Wheat Kings eyeing an extended playoff run

The Brandon Wheat Kings already have their tickets for the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup, but don’t expect them to sit idly by as the tournament approaches.

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The Wheat Kings are one of the hottest teams in the Canadian Hockey League during the past few weeks and are looking to earn their way into the tournament by winning the Western Hockey League championship.

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They have won eight of their past 10 games and are in a three-way tie for first place in the WHL standings with a 42-17-1-3 record in 63 games. The Saskatoon Blades and Calgary Hitmen also have 88 points while the Tri-City Americans lead the Western Conference with 85 points.

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“I like our makeup,” Wheat Kings’ GM Kelly McCrimmon told QMI Agency last week. “That, alone, doesn’t win you anything. But in terms of having a group we’re looking forward to working with, we’re satisfied with our personnel.”

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Satisfied may be an understatement.

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Up front, the Wheat Kings boast four of the WHL’s top 16 scorers in Matt Calvert (39-42-81), Brayden Schenn (26-55-81), Aaron Lewadniuk (31-43-74) and Scott Glennie (26-45-71) and their blueline just got a big boost with the return of World Junior defenceman Travis Hamonic, who missed the past two months with a shoulder injury suffered during the tournament.

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McCrimmon brought in Hamonic from the Moose Jaw Warriors at the trade deadline last month after padding his forward group with Shayne Wiebe from the Kamloops Blazers and Brent Raedeke from the Edmonton Oil Kings. Since the trade deadline, the Wheat Kings have put together a 14-4-1-0 record, including a stretch of 12 wins in 13 games.

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“We were a bit off prior to the trade deadline, but I don’t think that was our guys taking anything for granted,” McCrimmon said. “From a personnel standpoint, I think we’re comfortable with our team.”

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The Wheat Kings have known for 16 months that they will have a bye into the tournament this May but like every other host team that has come before them, the players are anxious to prove that they belong in the tournament. The only way to do that is to go on an extended playoff run that ideally ends with a WHL championship.

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“You want to win it all,” said Schenn, the first round pick of the Los Angeles Kings last summer and also a member of Canada’s silver medal winning World Junior team. “It wouldn’t be the greatest feeling if you lost out early and went to the Memorial Cup. It would feel like it was the cheap way of getting there.

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“We’re looking to win the league just like every other team is.”

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Hamonic made his debut with the Wheat Kings on Saturday and is one of 15 Manitobans on the team roster. He said that the Wheat Kings are looking forward to hosting the national championship tournament in Brandon this spring.

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“We know we have a big opportunity here, one that only comes around for some guys, once in a lifetime,” Hamonic said. “We want to do everything we can to win a WHL championship and a Memorial Cup. I’m getting used to a new team and a new system. I know I’m going to have a big role on this team, which I relish. I want to do the best I can with that ice time.

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“(The Memorial) Cup is going to be exciting, to play in that tournament along with the world junior is going to be a big honour for me. But we want to be sure that as a team we earn our way to the tournament.”