WHEAT KINGS TAKE 2-0 SERIES LEAD
Brandon, MB. – The Brandon Wheat Kings have grabbed a 2-0 lead in their Western Hockey League Eastern Conference Semi-Final series with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
The Wheat Kings built up a 5-1 second period lead Saturday night and went on to beat the Warriors 5-2 in front of close to 5,100 fans at Westman Communications Group Place.
Unlike Friday’s opener that saw Moose Jaw outshoot the Wheat Kings 17-7 in the opening period, the Wheat Kings came out hard in game two, firing nineteen shots on goal in the first and taking a 2-1 lead to the dressing room.
In the second, which may have been Brandon’s best period of the playoffs, the Wheat Kings scored three unanswered times to take a four goal lead through forty minutes.
Brandon’s fifth goal – by James Shearer – with less than five minutes to play in the second, chased Moose Jaw’s starter Zach Sawchenko from the net.
Shearer was one of five different Wheat Kings to find the net, joining Tanner Kaspick, Tim McGauley, Ivan Provorov and Duncan Campbell. Three of them – Shearer, Kaspick and Campbell – are graduates of the AAA Midget Wheat King program.
Brayden Point in the first and Dryden Hunt, who led the WHL with 58 goals during the regular season, scored in a losing cause for the Warriors, who were outshot 50-28 on a night that Brandon dominated throughout.
“Our work ethic tonight was very good,” Brandon coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon said after the game. “We spent more time in the offensive zone tonight…and had better puck possession, which helped our team hold the territorial advantage for much of the night.”
With Brandon up 2-0, the series will now shift to Moose Jaw for games three and four, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Should a fifth game be necessary, it will be played back in Brandon on Friday, April 15th.
Wheat Kings’ Playoff Hockey presented by Sunrise Credit Union, Precision Toyota, The Brandon Sun and Montana’s Barbecue and Bar.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MACKENZIE GERRY
