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Triton
01-31-2006, 09:24 AM
Brandon, Manitoba -- Fresh off a 4-game Western Hockey League road trip, the Brandon Wheat Kings return to the friendly confines of the Keystone Centre this week to kick off a 5-game home stand, beginning Wednesday night against Dean Clark and his Kamloops Blazers.

After a month that saw Brandon play ten of fourteen games on the road, including seven of its last eight, the Wheat Kings open the month of February sitting in fourth place in the WHL's Eastern Division with a record of 18-24-5-3, good for 44 points and a four point lead on the Prince Albert Raiders.

After struggling through the first two months of the 2005-06 regular season, the Wheat Kings may have turned the corner. Not only did Brandon post a 7-4-2-1 record during the month of January, the Wheat Kings are five games over the .500 mark since the end of November. In fact, with a record of 13-8-2-1 since the beginning of December, the defending Eastern Conference Champions have the best record of any of the five Eastern Division clubs. The first place Saskatoon Blades are second with a 14-9-0 mark.

One of main reasons for the club's improved play has been the fact that the Wheat Kings have dramatically cut their goals against. In addition to fine tuning their defensive zone coverage, netminder Tyler Plante has picked up his play. Since the start of December, the Florida Panthers's second round draft choice has improved his goals against average to 3.54, his save pct to .901 and his overall record to 15-19-7.

Heading into Wednesday's game at the Keystone, 18-year old center Codey Burki leads the club in scoring with seventeen goals and 36 points in 48 games. Left-winger Mark Derlago is next with 32 including fifteen goals. It was Derlago's overtime goal last Tuesday night in Kamloops that lifted Brandon to a 2-1 victory over the Blazers.

Brandon could have as many as three players back in their lineup this week, after missing the entire western road swing with nagging injuries. Defencemen Riley Day and Stephane Lenoski, as well as left-winger Cole Hunter are currently listed as day-to-day. While Hunter and Day have been hampered by bad backs, Lenoski missed two weeks of action with a shoulder problem.