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Triton
03-14-2005, 11:10 AM
The Brandon Wheat Kings now know who they will be facing in the opening round of their best of seven Western Hockey League playoffs.

The Moose Jaw Warriors clinched the fourth and final berth in the WHL's Eastern Division Sunday night, by virtue of Medicine Hat's 8-1 dismantling of the Regina Pats at the Agridome.

Stefan Meyer had a goal and three assists while defenceman Cam Barker added two goals for the Tigers, who extended Regina's winless skid to 29 games, officially eliminating the Pats from post-season contention.

The Wheat Kings and Warriors, who will get together this week for a 2-game series - Wednesday at Winnipeg's MTS Centre and Friday night in Brandon - will open up their first round series on Friday, March 25th at the Keystone Centre, with game two scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

Due to a conflict with the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, games three, four and five will be played in Moose Jaw on Wednesday, March 30th, Friday, April 1st and Saturday, April 2nd. Should a sixth or seventh game be necessary, they would be played on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 5th and 6th at the Keystone Centre.

Tickets to the first two games are on sale now at both the Keystone and MTS Centre box office, by calling 726-3555 or 780-3333 or by going on-line at ticketmaster.ca

Speaking of tickets, the Wheat Kings remind those fans that purchased playoff ticket packages, they will be ready for pick-up at the Wheat Kings' office at noon Monday, March 14th.

In on ice news, Tim Konsorada's two points in Friday night's 5-2 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders has propelled him past Colton Yellow Horn and into fourth place in the WHL scoring race. That means three members of the Wheat Kings occupy the top three spots. Right-winger Eric Fehr leads the league with 57 goals and 107 points, followed by center Ryan Stone with 31 goals and 95 points. Konsorada is next with 84.

No WHL team has featured the top three scorers since Brandon's Brian Propp, Ray Allison and Laurie Boschman tore up the league during the 1978-79 campaign.

The Wheat Kings could also finish the 2004-2005 regular season with two 100-point players. The last time Brandon had two of it's players reach the century mark was 1995-96 when Mike Leclerc finished with 58 goals and 111 points while Peter Schaefer had 108 points including 47 goals

Triton
03-16-2005, 09:45 AM
It may well be a Western Hockey League playoff
preview but there will be a lot on the line - especially for the Wheat
Kings when they face off against Moose Jaw in a 2-game series, scheduled
to begin on Wednesday night at the new MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

Winners of nineteen of their last 21 games, the Wheat Kings have
already clinched their third Eastern Division pennant in the past four years.
However, with three games remaining in the regular season including
Wednesday and Friday vs. Moose Jaw, the Wheat Kings have a chance to do
something that no Brandon club has done since the WHL introduced an
Eastern and Western Conference in 2001 and that is finish on top of the
East.

Led by coach Dean Clark and the likes of Ryan Craig and Jordin Tootoo,
the Wheat Kings captured both the 2002 and 2003 Eastern Division
pennants. However, they finished second in the Conference behind Brent
Sutter's Red Deer Rebels.

Leading the defending champion Tigers by two points with three games
remaining in the 2004-05 regular season, Wheat Kings' general manager and
head coach Kelly McCrimmon believes it will take a perfect week to
finish atop the Conference.

"Obviously we need to win three times this week, I believe, to finish
in first in the conference," McCrimmon told James Shewaga of the Brandon
Sun on Monday. "As well, because we are playing Moose Jaw in the
playoffs, I think it's really important that we play well against them to
finish the regular season."

The Wheat Kings and Warriors will begin their best of seven opening
round playoff series on Friday, March 25th at the Keystone Centre, with
game two scheduled for Easter Sunday in Winnipeg, due to a scheduling
conflict with the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.

While Brandon plays Moose Jaw twice and Regina - on Saturday - to close
out the regular season, the Tigers will play the Red Deer Rebels on
Wednesday before closing out the season with a home and home series with
last place Swift Current this coming weekend.

Brandon enters Wednesday's game with an impressive 43-20-5-1 record
while the Warriors are 13-45-10-1.

The Wheat Kings enter the final week of regular season play with the
league's top three scorers - Eric Fehr is on top with 57 goals and 107
points, center Ryan Stone is next with 95 points followed by captain Tim
Konsorada with 84. No WHL team has featured the league's top three
scorers since Brian Propp, Ray Allison and Laurie Boschman finished 1-2-3
during the '78-79 season. In fact, the only other team to have the top
three scorers was the '76-77 Wheat Kings, led by Bill Derlago, Allison
and Propp.

Although he may not be among the league leaders, 20-year old Winnipeg
product Lance Monych is among the hottest players in the league right
now, as he takes a career high 12-game point scoring streak into
Wednesday's game at the MTS Centre. During that span, the Phoenix Coyotes'
draft choice has eight goals and 21 points.

Wednesday night's game will be the fourth and final regular season game
for the Wheat Kings at the MTS Centre this season. Brandon is currently
unbeaten (3-0-0), outscoring it's opponents by a combined score of
16-7.