WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Game 6 Goes Tonight

Published on April 5, 2016 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


Brandon, MB. - The Brandon Wheat Kings will be hoping to punch their ticket to the Western Hockey League's Eastern Conference Semi-Finals when they host Edmonton in game six of their best of seven series Tuesday night.

After dropping games one and two on home ice, the Wheat Kings bounced back with three straight wins at Rexall Place to push the Oil Kings to the brink of elimination.

Brandon coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon says getting that fourth win is always tough to get and he expects the Oil Kings to come at them hard in game six. Having said that, he expects that his team will be ready for the challenge, after coming away with three solid performances on the road in Edmonton.

"I give our players a lot of credit for having the determination to continue to believe that we could get back into the series," he told CKLQ's Bruce Luebke. "We're not done the series yet...we have another win that we need to have but in terms of accomplishing some real positive things (in Edmonton), we have done that."

Veteran blueliner Mitch Wheaton, who was a member of last year's Cup winning Kelowna Rockets, says that the team has remained positive throughout this series and that has been a key to their success away from home.

"We didn't have the start we wanted, going into Edmonton down 2-0, but it wasn't like we were going there negative," Wheaton told CKLQ. "We knew that we played well at home and just didn't get the result we wanted. We stayed positive and stuck together...that's been our biggest thing so far and that's what we're going to keep doing."

17-year old center Tanner Kaspick, who set up two of Brandon's goals in Sunday's 5-2 victory, says that Brandon will need to be at their best if they hope to knock out a stubborn Oil Kings' team that has given the Wheat Kings all that they can handle.

"We know that they are not going to give up and that includes Tuesday, which will be the hardest game to win," says Kaspick. "We know the team they have over there...they don't quit and they're a hard working team. So we have to keep it going every shift."

A Brandon win on Tuesday will earn them the right to host Moose Jaw this weekend while an Edmonton win will force a seventh and deciding game on Wednesday.

The Wheat Kings will again be without veteran forward Tyler Coulter, who has been slapped with a 2-game suspension under supplemental discipline stemming from an incident in game four. He missed game five in Edmonton on Sunday.

This marks the fourth time in the past five years that these two teams have met in post-season play. While the Oil Kings won in both 2012 and 2014, Brandon scored a 5-game victory last year.

Tickets to game six - which is a presentation of Sunrise Credit Union, Montana's Barbecue and Bar, Precision Toyota and the Brandon Sun - are on sale at the Keystone Centre box office, by calling 726-3555 or online at keystonecentre.com

As of ten Tuesday morning, over 4,400 tickets had been sold for the game, which is a 7pm start at WCG Place.

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Western Hockey League Stories from April 5, 2016


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