently have three imports on their protected list. CHL teams are permitted to carry a maximum of two. Rather than coming to the WHL last season, Kaut elected to play professionally at home, scoring nine goals and 16 points in 38 regular season games. The two round draft took place online with the order of selection rotating through each of the Canadian Hockey League’s three leagues using an inverse order of final regular season standings within each league from the 2017-18 season. The QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs had the first overall pick and opted for Slovakian right-winger Maxim Cajkovic. With the second pick, the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings selected Belarusian left-winger Vladimir Alistrov. Brannstrom and Patera become the 33rd and 34th players chosen by Brandon in the CHL Import Draft. The last time Brandon had a pick this high was in 2014 when the Wheat Kings chose Russian defenceman Ivan Provorov 30th overall. A total of 12 players acquired through the CHL Import Draft were recently selected in the 2018 NHL Draft led by top CHL pick Andrei Svechnikov, a Russian forward from the Barrie Colts, chosen second overall by the Carolina Hurricanes. Other first round picks from the CHL Import Draft included Czech forward Filip Zadina of the Halifax Mooseheads chosen sixth overall by the Detroit Red Wings, Swedish defenceman Rasmus Sandin of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds chosen 29th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Russian defenceman Alexander Alexeyev of the Red Deer Rebels chosen 31st overall by the Washington Capitals. Thursday’s CHL Import Draft caps off a busy week for the Wheat Kings, who unveiled their 2017-18 regular season schedule on Tuesday. The Wheat Kings will open up the season with a home and home series with Moose Jaw, beginning Friday, September 21st at Westoba Place.

Source:  Brandon Police Service Media Release On June 16th, Police received a complaint from a female victim stating that her ex had sent intimate images of her, without her consent, to other people. Through the course of the investigation a second female victim was identified as it was discovered that this same male suspect had shared intimate images of this 2nd female without her consent. As a result a 40-year-old Brandon man was arrested for Distribute Intimate Images without Consent x2, later released and is scheduled to appear in Court in August

Brandon's Calen Addison was selected in the 2nd round, 53 overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Addison finished second in scoring on the Lethbridge Hurricanes this past season with 65 points (11G-54A) in 68 games.  He also posted 19 points in 16 games during the Hurricanes run in the playoffs this year.  The 5'11", 178-pound defensemen had been ranked 30th by NHL Central Scouting among North American players prior to the draft.  

Source:  Brandon Wheat Kings Brandon, MB. – A busy week of sales capped off this week as the Brandon Wheat Kings hosted its annual “Seat Moving Day” at the Keystone Centre. The Western Hockey League club has announced that a total of 1,850 season tickets, including five hundred in the past week, have been sold for the 2018-19 campaign. “We’re excited by our numbers coming out of this summer’s early bird deadline,” says Matt McNish, the Wheat Kings Director of Marketing and Ticket Sales. “Our season ticket holders passionately support this team year after year and are some of the most loyal fans in the WHL.” This year’s sales numbers are well ahead of last year and represent the second highest number of early bird season tickets in the past seven years.  All fans that have purchased by the Early Bird Deadline will receive a limited edition bobblehead, featuring the likeness of former Wheat King great Ron Hextall. The bobblehead will be available at Season Ticket Pick-up day on September 7th. “What has been really encouraging,” McNish went on to say, “is that we have seen a large number of first time season ticket holders come on board this spring. In addition to taking advantage of the new monthly payment option, the newly introduced child pricing has been popular.” 2018-19 Wheat Kings Season Ticket Prices are now as follows: Flex Packs           $549 Adult                     $475 Seniors                 $425 Youth (13-17)     $325 Children               $200 Not only are western Manitoba hockey fans taking advantage of one of the best priced tickets in the WHL, those fans that purchase at least two flex packs or adult season tickets will be offered a 50% discount on all children’s season tickets ($99 plus GST). Seat Moving Day on Tuesday gave current season ticket holders the opportunity to move their seats to a more desirable location as all tickets having not been renewed by last week’s Early Bird Deadline were made available to the general public. The Wheat Kings, who finished the 2017-18 season in fourth place in the Eastern Division with a record of 42-27-3-2, sold over 2,500 season tickets last year en route to averaging 3,900 fans per game at Westoba Place. Brandon will open up camp in August with twenty players from its playoff roster eligible to make this year’s club. Fans interested in purchasing season tickets or the popular 34-game flex pack are encouraged to contact the Wheat Kings office at (204) 726-3535 or visit our website HERE.

Brandon's Cole McCaig has joined the Flin Flon Bombers of the SJHL as an assistant coach and as their Director of Marketing. McCaig, who is a product of the Brandon minor hockey system and the Brandon AAA Midget Wheat Kings, recently graduated from Marian University in Wisconsin with a double major in Marketing and Sports Management. While attending Marian University, Cole also played hockey for the University team and was an assistant captain in his final year. Prior to joining Marian University, he spent several seasons with the Flin Flon Bombers and parts of two season with the Waywayseecappo Wolverines of the MJHL. "I'm going to be doing video at the home games and then I will be on the bench during the road games. It would've been nice to be able to be on the bench for all the games but with how the game is changing video is very crucial...so if I can learn how to operate that as well as do video breakdown on each teams powerplay, pk, etc then I think this will open a lot of doors for me" said Cole about his new position with the Bombers. In regards to the marketing, Cole said he will be handling the teams social media, promoting all of their games and events, as well as meeting with sponsors just to make sure the relationship with them is going smoothly. He will also be helping out with the game day operations manager at Bomber home games just to make sure they have everything they need. Derek Sobkow, a former teammate with the AAA Midget Wheat Kings, said that Cole will be a perfect fit in Flin Flon.  "Cole was always a player we all looked to for leadership and he has always been a student of the game" said Sobkow.