Wheat Kings Open Post-Deadline Schedule With Battle With Broncos
There will still be scoreboard watching, there will still be nights on which they need help from other teams, and there will still be a few things out of their hands. From here on, however, the Brandon Wheat Kings will very frequently be the masters of their own fate.
In the aftermath of both the trade deadline and their final game against a non-conference opponent, the Wheat Kings take on the Swift Current Broncos in the first of three remaining meetings between the two teams. The two sides will enter play on Friday, January 12, separated by just a single point in the standings.
“It’s crunch time, for sure,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We’re going to play a lot of in-division, in-conference games here and it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty.”
The push for the playoffs could only begin, however, after a major trade shook up the lineup for the Wheat Kings. Nate Danielson was traded to the Portland Winterhawks in exchange for Nicholas Johnson and Rhett Ravndahl, and while the Wheat Kings have high hopes for both players, the distance from Brandon to Portland makes it unlikely they’ll be in the lineup on Friday night. As such, the players already in Brandon will need to step up.
“It’s an opportunity for everybody to grab a little bit more responsibility and get some more ice time,” Murray said. “We’re hoping everybody steps up. I think there are opportunities for a lot of guys to elevate their game. Obviously, Nate is a key missing piece but at the same time, with Johnson coming in and the opportunity for guys to get bigger roles, I think that will be a positive thing.”
Ice time and opportunity aren’t the only incentives for the Wheat Kings to show up with their A-game on Friday night. The Broncos have 46 points to the Wheat Kings 45, though the Wheat Kings have a game in hand, and the battle in the standings is only getting fiercer.
“We haven’t seen them since early in the year, and it’s going to be a battle,” said Murray. “They’ll have a different look, they made some huge acquisitions, so it’ll be a grind. We have to be ready to play from start to finish, top to bottom.”
