WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Brandon Wheat Kings Game Notes

Published on February 7, 2004 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


BRANDON GAME NOTES: The WHEAT KINGS kick off a grueling 5-game U.S. Division road trip Tuesday night in SPOKANE against the struggling CHIEFS.BRANDON is coming off back to back impressive victories on home ice, scoring wins against two of the top Eastern Conference clubs.On Wednesday, ERIC FEHR scored three times in leading BRANDON to a 6-2 victory over the visiting MEDICINE HAT TIGERS and on Friday, the WHEATS erupted for two goals in the final four minutes of regulation time to beat the PRINCE ALBERT RAIDERS 3-2.ERIC FEHR, ERIK CHRISTENSEN and TYLER DYCK, with the game winner with 3:36 to play, scored for the WHEAT KINGS, who became the first team this season to beat the RAIDERS in come from behind fashion in the third period.Before Friday night, PRINCE ALBERT had not lost a game in which it had led through forty minutes of play.Rookie netminder MIKE NICHOL registered both wins, replacing JOSH HARDING at the start of the third period on Wednesday and stopping six of seven. On Friday, the has solid in turning aside 29 of 31 PRINCE ALBERT drives.BRANDON enters Tuesday's game with a record of 21-26-6-3.they're 14-11-3-1 at home and 7-15-3-2 on the road.BRANDON, 2-0-0 in February, is coming off a month of January that saw the WHEAT KINGS compile a 7-6-2-1 mark.BRANDON played sixteen games in 29 days last month.

POWERPLAY COMES ALIVE: After going 1-22 during it's recent 4-game road trip, the WHEAT KINGS' powerplay unit was clicking Wednesday night, connecting for four goals while skating with the man advantage.In all, BRANDON was 4-10 against the TIGERS on Wednesday night, while holding the high scoring opposition to 1-11.BRANDON'S powerplay is currently ranked third in the WHL (22.3%), behind only MEDICINE HAT and PRINCE ALBERT.Penalty killing, the WHEATS are 14th (80.4%).

VS. SPOKANE: Tuesday night will be the one and only meeting of the season between these two clubs.BRANDON was a 4-2 winner last season with RYAN CRAIG scoring twice and TIM KONSORADA adding three assists.

WHOSE HOT? RYAN STONE, January's JACK FRASER PLAYER OF THE MONTH, had his career high 10-game point scoring streak snapped last week in MOOSE JAW. During that stretch, the PITTSBURGH PENGUINS' second round draft choice was 4-12-16. Stone has at least a point in 12 of his last fourteen games (4-15-19).Overage center TYLER DYCK led the WHEATS in scoring last month with 20 points in sixteen games while ERIC FEHR, ERIK CHRISTENSEN and STONE had eighteen each. FEHR'S 65 points (37-29-66) has propelled him into 8th place in the league scoring race.HARDING has started thirteen of 14 games since joining the WHEAT KINGS on January 7th.

INJURY UPDATE: Captain TIM KONSORADA (shoulder), JEFF TOPILKO (knee) and DEREK LEBLANC (shoulder) have all returned to the lineup in the past week.LANCE MONYCH rejoined the lineup last Friday night, assisting on two goals but aggravated the shoulder last Saturday and is questionable for tonight's game.KONSORADA missed the first four months of the regular season after undergoing shoulder surgery in September. He's 2-5-7 in nine games since coming back.Veteran defenceman OLE-KRISTIAN TOLLEFSEN (bruised sternum), newly acquired STEVEN LATER (shoulder) and Slovakian RICHARD JASOVSKY (shoulder) remain on the sidelines.

MILESTONES: Wednesday's hat trick was ERIC FEHR'S third of the year.JOSH HARDING recently surpassed the 8,000 minute mark in his WHL career .BRANDON'S top three scorers - ERIC FEHR (37), TYLER DYCK (29) and LANCE MONYCH (24) - have career highs in goals this season.LANCE MONYCH is five games away from 250 in his WHL career.DYCK will be playing career game number 275 Friday night.TIM KONSORADA is two points away from 150 in his WHL career.

STATISTICAL ODDS 'N ENDS: Former MIDGET AAA WHEAT KING scoring star MARK DERLAGO leads BRANDON'S rookie scoring (7-14-21) .BRANDON is 17-8-2 when opening the scoring.WHEATS are 2-3-6 in overtime games this year.Defencemen JON WEBB leads BRANDON with 154 penalty minutes.ERIC FEHR'S 37 goals is fourth in the WHL while his eighteen powerplay goals are third, behind SETH LEONARD of PRINCE ALBERT and SWIFT CURRENT'S JEREMY WILLIAMS.Veteran REAGAN LESLIE is 11th in scoring amongst defencemen (7-26-33).JOSH HARDING'S save percentage of .921 is fourth 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? Veteran center RYAN STONE returned to the lineup Wednesday after serving a 2-game suspension for a knee-on-knee incident during last week's game in REGINA. Individual winners at this year's Annual Skills Day included REAGAN LESLIE (Rapid Fire), TIM KONSORADA (Accuracy), MARK LOUIS (Breakaway Shootout), ERIC FEHR (Hardest Shot) and JEFF TOPILKO (Fastest Skater).Former KAMLOOPS BLAZER TYLER BOLDT was chosen recently, by his teammates to be the WHEAT KING PLAYERS CHOICE for Keg Performer of the Month.

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 7, 2004


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