WHL Title Could be Won Tonight
May 11, 2016 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release
Kent, WA. - The Brandon Wheat Kings will be hoping to clinch the 2016 Western Hockey League Championship Series Wednesday night when they take on the TBirds in Seattle.
The Wheat Kings have a commanding 3-0 lead on Seattle in the best of seven series, thanks to three straight come from behind 3-2 overtime victories.
A Brandon win will earn the Wheat Kings a trip to the MasterCard Memorial Cup in Red Deer, while a Seattle victory will force a fifth game at ShoWare Centre Friday night.
The Wheat Kings are hoping to capture their first League title since 1996 and their third since joining the Western Canada Hockey League in 1967.
Twenty years ago, Chris Dingman, Wade Redden and the Wheat Kings defeated the Chiefs in Spokane to win the WHL Final and in '79, Brian Propp, Ray Allison, Brad McCrimmon and the Wheat Kings bounced the Winterhawks in Portland to capture their first title.
Having played in the Championship Final eight times, including last year against Kelowna, the Wheat Kings' playoff experience seems to be making a difference.
"Our guys know what to expect each time we're in a playoff game because the core of our team has played quite a few playoff games," says Brandon coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon. "I thought elevating our play in the third (game 3), you could feel it on the bench that the guys could feel it coming."
"That was where experience, confidence, that kind of thing does play a part in that situation," McCrimmon went on to say.
One of those players blessed with loads of playoff experience is 17-year old Winnipeg center Nolan Patrick. The former WHL Rookie of the Year, who is expected to be a high first round pick in the 2017 National Hockey League Draft, currently leads the Wheat Kings in playoff scoring with twelve goals and 27 points.
A former first round bantam draft choice, Patrick is in his second full season in the WHL and thanks to back to back playoff runs to the Final, he has already played 47 career post-season games.
While the Wheat Kings will be hoping to hoist the Ed Chynoweth Cup Wednesday night, the TBirds - who are in the Championship Series for the first time since 1997 - are hoping to stave off elimination and live to see another day.
"When you lose overtime games it's frustrating," says Seattle coach Steve Konowalchuk. "We've lost three overtime games so it is easy to get frustrated but we've got to make sure that we get that out of our minds right away. That's wasted energy, wasted emotion. We've got to make sure we come to the rink (today)...it's looking ahead and making sure that we get one game."
Thunderbirds' veteran Keegan Kolesar says they may be down but they're not done yet.
"It's a must win for us," he says. "We have to be a very desperate hockey club and we're fighting for our lives here the rest of the way. The more pressure we put on them, the better for us. We just have to give it our all here and don't leave anything behind."
Seattle enters the game having lost three straight games - the first time that the TBirds have done that since early February.
Brandon meanwhile last played in the Memorial Cup in 2010 when the City, Province and hockey club hosted. The Wheat Kings wound up losing to the Windsor Spitfires in the Championship Final.
Wheat Kings' Playoff Hockey presented by Precision Toyota, Sunrise Credit Union, The Brandon Sun and Montana's Barbecue and Bar.
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Western Hockey League Stories from May 11, 2016
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