WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Brandon Wheat Kings Game Notes

Published on January 28, 2007 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


1/28/2007: Brandon @ Kootenay Ice @ Brandon 19:00

GAME NOTES: The WHEAT KINGS will be looking to finish .500 on this week's 4-game in six night Western Hockey League road trip Sunday night when they face off against the ICE in Cranbrook, B.C...After dropping the first two games of their second longest excursion of the season (2-1 in MEDICINE HAT and 5-2 in LETHBRIDGE), the WHEAT KINGS put the brakes to the 2-game losing streak with an impressive 4-2 victory over the HITMEN in CALGARY on Friday night...The win, coupled with SWIFT CURRENT'S 3-0 loss to the SPOKANE CHIEFS, moved BRANDON ten points up on the second place BRONCOS in the WHL's Eastern Division... As for the Conference, the WHEAT KINGS are third (behind only MEDICINE HAT and KOOTENAY), three points up on fourth place RED DEER and four ahead of the HITMEN...Entering Sunday night's game, the WHEAT KINGS are sporting a 26-17-2-6 record, good for 60 points...At home, BRANDON has a division best record of 16-3-1-3 record while on the road, the WHEATS are 10-14-1-3(best in the division and third in the Conference)...In their last ten games, the WHEAT KINGS are 6-3-0-1...2-2-6 in games decided by overtime this season...6-4-0-1 in 2007 and 8-4-0-2 since the club's 10-day Christmas break...With only three games remaining against Central Division clubs this season, BRANDON is two games over the .500 mark at 9-7-0...After playing eight of 13 games on the road this month, the WHEAT KINGS will play eight of 12 games next month on home ice and following tonight's game, they'll have just seven road games remaining.

LAST GAME: First period goals by JEFF TOPILKO and JURAJ SIMEK were instrumental in BRANDON'S 4-2 victory over the HITMEN before close to 13,000 fans at the Pengrowth Saddledome...The goal was SIMEK'S 23rd of the season, fifth among first year players in the WHL, but it was his first since the World Junior Hockey Championships in Sweden...TYLER DITTMER and ANDREW CLARK also scored for the WHEAT KINGS, who received a superb 26-save performance from rookie netminder JOE CALIGIURI (7-4-1)...BRANDON'S powerplay was 0-6 and is now 1-30 in its last five games to slip into fifth place in the WHL at 19.8% (65-329).

VS. ICE: This is the third of four meetings on the season between these two teams...BRANDON is 1-1-0 vs. KOOTENAY and has outscored the ICE 5-4...WHEAT KINGS were winless (0-2-0) against KOOTENAY during the 2005-06 campaign...During the first 2 games of the season series, five players share the club scoring lead with two points including 19-year old center CODEY BURKI with two goals...TYLER PLANTE is 1-1-0 with a 2.00 goals against average and a .929 save percentage in two starts against the ICE.

PLANTE REACHES MILESTONES: Netminder TYLER PLANTE made history last weekend, blanking SPOKANE 1-0 and registering his 9th career WHL shuout - a franchise record - and 10th career if you include the one that he shared with KURT JORY on Sept. 29th, 2006 vs. RED DEER...During this past week, PLANTE has been named the CHL Goaltender of the Week and moved past ROBERT McVICAR and into third place on the club's all time list for minutes played (8606) and appearances (149).

OTHER MILESTONES: Newly acquired left-winger ROB KLINKHAMMER, who is 2-3-5 in eight games with the WHEAT KINGS, is currently two points shy of 100 in his WHL career. The former LETHBRIDGE HURRICANE scored his first goal in a BRANDON uniform in last Saturday's win over the BRONCOS...17-year old defenceman KEITH AULIE scored his first ever WHL goal and had his first ever multi-point game Saturday night (1-1-2) against SWIFT CURRENT...All star center CODEY BURKI is 6 assists shy of 100 and 8 games away from 250 in his career...MARK DERLAGO is 11 games away from reaching the 200-game plateau and has played in 123 consecutive games.

BY THE NUMBERS: CODEY BURKI has slipped into 6th place (23-36-59) in the WHL scoring race, six points back of RED DEER'S MARTIN HANZAL...Captain MARK DERLAGO is 15th (31-22-53) but tied for second in the league in goals - 5 back of COLTON YELLOWHORN of TRI-CITIES and powerplay goals (17)...JURAJ SIMEK is sixth in Rookie scoring (23-23-46) and third among first year players with 14 powerplay goals...DANIEL BARTEK is second among rookies in shorthanded tallies (3)...DUSTIN KOHN is second among WHL blueliners with 35 assists (four behind DAVID SCHLEMKO of MEDICINE HAT)...TYLER PLANTE'S 2.71 goals against average is 14th in the WHL, 2299 minutes (6th), 1078 saves (3rd) and 19 wins (6th in the WHL).

DID YOU KNOW? MARK DERLAGO leads the club with 5 game winning goals...DUSTIN KOHN and RYAN REAVES share the club lead with a +14 ranking...CODEY BURKI'S 11-game point scoring streak (Oct. 15-Nov. 10th) is fourth longest in the WHL this season...This Tuesday, January 30th is the deadline for Minor hockey teams to enter the ROGERS FAN CAM P. To enter visit fan.camp@rci.rogers.com. Five teams will be chosen next month.

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 28, 2007


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