BRANDON’S ALBERTA BOYS EXCITED
(Photo of John and Pete Quenneville with their mom earlier this year – Courtesy of The Edmonton Journal)
Brandon, MB. — The Brandon Wheat Kings have arrived in Edmonton and practiced Wednesday afternoon in preparation for game one of the Western Hockey League Eastern Conference Semi-Final series against the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Four of the twenty-five players on Brandon’s active playoff roster will be playing at home in this series as the visiting Wheat Kings have four Edmonton products on their team.
Netminders Jordan Papirny and Curtis Honey as well as the Quenneville brothers – Peter and John – are all from Edmonton while three others hail from the province of Alberta.
16-year old rookie forward Braylon Shmyr calls Calgary home while defencemen Colton Waltz (Vermillion) and Kord Pankewicz (Drayton Valley) are from communities within a two hour drive from Edmonton.
“I play my best when I’m in front of my parents and my family,” 17-year old John told CKLQ’s Bruce Luebke. “It’s really exciting for me, and it’s going to be a good week.”
A former third round bantam draft pick of the Wheat Kings, Quenneville is currently second in team playoff scoring with three goals and 9 points in four games.
His older brother Pete meanwhile has one goal in three games and while he is technically a WHL rookie, the 19-year old Columbus Blue Jackets’ draft choice was instrumental in leading the Dubuque Fighting Saints to the USHL Championship Title in 2013.
In goal, Papirny played all four games in round one and enters the series riding a personal 6-game winning streak. The former first round bantam draft choice compiled a 3.00 goals against average and a .906 save percentage in Brandon’s opening round playoff series against Regina.
While the Wheat Kings have seven Albertans on their current roster, the Oil Kings, who enter the series as the 2-time defending Eastern Conference Champions are made up of a dozen Albertans, six from the province of B.C., three Americans, two Europeans and one from Saskatchewan.
In addition to compiling an impressive 50-19-2-1 record during the regular season, the Oil Kings won three of four games against Brandon during the regular season.
This marks the second time in three years that the Wheat Kings and Oil Kings have faced off in round two of post-season play. In 2012, Edmonton swept Brandon en route to their first ever Ed Chynoweth Championship Trophy.
Game two of the series will be played at 1pm (Manitoba time) Saturday, before the series shifts to Brandon’s Westman Place for games three and four on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Tickets to both home games are on sale at the Keystone Centre box office, by calling 726-3555 or online at wheatkings.com.
