Wheat Kings win showdown with Tigers

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This article was published 01/11/2014 (4052 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings saved their best for last on their West Coast road trip.

Jordan Papirny made 33 saves as the Wheat Kings wrapped up the seven-game excursion with a 4-0 shutout of the Medicine Hat Tigers in a matchup of the top two teams in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference. Brandon (14-3-1-0) stretched its advantage to six points over second-place Medicine Hat (11-3-1-0) and also maintained its lead in the overall WHL standings.

"Our guys had a great trip," said Wheat Kings head coach/general manager Kelly McCrimmon, whose team went 6-1 for their best record on a West Coast trip since going undefeated through the tour in 2002 at 5-0-1. "Tonight I thought we played one of our best games of the trip."

Jesse Gabrielle had a goal and an assist for Brandon, which got its other markers from Tim McGauley, Quintin Lisoway and Reid Duke, with an empty-netter.

The odds seemed to be stacked against the Wheat Kings going in, with Brandon playing for the seventh time in 11 nights, while the Tigers hadn’t played since Tuesday, but McGauley struck only 33 seconds into the game and McCrimmon credited his players for their effort, particularly defensively.

"They worked hard and I thought were full marks for the win tonight," McCrimmon said. "We had contributions from a lot of people, but in games like this against good teams, there’s a lot of great plays that go unnoticed in terms of the scoresheet but are important in terms of winning hockey games. I thought both (Mark) Taraschuk and (Mark) Matsuba on our back end stepped in and played real well. And then (Eric) Roy, (Ivan) Provorov, (Colton) Waltz and (Macoy) Erkamps I thought were real solid also."

Gabrielle scored early in the second and Lisoway added to the lead late in the frame. The Tigers outshot the Wheat Kings 13-3 in the third, but McCrimmon was pleased with the way his team protected with the lead.

"We didn’t give up many chances in the third at all," he said. "We didn’t press to force any plays offensively, but it wasn’t a case where we hung on. I thing guys played pretty well; second half of the third we were probably better than the first half of the third."

ONE-TIMERS: The Tigers still have three games in hand on the Wheat Kings … Brandon was 0-for-3 on the power play, while Medicine Hat was 0-for-2 … The shutout was Papirny’s first of the season and second of his career … Tigers G Marek Langhamer stopped 20 shots … The Wheat Kings dressed one player short of the limit for the second straight night, scratching D Ryan Pilon (upper body), LW Ty Lewis (broken arm), LW Richard Nejezchleb (import limit) and three players who are away at the World Under-17 Challenge: C Nolan Patrick, LW Tanner Kaspick and D Kale Clague … Medicine Hat was two short of a full roster with D David Quenneville, the younger brother of Brandon C John Quenneville and RW Peter Quenneville, also at the U-17 Challenge in Sarnia, Ont., while C Markus Eisenschmid (lower body) was injured … Dehr Custom Carpentry bid $1,400 to win an auction during CKLQ’s game broadcast for the camouflage jersey Lisoway will wear for the club’s Military Appreciation Night, set for Nov. 15 when the Tigers visit Westman Place. The proceeds will go to the United Way … Prince Albert filled its head coaching vacancy on Saturday by hiring Marc Habscheid.

» rhenders@brandonsun.com

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