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WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

A Battle for Top Spot

February 25, 2016 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


Lethbridge, AB. - The Brandon Wheat Kings face off in what could be their biggest game of the year Friday night in Lethbridge as they take on the Eastern Conference leading Hurricanes.

Fresh off Wednesday's 4-2 victory over the Ice in Cranbrook, the Wheat Kings enter game four of this week's 5-game road trip, trailing the front running 'Canes by a single point with eleven games remaining in the 2015-16 regular season.

Friday night will the fourth and final meeting of the season between these two clubs and the second of the year in Lethbridge. The Hurricanes have won two of the first three, including a 5-3 victory in Brandon on December 11th.

The Hurricanes will be hoping to snap a 4-game winless (0-3-0-1) streak on Friday while the Wheat Kings will be looking to improve on their league leading road record of 19-10-2-0.

Brandon center Nolan Patrick, the Western Hockey League's Rookie of the Year in 2014-15, will be taking a league leading 11-game goal scoring streak into the game. Patrick, who leads the Wheat Kings in scoring this season with 81 points, including 36 goals, is now tied for the fourth longest streak in the WHL over the course of the last 20 years.

The Wheat Kings' record is 15 games, which was established by Brian Propp during the 1978-79 season. From September 29th to November 4th '78, the hockey club's all time leading scorer fired 28 goals as the Wheat Kings went on to post a record breaking 58-5-9 mark.

"I just have to get to those open areas and I know my linemates will find me," says Patrick, who has 26 goals and 40 points in 24 games since the Christmas break. "Things are going well lately and I'm just going to try and keep it going."

During the first three games of the season series between Brandon and Lethbridge, Tyler Coulter leads the Wheat Kings with two goals and 3 points whiloe Egor Babenko and Brayden Burke top the 'Canes with five points each.

Burke currently leads Lethbridge in scoring this season and is third in WHL scoring with 94 points, including a league leading 73 assists.

If Friday's game comes down to a battle of the goalkeepers, expect Brandon to go with veteran Jordan Papirny. The Wheat Kings' IMPACT Player of the Month for January is currently among the league leaders in appearances (45), goals against average (2.76), save percentage (.904) and shutouts with five. Lethbridge meanwhile features an outstanding tandem of Stuart Skinner and Jayden Sittler. Both have played 35 games this season and both have posted goals against averages under three goals per game and save percentages above 90%.

When it comes to special teams - Lethbridge may have a slight edge. While the 'Canes powerplay leads the league at 28.9%, their penalty killing is 8th at 80.8% efficient. By comparison, the Wheat Kings powerplay and penalty killing is ranked sixth and 15th respectively.

Brandon opens the weekend, which will end Saturday night with a game against the Tigers in Medicine Hat, with a record of 38-18-3-2 while Lethbridge sits on top at 40-19-1-1.

Following the weekend, Brandon returns home to play six of their final 9 games, including back to back games against Saskatoon and Moose Jaw on Wednesday and Friday nights. Wednesday's game is Rain Check Night, which means any unused tickets (dated Dec. 27th 2015 to Feb. 19th 2016) can be exchanged at the box office for a "free" ticket (regular box office agency fees apply). The game is a presentation of the Brandon University Bobcats, Hosts to the CIS National Womens Volleyball Championships next week.

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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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