Plans are moving along for Winnipeg’s newest midget AAA team. The Winnipeg Bruins will join the Winnipeg Wild and Winnipeg Thrashers as the city’s third midget AAA team in the provincial league starting in the fall.
Dan Eliasson, who led the Thrashers to a Telus Cup championship in 2011, was recently named the Bruins’ first head coach, and he sees the addition of a new team a win for all involved.
“There’s definitely a large number of kids who are elite-level players that can compete at the midget AAA level now.” Eliasson said. “To give them the opportunity to compete against the best players in their age group is going to be beneficial for the Hockey Manitoba branch as a whole, and for those guys as players.”
Either the Wild or the Thrashers have won the provincial title in 10 of the last 13 years and dividing the elite midget-aged players in the Manitoba capital three ways instead of two will help spread out the talent.
“You might sacrifice a little bit of skill with the Winnipeg teams, but there might be something to be said [for] reducing the skill level a little bit, and making those teams more competitive,” Eliasson said.
“Forcing those players to think and react in tighter situations than they otherwise would… could equate to more success for our league beyond the Manitoba borders.”
Longtime Wild head coach Paul Krueger understands how a third Winnipeg-based team could open doors for some players to compete at a higher level, but notes the league was competitive already.
“I don’t know about the competitiveness,” he said. “I think the league itself is pretty competitive already.”
“It’s certainly an opportunity for more of the players to be able to play at the provincial level — which is a good thing at the end of the day for sure, for everybody’s development.”
The Bruins will play out of the East End Arena and they’ve already re-divided the city into three catchments. The new dividing lines will be grandfathered in to allow players to remain with their current team, but the new Bruins team will be mostly made up of players living in the south end of Winnipeg.
“Essentially our new AAA Bruins team will have what’s traditionally known as the bantam AAA Warriors catchment area.” Eliasson said. “Plus about a quarter of the Winnipeg Sharks catchment area, so from a geographical standpoint, that’s St. Vital, St. Boniface, Island Lakes, Sage Creek, Transcona, and then part of River East.”
While some expansion teams can take years to find their footing, players only have a few years to compete at the midget level, so Eliasson believes there’s no reason they can’t be competitive right away.
“The bantam Warriors and city midget Warriors have some really strong players on that team that are going to step into the midget AAA league with us and no doubt contribute right off the bat,” he said.
Comments