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View Full Version : Wheat Kings vs Calgary @ the MTS Centre.



Crosby rules
02-03-2005, 02:40 PM
Last night Feb. 2/05 @ the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, the Brandon heat Kings won 2-1. Nichol(Goalie) played fenominal between the pipes. Eric Fehr had 2 assists...........Disappointing note, only 3,000 + fans showed up. Maybe due to writing of exams, a lot of fans could not make it(kids). All in all, it was a good game. After all, the Wheat Kings did win.

Fight Guy
02-03-2005, 03:27 PM
Im kinda surprised with the low attendances at the games. The last one there was just over 4000 I think. I figured they would get more than that.

Triton
02-03-2005, 03:59 PM
Bill Murray may not have been in the building, but it certainly felt like Groundhog Day as the Brandon Wheat Kings played to a familiar script at the MTS Centre on a balmy Wednesday night in February.
While Murray re-lives every day the same in the 1993 movie, there was a sense of deja vu on the ice last night as the Wheat Kings continued their winning ways in Winnipeg, beating the Calgary Hitmen 2-1 in front of a crowd of 3,902. The Wheat Kings beat the Hitmen in a one-goal game for the second straight time while improving to 2-0 this season at the MTS Centre and an impressive 14-5-0 in the 19 Western Hockey League games that Brandon has played in the Manitoba capital over the past 10 seasons.
Czech centre Jakub Sindel scored the game-winner late in the second period for the Wheat Kings, who received a superb 21-save performance from netminder Mike Nichol, stopping the last 20 shots he faced over the final 49 minutes of the game.
"It feels great after that road trip last week, to get back-to-back wins here is really what we needed and we're just real happy right now," said Nichol, who robbed Hitmen forward Riley Merkley with a spectacular sprawling pad save midway through the second period for his best stop of the night.
"When the pucks start hitting you, it does nothing but help you, so for sure it got me in a bit of a groove and it worked out for us," he added.
It was the second game of a unique tripleheader in which Brandon and Calgary clash three times in three different cities over six nights, completing the series this Friday at Brandon's Keystone Centre (7:30 p.m.). And familiarity started to breed contempt last night for these teams, who engaged in a chippy affair at times that featured a couple of fights and a little bad blood as the Wheat Kings (25-18-5-1) beat the Hitmen (26-18-6-3) for the second straight game.
"Calgary have a real good club and I think both games we've played with them here this week have been similar, hard-fought and tight defensively and fortunately we have been able to come out on the right end of two close games," said Wheat Kings head coach/general manager Kelly McCrimmon. "I thought that both goaltenders were real strong tonight and certainly in our case Mike had a tough start with a real bad turnover early in the first period being his welcome to the game and sometimes that gets a goalie off his game. But I thought he settled in and played real strong for us."
The Wheat Kings out-shot the Hitmen 11-3 in the opening period, but it was Calgary that made the most of its best opportunity when 16-year-old rookie Keegan Dansereau took advantage of a stumble by Brandon blueliner Stephane Lenoski, spinned and fired a quick shot from the slot that beat Nichol 11:10 into the game.
Winnipeg native Lance Monych replied 3:57 into the second period for the Wheat Kings, finishing off a perfect power-play pass from WHL scoring leader Eric Fehr at the side of the net. Calgary netminder Justin Pogge then took centre stage, stoning Brandon centre Ryan Stone on a Peter Forsberg-style deke on a penalty shot midway through the second. But with a minute left in the period, Sindel scored the goal of the night, undressing a Hitmen defender with a quick move to the slot before beating Pogge with a backhand for a goal that stood up as the game-winner as Nichol shut the door.
"I think we played really well tonight defensively," said Sindel, who fired his fourth goal of the season since joining the Wheat Kings following the Christmas break. "We talked about it because the last five games, they scored lots of goals on us, so I'm glad the team was playing good defensively. And of course, we had a few chances and one of them I scored on. Not a big deal, but an important goal and a really important win."
Pogge finished with 34 saves for Calgary, which was out-shot 36-22.
"I thought it was a pretty solid game tonight, obviously on both team's part," said Hitmen head coach Kelly Kisio. "I thought that Brandon had real good legs tonight and for being shorthanded, I thought we were pretty solid and worked pretty hard. We were snakebitten in the third period there, we had some chances to score and Nichol made some great saves when it could have easily been tied up."
ICINGS - Wheat City native Alex Plante, a 15-year-old defenceman with the Brandon AAA Midget Wheat Kings, suited up for Calgary, which selected him 21st overall in the 2004 WHL bantam draft ... Two sets of brothers are facing off in this three-game series. In addition to Alex Plante and Wheat Kings G Tyler Plante, 17, Brandon has D Theran Yeo, 17, on its roster while Calgary features D Dylan Yeo, 18, although Theran Yeo was a healthy scratch last night ... Wheat Kings D Jonathan Webb returned to the lineup after missing one game with a strained neck/back, while D Mark Louis was back after sitting out one game with a bruised foot ... Brandon remains without D Riley Day (lacerated kidney, indefinite), while D Mike Cann and LW Cole Hunter were healthy scratches, with LW Corey Courchene again moved back to the blueline last night ... The Hitmen were missing C Ryan Getzlaf (concussion), former Wheat Kings D Tyler Harder (eye), D Brett Carson (concussion) and D Darryl Yacboski (shoulder).