certainly knows all about on-
ice success and how to build
championship teams. Under
his guidance, the Wheat
Kings were WHL champions
twice, conference champions
six times and went to the
Memorial Cup four times.
So what is his secret?
How about drafting and
trading for Manitoban talent?
It’s certainly something that
seems to follow McCrimmon
around. The Wheat Kings’
rosters over the past five
seasons included a minimum
of five local Brandon players,
while averaging 15 rostered
players from Manitoba every
year. In the expansion draft,
in free agency and in the
entry draft, the Manitoba
link was a major feature of
the Knights’ selections.
Winnipeggers Calvin
Pickard (later traded to
KELLY MCCRIMMON
WITH NOLAN PATRICK
BELOW (#19)
2 2 | G AME O N | D EC EM BER 2017
Toronto), Cody Eakin and
Brendan Leipsic were taken
by the Golden Knights at the
expansion draft, while Cody
Glass and Keegan Kolesar
were picked up a few days later
via the entry draft and a trade
with Columbus.
“I have traditionally had a
lot of Manitoba born players
on my teams in Brandon, but
you can only control that to a
certain extent,” McCrimmon
said. “Vegas is certainly a
different story, but as always,
we build our team to win,
and that’s by taking the best
available players.”
When thinking of some of
the NHL’s elite, it becomes
difficult not to think of
current Philadelphia Flyer,
and former Wheat King,
Nolan Patrick. The now
19-year-old centreman spent
a number of years in Brandon
and provided the team and
fan-base with exceptional
performances.
“Nolan came in at the end
of his 15-year-old season and
played the final 12 games
with our team, including nine
playoff games,” McCrimmon
reflected. “As a 16-year-old he
knew what to expect and was
the WHL rookie of the year in
his first season. Some people
forget that Nolan was one of
only two payers to score 30
goals as a 16-year-old, going
back to Patrick Marleau. He
later won the WHL playoffs
MVP as a 17-year-old, and was
drafted second overall to the
Flyers. He was an impactful
player in our league and for
the province of Manitoba.”
Unfortunately McCrimmon
doesn’t have the luxury of
looking down from the press
box and seeing Nolan Patrick
on the home team’s players’
bench this season. But he will
know that he played a vital
role in the development of the
future NHL superstar.
Although his time coaching
and managing the Brandon
Wheat Kings has come to
a close, a new chapter has
opened in McCrimmon’s life.
In his typical fashion, he will
continue to lead by example –
the only way he knows how.
“This is definitely something
new and exciting for me,”
he said. “Right now we are
focused on being prepared. I
look at it like studying for an
exam. You don’t know exactly
what questions are going to
be on the test, but if you’re
prepared and if you’ve done
your homework, you are going
to be able to navigate your way
through any situation.” ❍