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Brandon Wheat Kings

Wheat Kings Score Win In Game 1

May 7, 2016 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


Brandon, MB. - The Brandon Wheat Kings have scored an opening game win in the 2016 Western Hockey League Championship Series, presented by ROGERS.

Tanner Kaspick's goal at the 6:22 mark of overtime lifted Brandon to a 3-2 win over the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds in the opening game of the best of seven Championship series.

Duncan Campbell's shot deflected over the net, hit the glass and bounced back over the cage where the former AAA Midget Wheat Kings hammered home the game winner out of mid-air.

"That's probably one of the biggest goals I've scored in my life," Kaspick told Rob Faulds of Sportsnet following the game. "Game one is always huge. To come together and get that win...it's huge for us."

Reid Duke opened the scoring with a first period powerplay tally but the T-Birds, who lost on the road for the first time this post-season, evened the score in the second.

Early in the third, Ryan Gropp's powerplay goal gave Seattle its first lead of the game but Nolan Patrick - on a rebound - five minutes into the third tied the score as the Wheat Kings rallied with a dominating third period, outshooting their American rivals 17-6.

The Wheat Kings outshot the Thunderbirds 10-0 in overtime and 42-33 overall.

Donovan Neuls also scored in a losing cause for the T-Birds, who had limited the high scoring Wheat Kings to just fifteen shots through the first forty minutes.

"We had a little bit of a slow start there and got going in the third and obviously, in overtime," Brandon goalkeeper Jordan Papirny told Bruce Luebke on CKLQ's post game show. "Obviously in overtime, we got a good bounce off the end wall and Kaspick put it home."

A 19-year old Edmonton product, Papirny was excellent in the series opener, with a number of key saves as he played his franchise leading 45th WHL playoff game.

Among the season high crowd of 5,610 in attendance were members of the Canadian Red Cross as western Manitoba hockey fans made donations before and during the game for those impacted by this week's devastating wildfires in Alberta.

Game two of the series will be played Saturday night in Brandon, before the series will shift to Seattle for games three, four and five.

Standing Room Only tickets are still available for Saturday's game, which is presented locally by Sunrise Credit Union, Precision Toyota, Montana's Barbecue and Bar and The Brandon Sun.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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