STONE LOOKS BACK ON BANNER CAREER
(Courtesy of Rob Henderson) — The Brandon Wheat Kings were eliminated from the Western HockeyLeague playoffs by the Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday night with their heart and soul — not to mention a good chunk of their offence — watching from the stands.
Captain Mark Stone and linemate Mike Ferland, the Wheat Kings’ top two scorers from the regular season, were sidelined by injuries for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal, won in four straight contests by the Oil Kings. Stone had whiplash while Ferland had a broken finger, both injuries that Brandon head coach Cory Clouston said came from stick fouls that went unpenalized during Game 3 on Tuesday.
“Very tough,” was Stone’s description of being forced to watch his team’s final game of the season. “It’s probably the end of my junior career, but I have no regrets of what I did in this league. I had a great four years here and Ispent it with a real class organization.”
Stone and Ferland finished second and ninth, respectively, in league scoring during the regular season, combining for 88 goals and 219 points, but Wheat Kings general manager Kelly McCrimmon would not use their injuries as an excuse after the team fell behind 4-0 in the first period on Wednesday.
“Injuries are part of playoffs,” he said. “It’s unfortunate. They’re key players on our team, but that’s something that every team has to deal with.”
The Wheat Kings only had to deal with the absence of both once during the regular season — a 4-3 road loss to the Calgary Hitmen — while Stone and Ferland were in camp with the Canadian junior team.
Stone, a 19-year-old right-winger from Winnipeg, did not come out for the third period in Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to the Oil Kings at Westman Place. Ferland, a 19-year-old left-winger from Brandon, was on the bench but did not play in the final 14 minutes of that game.
Both are expected to turn pro next season after signing National Hockey Leaguecontracts earlier this season.
Stone, a 2010 sixth-round pick (178th overall) of the Ottawa Senators, signed a three-year entry-level deal in September after attending training camp with the Senators and making his NHLpre-season debut with Ottawa. Ferland was drafted in the fifth round (133rd overall) in 2010 the Calgary Flames and signed his first three-year deal with the Flames in December.
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Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition April 12, 2012
