Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
Some news, notes and quotes, and the latest edition of the good, the bad and the ugly with the Brandon Wheat Kings:
The good:
• The Wheat Kings are finally showing signs of life again with back-to-back wins for the first time in two months. Now trailing the seventh-place Regina Pats by only three points with five head-to-head matchups left, the eighth-place Wheat Kings (27-25-1-2) have a legitimate chance to move up a spot, with an outside shot at sixth place. That would avoid a first-round clash with the division leaders, the Edmonton Oil Kings or the Moose Jaw Warriors.
• Captain Mark Stone is back on track, tied for the league scoring lead with Ty Rattie at 87 points, after firing four goals and amassing 11 points in his last five games. His linemates Mike Ferland (five goals and eight points in five games) and Brenden Walker (one goal and five points in five games) are also on a roll.
The bad:
• While trade-deadline pickup Kevin Sundher is slowly starting to pick it up — three goals in his last seven games — his Wednesday night linemates continue to struggle. Overager Darian Dziurzynski has just one point — on an empty-net goal — in his last nine games and has a -5 plus/minus over that stretch. Meanwhile, Swiss import Alessio Bertaggia has just one assist in his last five games and has scored only once in his last 14, with a -6 plus/minus.
The ugly:
• For the first time in more than a decade, the Wheat Kings went 0-for the month of January on home ice and are currently mired in a six-game home-ice losing streak. The Wheat Kings need to stop the bleeding tonight against the Swift Current Broncos.
HEADING OVERSEAS:
Brandon’s Tom Skinner, 55, is off to coach Romania’s national team at the Euro Ice Hockey Challenge in the Ukraine this weekend where Romania will meet Italy tonight and Lithuania tomorrow. It’s a tune-up for the Division 1 world championship in Poland from April 15-21. Romania earned promotion to Division 1 (which is a tier below the elite bracket that Canada plays in) after Skinner guided the country to a perfect 5-0 record at the Division 2 world championship last year, earning the coach a two-year contract extension.
“We work really hard and they are really happy and the guys have really responded to me … So right now when we are winning and everyone is happy, everything is good,” Skinner said. “But our world championships are in Poland in April and it’s like anywhere else — you’ve got to win.”
MAKING HIS MARK:
Brandon’s Hewson Elliott, 17, of the Westman Speed Skating Club, has been selected to compete in this weekend’s prestigious Junior World Cup in Calgary after finishing third overall at the Canadian junior championships in Saskatoon last weekend. Elliott, a medallist at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax, placed second in the 500 metres and fourth in the 1,000m at junior nationals and hopes to follow Minnedosa’s Kyle Parrott to a spot on the national team one day. Brandon’s Raelene Sawatzky-Dyck, 17, also competed in Saskatoon, in the third event of the Canada Cup season, with her best finish a 15th place showing in the junior women’s 3,000m.
BRODEUR’S BOYS:
New Jersey Devils netminder Martin Brodeur won’t be here, but his 15-year-old twin sons Jeremy — a goaltender — and William — a forward — are slated to travel to Brandon next week to compete in the annual Victoria Inn/ Precision Toyota Tournament of Champions. The Brodeur boys will suit up for Shattuck St. Mary’s prep school in the Midget AA division. And for the record, it is the 43rd annual Tournament of Champions — not the 50th as we incorrectly reported on Thursday. The tournament began back in 1970 and has been one of the highlights of the minor hockey season ever since.
BOBCATS BATTLING:
It’s a real credit to the work ethic of the Bobcats’ student-athletes to have three of the four teams still in the running for a playoff spot entering the final week of the regular season, especially considering they were without their head coaches for 45 days of practices and games during the Brandon University Faculty Association strike. Only the winless BU women’s team is out of the running, but there is hope on the horizon with new head coach Novell Thomas slated to take over on March 23.
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition February 10, 2012
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Some news, notes and quotes, and the latest edition of the good, the bad and the ugly with the Brandon Wheat Kings:
The good:
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Some news, notes and quotes, and the latest edition of the good, the bad and the ugly with the Brandon Wheat Kings:
The good:
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