There are not many teams in the National Hockey League that have more connections to Manitoba than the Vegas Golden Knights.
The team the Winnipeg Jets will face in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is laden with players and personnel who were born and raised in Manitoba or established themselves in the province.
There are five players on the roster — four of them are expected to play in the post-season — who hail from Manitoba, including wingers Mark Stone (Winnipeg), Brett Howden (Oakbank) and Keegan Kolesar (Brandon/Winnipeg), defenceman Zach Whitecloud (Brandon) and injured centre Nolan Patrick (Winnipeg).
“All my buddies texted me after they saw the news that we were playing Winnipeg,” said Whitecloud, a 26-year-old who is in his fourth full season with the Golden Knights.
“I think they’re all pretty pumped up, whether they’re going to be in the Whiteout area outside or in the building.”
Interestingly, the Jets don’t have a single Manitoban on their playoff roster.
As far as what Manitoba is for me, it just speaks hockey.
Vegas defenceman Zach Whitecloud
Winnipeg does have one player with strong ties to the Golden Knights — defenceman Nate Schmidt played three seasons in Vegas and helped them make it to the Western Conference final in 2018.
It perhaps shouldn’t be a huge surprise that Vegas has so many players from Manitoba, when you consider their general manager is Kelly McCrimmon, who owned, coached and managed the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League for decades.
McCrimmon signed Whitecloud as an undrafted free agent out of Bemidji State University in 2018.
Whitecloud was asked by reporters in Vegas on the weekend what makes Manitoba special to him.
“It’s where I grew up playing hockey so it’s kind of cool to be able to go back there and just be back home a little bit,” said Whitecloud, who had five goals and 12 points in 59 games this season.
“As far as what Manitoba is for me, it just speaks hockey. It’s outdoor rinks and being there the whole day on a Saturday if you want to, right till the lights go down. It’s hockey country up there and being able to go back there and play in that atmosphere will be a ton of fun.”
The ties certainly don’t end on the ice when it comes to the Golden Knights.
Even the Vegas broadcast team has Manitoba flavour, with former Winnipeg sportswriter and sportscaster Gary Lawless working as an insider, Neepawa’s Shane Hnidy a colour analyst and Brandon’s Daren Millard a host.
Twitter.com/Ted_Wyman
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