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WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Wheat Kings Score a Teddy Bear Toss Win

December 16, 2018 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


Brandon, MB. - The Brandon Wheat Kings closed out their pre-Christmas schedule in fine fashion Saturday night, scoring an exciting 6-5 overtime victory over the visiting Saskatoon Blades.

Stelio Mattheos scored three times, including the winner at the 2:25 mark of overtime as the Wheat Kings bounced back from Friday's heartbreaking loss to the Blades in Saskatoon.

Saturday's game, which was the club's annual Teddy Bear Toss, was an entertaining one - filled with lead changes, big hits, a fight and even a penalty shot in overtime.

Trailing 2-1 through twenty minutes, the Wheat Kings dominated the second, outshooting the Blades 17-10 and outscoring their division rivals 4-1.

Saskatoon pushed back in the third however, scoring two unanswered goals to force extra time.

In overtime, the Blades had a glorious chance to win it when Riley McKay stole a puck at the Saskatoon blueline, raced in all alone and was awarded a penatly shot when he was taken down before getting his shot away.

Rookie netminder Ethan Kruger, who finished the night with 35 saves, saved his biggest when he turned him away.

Moments later a backhand pass from Luka Burzan caught Mattheos going to the net and the Brandon captain made no mistake, sending close to 4,500 fans into celebration.

Mattheos and Burzan finished the night with four points each. Burzan had four assists while Brandon's other goals came off the sticks of Cole Reinhardt and Ben McCartney in the second and Connor Gutenberg in the first.

Gutenberg's goal at the 11:39 mark of the opening frame was the game's first and caused an avalanche of stuffed animals, toques, mittens and scarves to litter the ice.

Max Gerlach scored twice in a losing cause for the Blades, with singles coming off the sticks of Chase Wouters, Dawson Davidson and Brandon native Tristen Robins.

All donations collected during Saturday's Teddy Bear Toss will go to the Brandon - Westman Christmas Cheer Registry.

"A great turnout on Saturday," says Shoppers Mall Marketing Director Candace McKenzie. "These donations will certainly help bring holiday joy to a great deal of families this Christmas."

The Teddy Bear Toss is an annual Christmas tradition that began in Kamloops with the Western Hockey League's Blazers in 1993. The first Teddy Bear Toss in Brandon was held the following year and has been a big hit ever since.

Since the Wheat Kings Holiday tradition began, over 50,000 stuffed animals have been collected and distributed by the local Christmas Cheer Board. The local Christmas Cheer hopes to have a final count of this year's donations early this week.

The American Hockey League's Hershey Bears recently set a new world record by collecting over 34,000, shattering the previous standard of 28,000, held by the WHL's Calgary Hitmen.

Not only did fans leave the rink in a good mood, they will have all day Sunday to save on both pizza and gasoline. Thanks to the six goal effort, fans can save 50% on their online orders at Dominos (using the Promo Code WK5) as well as 6 cents off a litre of gasoline when they fill up at Heritage Co-op.

The Wheat Kings will now enjoy an 11-day Christmas break before returning to the ice on Thursday, December 27th when they open up a home and home series with the Regina Pats.

Brandon will then host Moose Jaw on Sunday afternoon, December 30th before closing out the calendar year with a New Year's Eve game against the Warriors in Saskatchewan.

Tickets to all of Brandon's remaining home games go back on sale Monday morning at 10am at the Keystone Centre box office. Fans can also order online at keystonecentre.com or by calling (204) 726-3555.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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