SETTING STAGE FOR FRIDAY AFTERNOON
Brandon, MB. — The Wheat Kings will be hoping to regain first place in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Division this afternoon when they play host to the Swift Current Broncos in the opening game of a 2-game weekend home stand at Westman Place.
The Wheat Kings, who will host the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday night, enter today’s game with a record of 12-6-1-1, good for 26 points and trail the front running Saskatoon Blades by one point in a very tight Eastern Division race.
While Brandon is one point out of first entering Friday afternoon’s game, the Wheat Kings lead third place Moose Jaw by just one and fourth place Regina by two points entering weekend play.
The Warriors, who scored a 3-1 victory in Regina on Thursday night, will close out the home and home series against the Pats later tonight.
Swift Current sits fifth in the East with a record of 7-10-2-1, including a 3-5-1-0 record on the road. On home ice, Brandon is 4-2-1-1.
This afternoon’s game, which will include a pre-game Moment of Silence to observe Remembrance Day, will feature four of the top thirteen scorers in the WHL, the top two scoring defencemen in the league as well as the league leader in scoring among first year players.
Through the club’s first twenty games, Brandon captain Mark Stone is second in scoring with sixteen goals and 40 points and trails Emerson Etem of the Medicine Hat Tigers by three. Sitting fourth is left-winger Michael Ferland with 32 points, including fifteen goals.
Leading the Broncos are veterans through the first quarter of the 2011-12 regular season have been Taylor Vause, Adam Lowry and Coda Gordon. Vause (13-17-30) and Lowry (6-18-24) are currently 7th and 13th in league scoring while Gorden leads all WHL rookies with eleven goals and 22 points.
Meanwhile the Wheat Kings boast the top two scoring defencemen in the league and both are 17-year old second year players. Ryan Pulock, who was added to Team WHL for next week’s SUBWAY Super Series, is currently on top with six goals and 22 points while Eric Roy is tied for second with three goals and 20 points in 20 games.
This afternoon’s annual Remembrance Day game is a 2:30 pm start. The Keystone Centre box office will open at 1pm. Doors to the arena will open at 1:30 pm. Fans can also order online at 726-3555 or online at ticketmaster.ca
As of Thursday afternoon, over 4,100 tickets had been sold for this – Manitoba Minor Hockey Kick-off Day, presented by Koch Fertilzer Canada.
