Wheat Kings Aim for 50
March 13, 2015 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release
Brandon, MB. -- The Brandon Wheat Kings will be hoping to join some pretty select company tonight when they kick off a home and home weekend series with the visiting Saskatoon Blades.
The Wheat Kings, who are currently tied with the Kelowna Rockets for the overall Western Hockey League lead with 105 points, need one more win to reach the 50-win plateau for only the fifth time in franchise history.
With five games remaining in the regular season, Brandon is currently 49-11-4-3 and on the verge of reaching the milestone for the first time since 2010 when the WHL club hosted the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
Before 2010, you have to go back to the 1995-96 season when Chris Dingman, Wade Redden and the Wheat Kings finished 52-19-1 en route to their second WHL Championship Title with a 5-game series win over the Spokane Chiefs.
The Wheat Kings eclipsed the 50-win plateau twice during the seventies - going 54-10-8 in 1977 and then the record breaking '78-79 campaign that saw Brandon (Team Photo above) compile a 58-5-9 record en route to their first League Title.
1979 also marked Brandon's first appearance in the Memorial Cup since losing to the Montreal Royals in 1949. In the '79 Championship final, Rob Attwell's overtime goal lifted the Peterborough Petes to a 2-1 win.
That '79 team featured the likes of Brian Propp, Ray Allison, Laurie Boschman and Brad McCrimmon. The club also included rookie Steve Patrick, who scored 23 goals and 54 points in 52 games.
Patrick's son Nolan is a 16-year old rookie on this year's club, after being chosen fourth overall in the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft.
In addition to having the opportunity to hit the 50-win mark tonight, two Brandon linemates will be hoping to extend their personal point scoring streaks.
While Morgan Klimchuk has managed to score at least a point in eleven straight games, 19-year old center Tim McGauley is on a league leading 23-game streak that has seen the Wilcox, Saskatchewan product score sixteen goals and 50 points during that stretch.
McGauley is coming off a 3-point performance against Moose Jaw earlier this week, becoming only the third Wheat King in the last fifteen seasons to record 100 points in a season. Entering the second to last weekend of regular season play, the former first round bantam draft choice is tied with Medicine Hat's Trevor Cox for the WHL scoring lead with 41 goals and 100 points.
Current Washington Capitals' right-winger Eric Fehr was the last Brandon player to win the league scoring title when he scored 59 goals and 111 points in 2005.
Tonight's game - which is a presentation of TIM HORTONS WESTMAN, will also feature a special on ice presentation to the AA PeeWee Wheat Kings, who recently captured a Silver Medal at the prestigious Quebec International PeeWee Tournament.
Tickets to the game - Brandon's second last home game - are on sale now at the Keystone Centre box office, by calling 726-3555 or online at keystonecentre.com.
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