Blankety, Blank! Wheat Kings Shutout Again

Jordan Papirny stopped 54 shots for Brandon Saturday

  The Brandon Wheat Kings failed to find mesh for the second straight game Saturday, dropping a 3-0 decision to the Edmonton Oil Kings in Game Two of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

  Edgars Kulda had two goals and an assist to spark Edmonton offensively while Tristan Jarry stopped 29 shots for his second straight shutout.

  Ashton Sautner opened the scoring for the Oil Kings with a power-play goal 5:49 into the opening period, and Brandon GM/Coach Kelly McCrimmon said on CKLQ’s post-game show that falling behind early is not something they can continue to do.

  “Edmonton played with the lead the entire night.  We had chances, their goaltender was one of the three stars in the building and deservedly so,” said McCrimmon, “We were better the Game One by a wide margin, I felt.”

  One carryover from Brandon’s 5-0 loss in Game One Thursday was the Wheat Kings’ taking too many penalties.

  Brandon’s penalty parade was contained to mainly the third period in Game One, but it was spread throughout the contest in Game Two, with Edmonton finishing the afternoon 1-for-8 with the man advantage.

  Despite the Wheat Kings’ penalty-kill unit doing a good job Saturday, being shorthanded that many times changes the complexion of the game.

Wheat Kings' blueliner Ryan Pilon

  “It affects everybody.  The guys that play too much it affects, the guys that don’t play enough, it affects, and it takes the tempo out of your game” said McCrimmon, “There’s just no question when you’re in a game with a lot of special teams, it’s hard to use your personnel affectively and it’s hard to keep guys in the game.”

  On the positive side for Brandon, Jordan Papirny rebounded from an up-and-down Game One performance to stop 54 shots in the Wheat Kings’ net.

  “Tonight, he was exceptional and I thought in the third period, when our penalty trouble seemed to hurt us the worst,” said McCrimmon, “I thought Jordan made his best saves in the third period to keep it a 2-0 game for as long as he could.”

  The series now shifts to Brandon for Games Three and Four on Tuesday and Wednesday at Westman Communications Group Place.

  For the Wheat Kings, the key now will be ‘holding serve’ at home.

Chaff...the Winnipeg Wild closed out the Telus Cup Western Regionals with a 9-1 victory Thunder Bay on Saturday.  The Wild finished with a 1-2 record, with Wheat Kings’ prospect defenceman Mark Taraschuk have three goals and six points in three round-robin games.  Wheat Kings’ prospect Dakota Boutin and the host Prince Albert Mintos will play the Notre Dame Argos in Sunday’s final...Elkhorn product Travis Sanheim of the Calgary Hitmen was one of eight WHLers invited to the Hockey Canada Under-18 Training Camp on Saturday.

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