WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Brandon Wheat Kings Game Notes

Published on January 24, 2004 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


BRANDON GAME NOTES: The WHEAT KINGS kick off a 4-game in five night Western Hockey League road trip Tuesday night at the "Crushed Can" in MOOSE JAW against the WARRIORS.BRANDON is coming off a dramatic 3-2 overtime victory over the visiting CALGARY HITMEN on Saturday night. RYAN STONE'S goal with 46 seconds remaining in overtime lifted BRANDON to the win, snapping a pair of streaks - a 3-game home ice losing as well as a 4-game winless (0-3-1).TYLER BOLDT and REAGAN LESLIE also scored for the WHEAT KINGS, who received a stellar 47-save performance from former REGINA PAT netminder JOSH HARDING.BRANDON was 1-1-0 on a weekend 2-game home stand.A night earlier, the WARRIORS scored three quick second period goals, snapping a scoreless tie en route to a 5-2 victory at the Keystone Centre.Before the club's recent winless streak, BRANDON had gone ten games (7-0-2-1) with at least a point.The WHEAT KINGS enter the weekend with a record of 18-23-6-3.BRANDON is 12-11-3-1 at home and 6-12-3-2 on the road, with four of those road wins coming since Christmas.BRANDON travels to REGINA to meet the fourth place PATS on Wednesday night before taking on the BRONCOS and TIGERS in SWIFT CURRENT and MEDICINE HAT respectively this weekend.

INJURY UPDATE: JEFF TOPILKO (knee) returned to the lineup last night after missing five weeks of action.However, veteran defenceman OLE-KRISTIAN TOLLEFSEN sustained a bruised sternum in SASKATOON on Tuesday and will miss at least the next two weeks while another defenceman - newly acquired STEVEN LATER suffered a shoulder injury Friday night and is out indefinitely.RICHARD JASOVSKY, DEREK LEBLANC and LANCE MONYCH are also out nursing shoulder injuries but should return this week.

THE CAPTAIN RETURNS: 19-year old TIM KONSORADA returned to the BRANDON lineup this past Tuesday night in SASKATOON, after undergoing shoulder surgery in September and missing the first four months of the regular season.KONSORADA made his "home" debut, wearing the "C" Friday night.A former first round bantam draft choice, T.K. finished third in club scoring last season with 22 goals and 70 points in 72 games.T.K. is 0-2-2 in three games this season, moving him to within seven points of 150 in his WHL career.

WHOSE HOT? RYAN STONE enters tonight's game riding a season high 10-game point scoring streak. During that time, the PITTSBURGH PENGUINS' second round draft choice is 4-12-16.Former KAMLOOPS BLAZER ERIK CHRISTENSEN has a point in nine of 12 games since arriving in BRANDON. During that stretch, he is 8-8-16.WASHINGTON CAPITALS' first round draft choice ERIC FEHR has cracked the league's top ten (32-28-60). His 31 goals are fourth in the league; his 15 powerplay are fourth while his four shorthanded tallies are also fourth in the WHL.

MILESTONES: 16-year old rookie defenceman MARK LOUIS picked up his first ever WHL poing Friday night, assisting on ERIC FEHR'S second period goal against the WARRIORS.Former BLADE defenceman STEVEN LATER picked up his first point - an assist - as a WHEAT KING last week in SASKATOON.JOSH HARDING is 76 minutes shy of 8,000 in his WHL career. With his 25 saves Friday night, the former PAT goalkeeper eclipsed the 1,000 save mark for the season.BRANDON'S top three scorers - ERIC FEHR (32), TYLER DYCK (26) and LANCE MONYCH (24) - have career highs in goals this season.LANCE MONYCH is seven games away from 250.

STATISTICAL ODDS 'N ENDS: Former MIDGET AAA WHEAT KING scoring star MARK DERLAGO leads BRANDON'S rookie scoring (7-13-20) .BRANDON is 16-8-2 when opening the scoring but when the opposition opens the scoring, the WHEATS are 1-15-3-3.WHEATS are 2-3-6 in overtime games this year.Defencemen JON WEBB leads BRANDON with 130 penalty minutes.ERIK CHRISTENSEN is fourth in the WHL with a +21 ranking (+5 since arriving in BRANDON last month).Overage center TYLER DYCK has moved to within one goal of the league lead in powerplay goals (16). PRINCE ALBERT'S SETH LEONARD leads with seventeen. Entering tonight's game, the WHEAT KINGS powerplay is third in the league (23.2%) behind only PRINCE ALBERT and MEDICINE HAT, while it's penalty killing has been 79% efficient or sixteenth in the WHL.

DRAFTED PLAYERS: ERIC FEHR (Washington, 2003), RYAN STONE (Pittsburgh, 2003), LANCE MONYCH (Phoenix, 2002), TIM KONSORADA (Columbus, 2002), ERIK CHRISTENSEN (Pittsburgh, 2002), TYLER BOLDT (Atlanta, 2002), JOSH HARDING (Minnesota, 2002) and OLE-KRISTIAN TOLLEFSEN (Columbus, 2002).

DID YOU KNOW? JOSH HARDING'S shutout two weeks ago in his "home" debut against SASKATOON made him only the third BRANDON goalie in league history to record a shutout in their debut at the Keystone. The only others were JAMIE HODSON (1997) and CHRIS OSGOOD (1991).$1,470 was raised for the BRANDON YOUTH HOCKEY ASSOCIATION during the 5th Annual RBC TOONIE TOSS at Friday's game vs. MOOSE JAW.Former SEATTLE THUNDERBIRS' general manager and the current play-by-play voice of the NHL's TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS will headline this year's SPORTSMAN'S DINNER to be held on Saturday, February 7th. Joining DENNIS BEYAK will be former NHL coach and general manager MARSHALL JOHNSTON, TSN football analyst GLEN SUITOR and comedian DEREK EDWARDS.

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 24, 2004


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