It was an exciting weekend filled with turkey dinners and Wheatland Kings hockey! The Strathmore Wheatland Kings hit the ice last Friday and Saturday (October 9 and 10) for their first on-ice action since their season wrapped up back in February.

The Kings played two exhibition games against the Okotoks Bisons this weekend and General Manager for the Kings, Lee Smith commented saying the games went well.

“We lost both games but that’s minor, we’re not really looking at that right now. Okotoks has been on the ice since pretty much the beginning of September and (Friday and Saturday) was about our third and fourth skate of the year so to end up where we were, we were pretty happy with the way things turned out,” explained Smith.

The Kings will face the Bisons in back to back games again this weekend as in order for the League to operate this year, teams will be paired up in cohorts for a four-game series, quarantine for two weeks, and then face another team in a four-game series. This is in order to keep the COVID-19 transmission risk low and prevent an outbreak in the league.

Smith described what the season will look like this year, “We’ll play each team in the South (division) for a total of 20 games so far. It may increase if COVID (restrictions) get lifted a little bit.”

Smith added that he was very glad to be back in the arena again. “Honestly for me it was great, I really missed being around the hockey rink and anyone who knows me, knows I’m at the rink quite a bit. So for me to be at a hockey game again, it was fantastic.”

The team and league are being very cautious with how the season works this year as the pandemic continues on. As far as spectators at games go, for now, the Kings are allowed 100 people in the stands to watch the game provided spectators are wearing masks. This may be subject to change as the pandemic restrictions may change.

The Kings will be taking down names and numbers of people coming to spectate by order of the Alberta Health Services. This will help with contact tracing in case of a positive COVID-19 test.

The team will also be selling tickets to get in to watch the game, 50/50 draws, and raffles starting with their home opener that will take place on October 31 against the Okotoks Bisons.