WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Brandon Wheat Kings Game Notes

Published on March 22, 2007 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


3/23/2007: Prince Albert Raiders @ Brandon 19:30, Keystone Centre

GAME NOTES: The WHEAT KINGS and RAIDERS open up their best of seven Western Hockey League Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series Friday night at the Keystone Centre...Game two is scheduled for Saturday night, before the series shifts to PRINCE ALBERT for games three, four and five on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday nights...BRANDON is fresh off its second Eastern Division pennant in three years and their fourth in the past six seasons...Tenth Eastern Division title since joining the Western Hockey League in 1967...BRANDON finished atop the division with a record of 41-20-3-8, good for 93 points - good for third place in the Conference (behind MEDICINE HAT and KOOTENAY) and sixth in the WHL...This year marked the fourteenth time in franchise history that the WHEAT KINGS have won 40 or more games...BRANDON has also qualified for post-season play in fourteen of its last 15 seasons...BRANDON was 27-4-1-4 on home ice, good for 59 points - third best in the WHL - behind only EVERETT and MEDICINE HAT with 63 and 60 points respectively...On the road, the WHEATS were 14-16-2-4...BRANDON enters post-season play having won ten of its last 12 games (10-1-1-0)...and was 8-1-1 in its last ten games...After going 9-2-0-1 in February, BRANDON was 5-1-1-0 in the month of March...In games against Eastern Division rivals this season, the WHEATS were 23-10-3-6...1-3-8 in overtime and 4-8 in Shootouts.

THE NUMBERS GAME: The WHEAT KINGS take a 10-game home ice winning streak into the series opener on Friday night...BRANDON hasn't lost a game on home ice since dropping a 3-1 decision to the visiting SASKATOON BLADES...WHEAT KINGS scored 258 goals (3.58/game - 3rd in the WHL) while giving up 214 (2.97/game - 8th in the WHL)...As for Special Teams, BRANDON'S powerplay was second best in the League at 21.2% (97-457) while its penalty killing ranked 12th in the WHL (82.3%)...BRANDON established a Single Season Franchise Attendance record this season with a total of 148,761 (4,132 fans / game).

VS. PRINCE ALBERT: This marks the third time in four years that BRANDON has met the RAIDERS in the WHL playoffs...It took seven games but the WHEAT KINGS defeated PRINCE ALBERT in the 2005 Eastern Conference Finals...A year earlier, BRANDON upset the RAIDERS in round one...This is the sixth time that these two teams have hooked up in post-season play, with the WHEAT KINGS winning four straight series...In 28 playoff games, BRANDON is 17-11 vs. PRINCE ALBERT...During the 2006-07 regular season, BRANDON was 5-3-0 vs. the RAIDERS...MARK DERLAGO (7-5-12) and DUSTIN KOHN (1-11-12) led BRANDON in scoring while netminder TYLER PLANTE compiled a 4-1-0-0 record and a 2.56 goals against average in five appearances...BRANDON outscored the RAIDERS 33-27...On the powerplay, the WHEATS were 13-47 (27.7%)...Penalty killing, BRANDON was 78.7% (37-47).

ACTIVE PLAYOFF TOTALS: The WHEAT KINGS enter the post-season with 292 career playoff games of experience...The leaders are JEFF TOPILKO, CODEY BURKI and TYLER PLANTE with 53, 38 and 30 games respectively...BURKI (6-8-14) and TOPILKO (6-5-11) are BRANDON'S active leaders in playoff scoring...PLANTE has a lifetime playoff record of 15-15, a goals against average of 2.90 and a .912 save percentage...PLANTE played in all 24 of BRANDON'S playoff games during their run to the WHL Championship Finals in 2005.

WHO'S BEEN HOT? CODEY BURKI enters the series riding a 5-game point scoring streak (5-6-11) and has managed at least a point in eight of his last 9 games (7-9-16)...MARK DERLAGO scored 12 goals in his last fifteen games and has at least a point in 8 of his last 9 (8-8-16)...ROB KLINKHAMMER was 10-20-30 in 27 games since being obtained from the PORTLAND WINTER HAWKS in January. In his last 16 games, he was 7-17-24...JEFF TOPILKO had points in 13 of his last 16 games (12-12-24)...TYLER DITTMER had points in 6 of the last 7 games that he played in (2-7-9)...Rookie JAY FEHR had points in 5 of 6 (1-6-7)...Defenceman DARYL BOYLE enters the series riding a 6-game point scoring streak (3-7-10) and has points in 7 of his last 8 (3-8-11)...DUSTIN KOHN has points in 4 of his last 5 (0-5-5)...ANDREW CLARK is 3-4-7 in his last six games while rookie blueliner BRANDON LOCKERBY has points in 3 of his last 5 games (0-4-4).

DID YOU KNOW? DARYL BOYLE has played in 178 consecutive games and recently played his 200th career game in the WHL...JEFF TOPILKO'S last game was the 279th of his career, moving him into a tie with ERIC FEHR for 11th place on the club's all time list...The club's all time leader with 12 shutouts, TYLER PLANTE finished his third season sitting in second place on the WHEAT KINGS' all time list for both games and minutes played (164, 9524)...Three members of the WHEAT KINGS finished in the WHL's Top 20 in scoring - CODEY BURKI was 5th, MARK DERLAGO 10th and ROB KLINKHAMMER 17th with 85, 81 and 73 points respectively...DERLAGO, who is a Finalist for WHL Most Sportsmanlike Player, led the WHL with 46 goals including 24 powerplay (tied for 1st ).

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 22, 2007


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