Brandon, MB – The City of Brandon’s Parks & Recreation Services is pleased to announce that Brandon’s outdoor skating oval located immediately west of the Parks Complex on McGregor Avenue will open for the season as of 4 p.m. today, Friday, January 8, 2021. Hours of operation at the oval will be 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. through the course of the winter season, weather permitting.  As there are still some fringe areas of the oval under development, please use the oval at your own risk and with extreme caution.  All users are asked to respect the signage and barricades which remain in place at this time.    Benches will be provided for skate changing, fire pits and firewood will be coming within the next few days to cook on or warm up around.  There will be no warming shacks or portable washroom facilities as per Public Health orders.  In addition, the Manitoba Hydro Waterfall of Lights is also lit until 11 p.m. each evening so the public can skate around the oval and take in the brilliant, festive displays.  The public should note that while use of the skating oval is FREE, it is unsupervised, with no sticks, pucks or pets allowed on the ice surface. The public is encouraged to park in designated areas on McGregor Avenue or Hilton Avenue, as NO public vehicles are allowed in the direct area of the Manitoba Hydro Waterfall of Lights display or the skating oval. The public is also asked to enjoy all lighting displays at a safe distance and not to walk in areas where power cords are directly present.  The City of Brandon stresses that anyone using this space must follow the Manitoba Public Health Orders, which can be found at manitoba.ca/covid19/restartmb/prs.  Persons must maintain a separation of at least two metres from each other, unless they reside in the same residence.  Persons must not engage in recreational activities as part of a group of more than five persons, unless all persons in the group reside in the same residence.  The re-opened status of these facilities will be monitored and re-evaluated if maintaining public safety becomes problematic.  (City of Brandon PSA)

Robins inks deal with San Jose, Brandon's Tristen Robins has signed his three-year ELC with the the San Jose Sharks. Robins had 33 goals, 40 assists last season in 62 games with the Saskatoon Blades. He was selected 56th overall (second round) in the 2020 NHL Draft Tristen Robins SJ #Sharks 2020 56th overall selection3 year Entry-Level Contract$859,167 cap hit$925,000 AAV$80k minors$10.5k junior salary in years 1 and 2https://t.co/HPCHdKlkaI— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) December 31, 2020 Whiskey Jacks sign Manitoban The Wheat City Whiskey Jacks continue to fill out their roster for the upcoming season, signing Winnipeg's Nathan Fulcher. Fulcher, 6'3 195 lb, is a right handed pitcher who attends the University of Lethbridge. He joins Jordan Peck (Winnipeg, Will Hlady (Dauphin) and Arlen Peters (Schanzenfeld) as other Manitonans signed for the 2021 season.

Brandonites are eager to get outdoors and stay active in this mild weather but the shortage of available ice rinks in the City has left people scrambling. While the City run skating oval is not officially open, dozens of skaters are beyond the barricade each day and night, navigating the cracked and rough ice. The uneven surface, with exposed rocks and bubbles is not ideal for pleasure skating. The area itself, however, is a very popular attraction thanks to the beautiful holiday light display hosted by Manitoba Hydro each year.  Some Community Centres including Valleyview (on Whillier Drive) did recently open for public skating and are quite busy. Warm up shacks and washroom facilities are not open due to Covid-19 restrictions. Others centres, like Green Acres, have not yet opened. Posted today on the Green Acres Community Centre Facebook page was an update on the delay citing recent vandalism and equipment breakdown as the reasons for not yet being open to the public.  With few alternatives for public skating, and all indoor hockey leagues on pause, homeowners have turned to building backyard rinks for their own personal use.  Local builder, Rona, and the Brandon Wheat Kings have co-hosted and sponsored a contest for backyard rinks. Dozens of entries can be seen on their social media pages. The contest hashtag is #ronarink.  The local East Side Mario’s franchise is also hosting a backyard rink contest. Entries can be submitted to their Facebook page by December 31st.

The Western Hockey League announced today it will delay the start of the 2020-21 WHL Regular Season. With public health restrictions in place across western Canada and the northwest United States, the WHL says it is not in a position to start its regular season as previously announced for Jan. 8. From today's release. “We continue to make every effort to get our season started, but our first priority has always been the health and safety of our players, and everyone associated with the WHL,” commented WHL Commissioner Ron Robison. “Given the public health restrictions that are currently in effect, we are not in a position to determine a new target date for our season. We will continue to consult with health authorities to determine when it is safe and responsible to get our season started.” The league’s board of governors is to meet in January to discuss other possible timetables.

A pair of former Brandon Wheat Kings, Peter Quenneville & Tyler Coulter, were recently named to the leadership group of the ECHL's Rapid City Rush. For the second consecutive season, Quenneville was named the team Captain, while Coulter becomes an Assistant Captain for home games. The duo finished tied for a share of the team in goals lead last season, each tallying 24.