WHL PLAYOFF OPENER IS TONIGHT
Brandon, MB. – The wait is over!
The Brandon Wheat Kings begin what they hope will be a long and successful Western Hockey League playoff run tonight when they play host to the defending Memorial Cup Champion Edmonton Oil Kings in game one of their best of seven Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series.
The Wheat Kings, who captured the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy this season with an impressive 53-11-4-4 record, will be hoping for payback as they’ve been eliminated by Edmonton from post season play in two of the past three seasons. The Oil Kings swept the Wheat Kings in 2012 and then last year they knocked out Brandon in five.
“We’ve had a rivalry with this team for a really long time now,” center Tim McGauley, the Eastern Conference First Team All Star told Chris O’Leary of the Edmonton Journal on Wednesday. “The last couple of years, we played them when they were a really good team and they kind of manhandled us, so we want to get back at them.”
Brandon coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon says last year’s series against the Oil Kings could prove valuable for his young club this year.
“Last season’s playoffs were a valuable experience for us,” he told the Edmonton Journal. “We won a round so our guys got that experience and then we lost to the eventual Memorial Cup champions. As soon as that series was over, you could see that it was going to be a great (building point) for our team, seeing what a championship club looks like.”
Coming off a Memorial Cup Title and three straight appearances in the WHL Championship Final, Edmonton compiled a 34-31-4-3 record this year.
A key to the Oil Kings is veteran netminder Tristan Jarry, who is the Eastern Conference nominee for the WHL’s Goaltender of the Year Award.
“Jarry can be a third defenceman out there,” says Brandon captain Peter Quenneville, who was named a Finalist for the league’s Most Sportsmanlike Player of the Year honour on Wednesday. “We need to keep pucks away from him…need to keep him out of that game.”
While Brandon was the league’s highest scoring team this season with 340 or an average of 4.72 goals per game, the Oil Kings allowed the second-fewest in the Conference and had the league’s best penalty-killers.
Game time tonight is 7pm, with game two scheduled for 7:30pm on Friday.
Fans are encouraged to come early as WHL Commissioner Ron Robison will be presenting Brandon captain Peter Quenneville with the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy before the opening face-off.
Tickets to both games – presented by DMS Industrial Constructors – are on sale at the Keystone Centre box office, by calling 726-3555 or online at keystonecentre.com
ABOUT DMS INDUSTRIAL CONSTRUCTORS:
DMS Industrial Constructors Inc. (formerly Derksen Mechanical Services Inc.) is one of western Canada’s fastest growing Industrial constructors, specializing in mechanical and electrical installations for new construction as well as expansions, maintenance turnarounds, and plant relocations. DMS provides a comprehensive range of engineering, construction, procurement and project management services in sectors such as oil and gas, mining, petrochemical, hydro generation and food processing
