W'Kings vs Chiefs

www.wheatkings.com

GAME NOTES: The WHEAT KINGS kick off a 2-game Western Hockey League home stand Friday night against the visiting SPOKANE CHIEFS at the Keystone Centre…BRANDON hosts second place SWIFT CURRENT on Saturday…This is SPOKANE’S first trip to BRANDON in two years…BRANDON has won back to back games – 3-2 over SEATTLE last Friday and 5-2 in MOOSE JAW on Wednesday…The WHEAT KINGS currently sit atop the Eastern Division with a record of 23-15-2-6, good for 54 points and a six point cushion on the second place BRONCOS entering weekend play…BRANDON is 14-3-1-3 at home and 9-12-1-3 on the road…Wednesday’s win over the defending Eastern Conference Champion WARRIORS snapped a 2-game losing streak (0-1-0-1) on the road…BRANDON is 5-2-0-3 in its last ten games…2-2-6 in games decided by overtime this year…3-2-0-1 in 2007 and 5-2-0-2 since the club’s 10-day Christmas break…As for the Eastern Conference, Wednesday’s win over MOOSE JAW vaulted BRANDON past CALGARY and into sole possession of fourth place – one point back of the third place RED DEER REBELS…BRANDON is 4-3-0-1 vs. Western Conference clubs this season and 2-1-0 against U.S. based clubs…Following this weekend’s 2-game home stand, the WHEAT KINGS will hit the road for a 4-game in six night western excursion beginning Tuesday in MEDICINE HAT.



LAST GAME: The WHEAT KINGS jumped out to a 1-0 first period lead, then scored four times in the second period en route to Wednesday’s 5-2 victory in MOOSE JAW…CODEY BURKI led the attack with two goals and an assist while singles came off the sticks of THERAN YEO, TYLER DITTMER and MARK DERLAGO, who scored his league leading 30th of the season…Newly acquired left-winger ROB KLINKHAMMER picked up his first two points as a WHEAT KING, assisting on goals by YEO and DITTMER…After missing the past two games because of the flu, TYLER PLANTE made 22 saves for the win…BRANDON outshot the WARRIORS 40-24 and went 2-6 with the man advantage.



MILESTONES: Last Friday’s hat trick in PRINCE ALBERT was MARK DERLAGO’S second of the season (his other was in a 9-5 WHEAT KING victory over LETHBRIDGE on Oct. 20th)…Netminder TYLER PLANTE, the WHEAT KINGS’ TIP TOP TAILOR PLAYER OF THE MONTH for December is one of only four BRANDON goalkeepers to eclipse the 8,000 minute mark…PLANTE is currently 62 minutes shy of ROBERT McVICAR on the WHEATS’ all time list. As for games played, he’s played 145 games (2 back of McVICAR and third place all time)…DUSTIN KOHN collected his 100th career assist in MOOSE JAW this week…17-year old rookie NATHAN GREEN scored his first ever WHL goal on Jan. 5th against SASKATOON…ROB KLINKHAMMER is 5 points shy of the century mark.



VS. SPOKANE: This is the first and only meeting of the season between these two teams and SPOKANE’S first appearance in BRANDON in two years…WHEAT KINGS lost their only game against the CHIEFS last season, however, during the past five years, they’re unbeaten (2-0-0) vs. SPOKANE at the Keystone Centre…Tonight’s game will mark the return of former WHEAT KING blueliner STEPHANE LENOSKI…The 20-year old Winnipeg native, who was claimed by CHILLIWACK in last June’s WHL expansion draft, was recently dealt to SPOKANE…A former WHEAT KING SCHOLASTIC PLAYER OF THE YEAR, LENOSKI spent three seasons with the WHEAT KINGS.



BY THE NUMBERS: CODEY BURKI’S 3-point effort Wednesday night has moved the COLORADO AVALANCHE second round draft choice to within two points of WHL scoring leader MARTIN HANZAL and the RED DEER REBELS. BURKI is currently 23-35-58…Captain MARK DERLAGO is 9th in the WHL scoring race (30-22-52) but leads the league in both goals and powerplay tallies (17)…JURAJ SIMEK is 5th in Rookie Scoring (22-21-43) and second – behind only KIRILL STARKOV of RED DEER – in goals by first year players…DANIEL BARTEK is fourth in the WHL with 3 shorthanded goals, second best among rookies…DUSTIN KOHN’S 34 assists are second among blueliners and overall, the former CALGARY HITMEN is seventh in scoring among defenceman (2-34-36)…Goalkeeper TYLER PLANTE’S 2.79 goals against average is 13th in the WHL. The FLORIDA PANTHERS second round draft pick is 5th in the league in saves (976)…THERAN YEO is 4th in the WHL with 143 penalty minutes.