On Oct. 1, the Virden skip Jace Freeman and his rink claimed the Morris Fall Classic title. The rink went 6-0 at the event. It defeated Team McDonald, 8-4, in the final. The week before the team won the Larry Jones Junior Classic in St. Vital. They have now won three events this season.
“I would say I was most pleased with our consistency of high level play this weekend,” Freeman said. “I was especially pleased with how we played in the final. We were playing a very accomplished team in Team McDonald and the last couple times we’ve played them we’ve had intense battles, but we just came out on the losing end of both. So, for us to come out and not waver from our game plan to beat a strong opponent such as them was awesome to see.”
Freeman is the son of Graham and Roxanne Freeman. The rink also includes Winnipeggers Ryan Ostrowsky, Luke Robins, and Nick Senff. Senff’s father is former Virden resident Danny Senff.
Wheat Kings Third Jersey
It was a long time coming, but on Sept. 30, Brooks Freeman, Jace’s older brother, got to see the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings sport the third jerseys he designed for them.
“The jerseys finally made their debut last Saturday night - four years after I designed the logo,” Freeman said. “It was very satisfying seeing the end product and I hope these jerseys stay around for a while for fans to enjoy as they cheer on the Wheat Kings.”
Brooks Freeman, who runs Serpent Design, said things got started back in the summer of 2019.
“The main new ‘BWK’ logo was originally designed as a proposed secondary/shoulder logo for the new Wheat Kings jerseys that year,” Brooks Freeman said. “They were looking for a simple yet sleek logo with the abbreviated ‘BWK’ in it that would appeal to a younger audience and could be used on merchandise.”
The logo did not appear on jerseys the next season, but Brooks Freeman said it was utilized on some merchandise and marketing materials. Following a couple of seasons affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wheat Kings started seeking a third jersey design in 2021, he said.
“They were looking for a grey jersey as it was something they had never done before and wanted to try something different to resonate with fans,” Freeman said. “They also wanted to use a different logo design on the front to make it stand out from the home/road jerseys. I proposed using the BWK crown logo as I was very happy with how it turned out and thought it would work really well on the front of a jersey. The jersey striping was kept fairly simple, and we balanced the colors so that everything would really pop off of the grey background. The gold and black work very well together and on the finished product the real jerseys actually have a shiny gold fabric similar to the (NHL’s) Vegas Golden Knights jerseys that really stands out.”
Whittle Injury
Dexter Whittle of Virden was hit from behind on Sept. 23 when his Everett Silvertips played the Victoria Royals in a Western Hockey League contest. The son of Alana George Whittle and Clifford Whittle was taken to hospital, from which he was released on Sept. 26. On that date, the Silvertips stated on social media, “He will be out indefinitely with no set timetable to return. Our thoughts are with Dexter and his family during this difficult time.” The Royals’ Alex Edwards was suspended 25 games for the hit.
