Brandon, MB (CKLQ) – The Brandon Wheat Kings veterans will hit the ice tomorrow as Main Camp gets underway at Westman Place.
However, they will be without four veterans due to injury.
James Shearer, Daniel Bukac and Caden Daley won’t be ready for training camp after off-season injuries while forward Meyer Nell has elected to retire from hockey.
Shearer suffered a torn achillis tendon during off season training, while Daley and Bukac are listed as week to week with lower body injuries.
"It’s just unfortunate," said Wheat Kings General Manager Grant Armstrong. "With James, he was training and something happened that could have happened to anyone. With Caden, he was skating in a corner battle and ended up with an injury. It’s unfortunate but those things happen."
When it comes to Nell, the Boissevain native hasn’t been able to recover from a season ending knee injury suffered last year.
"He told me it wasn’t physically able to go and it wasn’t healing properly," added Armstrong. "His decision was to go back and pursue his education."
The Wheat Kings open camp with 18 returning players. However, seven of them will attend NHL training camps in the coming weeks.
For Armstrong, this is his first full training camp and he’s looking forward to it.
"I’m really excited. With the returning guys, it’s great but at the same time I love the fact that we’re pushing from the bottom up. I have huge expectations for this year."
The Wheat Kings will open the pre-season on Friday September 8th at home vs the Regina Pats.
REMAINING TRAINING CAMP SCHEDULE
Thursday, August 31st
8:30 – Black vs Green
10:30 – Gold vs White
4:00 – 3rd Place Game
6:00 – 1st Place Game
MAIN CAMP
Friday, September 1st
8:30 – Team Black Practice
10:00 – Gold vs White
12:00 – Goalie Session
5:30 – Team Gold Practice
7:00 – Black vs White
Saturday, September 2nd
9:00 – Team White Practice
10:30 – Black vs Gold
6:00 – 1st Intra-Squad Game
Sunday, September 3rd
2:00 – Final Intra-Squad Game @ Westman Communication Group Place
