Bounce Back Win for Wheat Kings

Jordan Papirny had a solid game Saturday for the Wheat Kings

  The Brandon Wheat Kings closed out the first half of their Western Hockey League schedule with a 4-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday night.

  Chad Robinson, Tyler Coulter, Quintin Lisoway and Jens Meilleur did the goal scoring for Brandon while Jordan Papirny stopped 36 shots including 17 in the third period.

  After the Wheat Kings let a two-goal lead slip away in the final minute of Friday's overtime loss to Kelowna, Papriny said on CKLQ's post-game show that Saturday's victory was a good way to rebound.

  "Anytime you have a loss like we did (Friday) night, it's not fun.  It sticks with you for a while, and I'd by lying if I said I got a lot of sleep last night," said Papirny, "I think the mission should never change before a game.  I'm always doing the same thing, just relaxing and having fun playing hockey."

  Thanks to a pair of concussions to Curtis Honey, Papirny ended up starting 18 of Brandon last 19 games including all three the team played this week.

  "I came here to play and, obviously, I got put in a pretty good situation here with Curtis being out.  That being said, I have a pretty big responsibility here in carrying the load for the team and I think I'm just going to try the same approach during the second half of the season."

  Ironically, the Wheat Kings ended up in the same situation on Saturday night as they did on Friday -- holding a two-goal lead in the final minute with the opponents net empty for an extra attacker.


  In fact, it got a little hairer for Brandon thanks to a delay of game penalty to Lisoway with 51 seconds left.

Tyler Coulter lays a check on Moose
Jaw's Dallas Valentine Saturday

  "It was ironic that we were in the exact same situation and added to it with the penalty.  It's an experience and, ya'know, this team hasn't had a lot of experience in those situations last season," said Brandon GM/Coach Kelly McCrimmon, "You have to learn how to the win and even the losses help harden us up and hopefully that's something in the second half where we've got those lessons learned and we're a better team because of it."

  Brandon finish their pre-Christmas schedule with an 18-14-3-0 record, nine points better than they were after 35 games a year ago.

  The Wheat Kings get a 12-day Christmas break, returning to action December 27th when they entertain the Regina Pats.

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