The last time the Prince George Cougars made the trip to Brandon, the world was just under two months away from drastic changes. In the nearly four years since, each team has undergone some drastic changes as well.
On Wednesday, November 1, the Wheat Kings will welcome the Cougars for the first time since January 15 of 2020, a 4-0 Wheat Kings win. Incredibly, not one player on either team was present for that game, which is just one sign of how much things have changed since then.
“It’s nice to see a variety of teams,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “At the same time, it’s business as usual around here. It’s two points in the standings that are up for grabs. Hopefully we can build off of what we did on the weekend.”
Among the changes from the last time these two teams met, the Cougars aren’t getting shut out very often these days. In fact, they lead the WHL in goals with 74. Zac Funk and Terik Parascak are first and second in league scoring, and Ondrej Becher and Riley Heidt also appear in the top-ten.
“They lead the way offensively in the WHL this year, so there’s a lot of firepower over there,” Murray said. “We’re going to have to be at our best to give ourselves a chance.”
In spite of that, the Wheat Kings have reason to come in with confidence. They faced two teams ranked in the CHL top-ten this past week as they hosted the Moose Jaw Warriors and Saskatoon Blades, and they came away with regulation wins over both.
“You walk that line where you should enjoy being around the rink and you had two big wins,” said Murray. “At the same time, you know you can’t take it for granted. You can have fun and work hard at the same time, and that’s what we’re trying to accomplish here.”
Once the Wheat Kings are done with the Cougars, a brief homestand gets interrupted by a short trip up the Trans Canada Highway to Regina, who the Wheat Kings have not seen since opening night. They’ll see an awful lot of the Pats going forward, however. Three of their four games after the matchup with Prince George are against Regina with two on the road at the Brandt Centre.
Wednesday night’s game is another Willie Wednesday, meaning kids tickets are just $10 and hot dogs will be $2 all game long.
(Article courtesy of the Brandon Wheat Kings)
