Wheat Kings Face Must Win Situation
May 25, 2016 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release
Red Deer, Alberta - The Western Hockey League Champion Brandon Wheat Kings will need to regain their winning formula tonight if they hope to continue their quest for the 2016 MasterCard Memorial Cup in Red Deer.
The Wheat Kings, who have dropped the first two games of the round robin tournament, will face off against the Host Rebels in what will be a rematch of their Western Hockey League Eastern Conference Final that saw Brandon win the best of seven series four games to one.
While Brandon came out on top in the WHL playoffs, this week's Cup has been anything but good for the Wheat Kings, who compiled a 16-5 playoff record this spring. Outscored 14-4 through two games, the WHL's highest scoring team will need to score a big bounce back win tonight if they hope to extend their season.
While a win tonight will at least force a Thursday tie-breaker, a loss will bring the curtain down on what has been a successful season for the Wheat Kings, who won the Ed Chynoweth Cup for the first time in twenty years.
Veteran defenceman Mitch Wheaton, who has been one of Brandon's steadiest performers in Red Deer this week, says the team is focused on the task at hand and knows that they will be ready for what expects to be a hostile environment.
"We've been faced with lots of adversity during the year and playoffs," says the former Kelowna Rocket blueliner. "We've been down before. We have a must win game and we just have to start with that."
The Wheat Kings have struggled to find their game at this week's Cup. Besides giving up fourteen goals, Brandon's potent firepower has been held in check. Needless to say they will need much bigger efforts from their key people in order to advance to the playoff round.
"That is where our focus is going to be now...to get playing," Brandon coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon told Perry Bergson of the Brandon Sun. "If we play our best and somebody is better than us, I think that you can accept that or get your head around the reasons why. But we know that we can be better than we've been."
"We can't look backward and feel sorry for ourselves," McCrimmon added. "We have to look forward and be excited about the challenge of winning Wednesday and moving on. You have to have short memories in situations like this."
Tonight's game will be the tenth meeting of the year between the Wheat Kings and Rebels and Brandon center Nolan Patrick, who has just one assist in the tournament to this point, says that should help.
"It's an advantage that we've played a playoff series against this team," he told CKLQ's Bruce Luebke. "You know their tendancies, you know their players a lot more. We're still a confident group...we just haven't played nearly our best."
While a Brandon win will force a Thursday tiebreaker against Rouyn-Noranda, a Wheat Kings' win by three or more goals would earn them a spot in Friday's Semi-Final, leaving the Huskies and Rebels to face off on Thursday.
The London Knights meanwhile punched their ticket to Sunday's Championship Final with a 5-2 win over the Huskies on Tuesday night. Rouyn-Noranda finished the round robin with a 1-2 record while London is unbeaten at 3-0.
Brandon is playing for the Memorial Cup for the sixth time in franchise history - five of which have come since joining the WCHL in 1967. The sixth coming against the Montreal Royals in 1949.
The Wheat Kings have never gone winless at the Cup, since its first appearance in a tournament format in 1979. Brandon has advanced to two Finals - losing to the OHL Peterborough Pets in '79 and the Windsor Spitfires in 2010 when the 10-day event was held at Brandon's Westman Communications Group Place.
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