Our Midget hockey programs in Westman, and especially here in Brandon, often get overshadowed by the WHL and the Brandon Wheat Kings. While our rebuilding phase continues with the Wheat Kings at Westman Place, there just might be something special brewing down the road at the Sportsplex -- the AAA Brandon Wheat Kings’ home venue.

Head coach Ken Schneider, along with assistants Tyson Ramsey, Lavern Popple and Curtis Brolund, have managed to bring together a tight-knit group of teenagers that finished with the regular season West Division title and an overall record of 31-10-2.  This included an overtime/shootout record of 5-2, a goal differential of +84 and a mid-season winning streak that reached 10 games.

The team managed to get a regular-season win against the Winnipeg Thrashers, one of two teams based out of Winnipeg. Winnipeg teams are consistently very strong due to the wide margin of population difference and clear advantages that Winnipeg teams have over the rest of the Province. The greater amount of registered Midget players and an all-around deeper talent pool to select only two teams from a population of around 700,000 are examples of these advantages.  All three Westman teams battled Winnipeg very hard this year, especially the AAA Brandon Wheat Kings.

The team has been very strong, often playing extremely well as a unit but still getting points when not firing on all cylinders.  It’s the ability for certain players to step up at certain times and to follow the lead of Schneider and his staff that clinched the Western Division title this regular season.

When asked what he contributes to the team’s success in the Manitoba AAA hockey league, Coach Schneider said, “Right from the beginning of the season, in training camp, we really try to stress to our players even when they’re trying to make the team that that’s what we promote as coaches and as a team. In order to be successful, it doesn’t matter if you have a lot of skilled players; the most successful teams are good at being a team.

“We really try to shy away from the individual stuff and get our guys playing for each other. It really makes a difference at the end of the day.” This year’s regular season stats proved just that.

Taking 20 teenage boys and getting them to play for each other isn’t an easy task. “I don’t know if we’ve done anything like a magical moment; this happens over the course of time. We try to bring in alumni, like Ryan White (Montreal Canadiens) who spent a fair amount of time with us this summer.” Ken also brought Nesbit product and Southwest Cougar alumni Aaron Rome (Dallas Stars) to help mentor and show the team that dreams are possible and hard work pays off.

Schneider and his coaching staff believe that playing at the Sportsplex has its advantages over the rural teams and even a slight advantage over Winnipeg’s two squads that may offset the disadvantages of being outnumbered in the depth department. “From a coach’s perspective, we have a great council. In order to be successful as an organization you have to be good from the top down. We are limited to players from our own city, but we have our own arena. Having the Sportsplex and our own dressing room, as silly as that may sound -- the teams in this league would appreciate it. Many teams in the league practice and play at different venues throughout rural Manitoba . . .  I think it’s a huge advantage to us that our guys practice three times a week. Most teams in the league practice only twice a week, because of the travel. Winnipeg teams twice a week because of ice availability.”

He also attributes his training staff Scott Hlady and the fact that they have two trained and licensed physiotherapists on hand. “All the people on board are people that really care about the Brandon AAA Midget hockey program.” Brandon currently has a first round playoff bye.  Depending on the length of the awaited series, they will be kicking off their playoff campaign on the weekend of February 22-24.  You can catch all the action live at the Sportsplex.