Kings sign four local products

By Adelle Ellis, Times Reporter

The Strathmore Wheatland Kings are putting a special focus on building their team up with local players. Following the same suite as last year when they added a group of local signings, this year the Kings will be updating their roster with four new local names.
Agreeing to play for the Kings and coming up out of the Wheatland Athletic Association (WAA) are forwards Kyle Malmberg, Jaycob Masicangleo and Steve Wilks alongside goalie Landen Brassard, joining the ever-growing roster of local talent.
“We’re actually quite excited to get four guys from their roster, it’s just brining more local kids in that that’s kind of the direction that our program’s heading right now,” said coach Joel Robinson who will be entering his second year coaching the Kings after taking over in May 2018.
Last year the Kings started shifting towards adding more local players to their roster, inducing a strong buy-in from fans in the fact that having a team with a small-town feel, one where the players are known, recognized and out in the community, is the best way for the Kings to grow and hopefully bring home a championship.
Now in their 11th season, the Kings hope to continue the trend they saw last year where more fans come out to watch the home games (approximately 250 each home game in the 2018-19 season), more volunteers will sign up to help run the day-to-day operations, and more of the Kings players can become role models for youth in Strathmore and especially those in the minor hockey programs.
“It was an easy decision to keep adding local especially when we saw the direction of our fan base continuously growing… and the dedication of my volunteers – they want to see a local product on the ice,” said Robinson. “There’s a lot of positivity and it’s gained momentum in the last year or so, if we do get that local environment then it’s only going to continue through the minor hockey system, they see these local guys playing and it gives them more of an aspiration to be a King,” he said.
The WAA is proving to be a good feeder program for the Kings. With a strong connection between the two teams and strong coaches on both ends, the WAA is growing its success and proving to be a great developmental program and an excellent feeder program by producing strong players who are not only getting inked by the Kings, but by other junior programs as well.
“It’s been nothing but a good little system that we’ve had over the last year and I hope that we continue to have such strong connections as well,” said Robinson adding that signing the local players also creates more of a desire from the players to bring home a championship.
“I want to bring a championship to Strathmore and the best way I have a chance to do it is by bringing local kids in and knowing that they’re going to buy in as well because they want to bring a championship to their hometown,” he said.
Registration for spring camp is open for players wanting to try out to become a King. Spring camp will happen on Aug. 23-25 and will conclude with the annual Top 40 Black and White Strathmore Wheatland Kings Intrasquad game.