The lights will shine bright at the Brandt Centre in Regina, SK on Friday and they will continue shining for the next month and a half.
The Western Hockey League’s Eastern Division begins play as the Brandon Wheat Kings kick things off against the Moose Jaw Warriors, while Friday’s late game features the Regina Pats against the Prince Albert Raiders.
It’s been more than a year since the Wheat Kings played a WHL regular-season game. On March 7, 2020, Reid Perepeluk and Ben McCartney scored a goal apiece in a 4-2 loss against the Prince Albert Raiders. Brandon’s final five games were postponed and then ultimately cancelled. And now as we get closer to puck drop from the Regina bubble, it’s time to take a look back at how the Wheat Kings have done on opening night dating back to the 2015-16 season.
Friday, September 25, 2015, vs Swift Current:
More than 5000 Wheat Kings fans packed inside Westoba Place and when they did, they were treated to a goaltending clinic. Landon Bow, netminder for the Swift Current Broncos, made 53 saves in 65 minutes as he pushed the Broncos to a 2-1 shootout win. Brandon had 22 shots in the first period, four more than Swift Current had the entire game.
Tim McGauley who now plays in Norway had the lone goal. Bow; meanwhile, is with the Dallas Stars organization and he’s played two NHL games.
Brandon ended up winning 48 games that season and they beat the Seattle Thunderbirds in the league championship.
Friday, September 23, 2016, vs Moose Jaw:
Nolan Patrick and Stelio Mattheos gave Brandon a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play and they held that lead into the third period. In fact, Brandon held that lead for more than 58 minutes until the Warriors scored two goals in the last 1:51 of the game to force overtime.
Just 29 seconds into the extra frame, Tanner Jeannot beat Jordan Papirny as Brandon earned a single point despite once again outshooting their opponents.
Friday, September 22, 2017, vs Regina:
It was all Wheat Kings inside Westoba Place as more than 5000 fans watched Brandon put on an offensive clinic and it all started with a red-hot first period. Stelio Mattheos scored two goals in the first while Cole Reinhardt scored a single to take a 3-1 lead.
Brandon scored five more goals in the remaining two periods while holding Regina off the board in a massive 8-1 win to open the season. Logan Thompson — who made his NHL debut earlier this week — made 33 saves as Brandon outshot Regina, 45-34.
The team made it to the second round of the playoffs where they were eliminated by Lethbridge.
Friday, September 21, 2018, vs Moose Jaw:
A goal from Stelio Mattheos late in the first and another from Schael Higson early in the second proved to be the difference for the Wheat Kings on this night.
Jiri Patera was a brick wall as he turned away 28 shots — with only Justin Almeida beating him on the night — as Brandon skated off with a 2-1 win.
Brandon would end the season with eight losses in their final 10 games as they missed the playoffs by just two points.
Friday, September 20, 2019, vs Winnipeg:
When the season was ended because of the novel coronavirus, the Wheat Kings were one of the hottest teams in the league as they went 6-3-1 in their final 10 games and that found them just six points behind Prince Albert for the top spot in the East Division.
To start it all off, Brandon started the season with back-to-back games against their new provincial rival, the Winnipeg ICE. Game one saw Winnipeg hammer, Brandon, on the shot clock by 19, but the score was much closer than that.
After Winnipeg opened a 3-0 lead early in the third period, Vincent Iorio and Zach Wytinck scored their first goals of the season as Brandon found themselves down by just one. Ultimately, that was it for Brandon as they couldn’t find the equalizer as Winnipeg moved to 1-0 while Brandon dropped to 0-1.
On Friday afternoon, the Wheat Kings open up a new 24 game season and you can catch all the action here.
