Wheat Kings Dominated in December
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B2 ■ SPORTS THE BRANDON SUN ■ WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 23 2020 » Wheat Kings dominated in December Continued from Page B1 game knowing if things came STANDINGS RESULTS down to it, we had the Sportsplex DOMINANT DAYS REGULAR SEASON REGULAR SEASON SCORES with all our fans. We were excited Everyone recognized what to start playoffs.” was happening. The Wheat W T SL OL GF GA PT Oct. 4 — Brandon 2, Wpg Wild 2 Kings became a dominant club, Brandon 31 5 4 0 208 112 66 Oct. 5 — Pembina Valley 3, Brandon 1 SET FOR PLAYOFFS Thrashers 29 3 7 1 171 88 66 Oct. 11 — Brandon 8, Eastman 5 winning 11 straight games be- Pembina 25 11 4 0 156 129 54 Oct. 12 — Brandon 7, Kenora 6 (OT) The team that initially been tween mid-December and the Eastman 24 11 4 1 162 121 53 Oct. 18 — Brandon 7, Yellowhead 3 picked to fi nish in the middle end of January. When the regular Central Plains 19 17 2 2 145 153 42 of the pack was instead head- season ended, they were on 14- Wild 18 17 4 1 144 141 41 Oct. 19 — Brandon 9, Parkland 2 ing into the playoffs with confi - 1-0-0-1 tear. Kenora 17 17 3 3 135 145 40 Oct. 24 — Brandon 7, Norman 2 dence and home-ice advantage. RYAN WHITE: “We would get Yellowhead 15 20 3 2 118 148 35 Oct. 26 — Brandon 4, Interlake 2 It would prove to be a daunting Norman 13 21 2 4 127 157 32 Oct. 29 — Brandon 3, Southwest 2 some of these teams at home Interlake 10 20 5 5 118 136 30 Oct. 30 — Pembina Valley 5, Brandon 4 combination. and would get rolling and take Southwest 11 25 2 2 93 153 26 BROCK TURNER: “We were advantage of teams. That was Parkland 7 29 0 4 106 201 18 Nov. 4 — Brandon 6, Central Plains 2 defi nitely pleased. We squeaked when I started to realize we Nov. 8 — Brandon 3, Wpg Thrashers 3 out fi rst place … By that point, could do something special. In Nov. 9 — Brandon 7, Parkland 3 the surprise was over, from the second half down the stretch, SCORING Nov. 11 — Brandon 6, Southwest 1 thinking we were going to be a Nov. 15 — Brandon 5, Pembina Valley 1 .500 club and top fi ve and now we really started to realize we SEASON — BRANDON SKATERS were doing things good when we Nov. 16 — Brandon 4, Yellowhead 2 we’re the top of the league. Our would get teams at home.” GPGAPPimNov. 21 — Kenora 5, Brandon 3 expectations weren’t just to MARK JOHNSTON: “Once Tyler Dittmer 38 37 46 83 84 Nov. 22 — Brandon 4, Interlake 2 make the playoffs anymore, they they had the feeling of success, Bryan Kauk 39 23 45 68 74 Nov. 26 — Brandon 6, Southwest 3 were to win the league.” Ryan White 39 21 41 62 90 Nov. 28 — Brandon 5, Central Plains 1 there was no turning back.” Ryan Halliday 40 23 31 54 81 BRANDON LOCKERBY: “I BRYAN KAUK: “We always Joel Malchuk 39 19 24 43 92 Nov. 30 — Brandon 7, Wpg Wild 3 think we would have been very knew we were pretty good based Andrew Clark 40 18 21 39 48 Dec. 6 — Brandon 3, Norman 1 happy with that. I know that year on the players we had. As the Matt Ostash 31 11 19 30 14 Dec. 7 — Brandon 5, Norman 5 especially, the Thrashers and season went on, we were win- M. McCrimmon 36 4 25 29 116 Dec. 13 — Brandon 5, Eastman 4 us were always back and forth ning games and we got past Andrew Gurba 40 12 14 26 20 Dec. 14 — Wpg Thrashers 3, Brandon 1 competitively. We always had T. Langford 30 14 11 25 60 Christmas and we were still a great games with them. There Brandon Wheat Kings forward Ryan Halliday hits Stephane Ken Mott 39 1 21 22 65 Dec. 19 — Brandon 10, Central Plains 4 good team. I defi nitely didn’t at Morrisette of the Eastman Selects during a 4-3 Brandon vic- Shaun Earl 40 13 8 21 74 Dec. 20 — Brandon 5, Interlake 4 were other teams in the league any point think we were a team tory at the Sportsplex in Manitoba AAA U18 Hockey League B. Lockerby 40 4 14 18 46 Jan. 3 — Brandon 4, Eastman 3 (OT) we also had tough games with, that would go on to win nation- action on Jan. 3, 2004. (Brandon Sun fi le photo) Brock Hunter 39 3 9 12 35 Jan. 6 — Brandon 6 Central Plains 2 like Kenora.” als.” Kirk Graham 37 3 7 10 77 Jan. 9 — Brandon 5, Parkland 1 TAYLOR LANGFORD: “I think BROCK TURNER: “We were look at maybe our goal is to fi n- ANDREW GURBA: “When you Trent Pope 38 1 9 10 28 we felt like we were playing well *Zack McMillan 2 1 0 1 4 looking at each other in the room ish in the top four. We just kept start putting together so many Jan. 10 — Brandon 8, Yellowhead 3 and ready for the playoffs. We Justin Watters 21 0 1 1 32 Jan. 15 — Brandon 9, Yellowhead 0 and just saying ‘Let’s keep win- winning and had so much depth wins, you start thinking maybe *Drew Bertone 1 0 0 0 0 Jan. 18 — Brandon 5, Parkland 4 were confi dent. I felt like we had ning.’ We had a very good record up front that we were able to we can win the whole league *Carson McMillan 4 0 0 0 0 Jan. 24 — Brandon 7, Eastman 2 a fairly confi dent group in gen- by the end of the regular season change the identity of some of again. There were just so many Bryce Davis 18 0 0 0 36 Jan. 25 — Brandon 7, Kenora 4 eral.” and nobody thought we would our players, from goal scorers good players on the team.” ANDREW GURBA: “We were SEASON — BRANDON GOALIES be on top, that’s for sure. Proba- in years past to shutdown guys, Jan. 30 — Brandon 6, Norman 2 happy. When you win a league bly, a quarter or halfway through guys like Joel Malchuk and Matt A KEY RESULT Min Ave Feb. 1 — Kenora 4, Brandon 3 and repeat, especially for Bran- Feb. 4 — Brandon 5, Southwest 3 the season we were starting to Ostash who really bought into The season couldn’t have Tyler Plante 1,020 2.53 don, that was something we Kurt Jory 1,407 2.94 Feb. 6 — Brandon 4, Wpg Wild 3 believe more and more.” the system as the guys who ended more dramatically. Bran- Feb. 7 — Brandon 2, Wpg Thrashers 2 didn’t take for granted.” TYLER DITTMER: “We start- played against the other teams’ don and the Winnipeg Thrashers CRAIG ANDERSON: “We ed 0-1-1, so that was a tough top lines.” entered the season fi nale tied Brandon. For the second year in and won in the countback fi rst possibly in our eyes over- start considering our fi nishing TYLER PLANTE: “After the all- with 65 points each and a game a row, the Brandon Wheat Kings overall in the regular season, I achieved but we knew we were record. After that we went on a star game, I remember heading against each other in Winnipeg. were regular season champions, had full-on confi dence that we good enough to hopefully win seven-game winning streak and into every game and being very The Wheat Kings held the fi rst something that would eventu- would be able to make another that thing. It was challenging I think at that point everyone confi dent we were going to win tie-breaker with two more victo- ally prove very meaningful. run because we did that in their throughout the playoffs, there started getting so confi dent. that game on a nightly basis. ries, so they needed a win or tie RYAN HALLIDAY: “We were building. Home-ice advantage, were some hard-fought battles, We knew we had a lot of depth. There are only a few times in to take fi rst place. down by one with about 15 sec- both in 2003 and 2004, ended up but our guys stepped up. We had Our young 15-year-olds were my career I can say that, even Joel Malchuk tied the game for onds left and the faceoff was in mattering to us.” the ability to play four lines and stepping up with absolutely no when you’re heading into the Brandon in the second period, their end and we called a time- TYLER DITTMER: “We played roll four lines consistently and shyness and we kind of started other rink on the road. You know but Darcy Zajac put Winnipeg out. We needed a tie or better to the last game of the regular sea- we were very comfortable with getting excited. We were a very you’re going to get two points. up 2-1 in the third period. Cue fi nish in fi rst place. We scored son, and if we tied or won, we playing all of our defence. Obvi- close-knit group and it just kind There’s no better feeling in the the heroics. with 10 seconds left and that fi nished fi rst. It’s funny how that ously, our goaltending was out- of gelled from there.” world than when you’re that Ryan Halliday scored with gave us fi rst place.” little game decided who had standing.” CRAIG ANDERSON: “At confi dent in each other you’re nine seconds remaining to tie MATT OSTASH: “The mo- home-ice advantage in Game 5.