Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
The Brandon Wheat Kings will be playing for pride tonight.
The Wheat Kings lost 5-2 to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday night in Saskatchewan, ensuring Brandon will finish in last place in the Eastern Conference.
The teams will complete the home-and-home series — and their season — tonight at 7:30 at Westman Place. While the Wheat Kings (23-40-4-4) will miss the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons, head coach Dwayne Gylywoychuk said the club wants to at least finish the season on a high note.
“I think most importantly we’ve got to put a solid effort in for our fans,” he said. “Our fans have been good to us all year. … And then there’s always something to play for. There’s always somebody watching, or playing for guys in the room and all that. And it’s our last home game so we want to make sure we end on a positive note, we leave everything on the ice and we make the most of it.”
Wheat Kings fans haven’t had much to cheer for at Westman Place this season. The club has the worst home record in the Western Hockey League this season at 12-19-3-1.
Sam Fioretti had two goals and an assist last night for the Warriors (25-36-4-6), who went 4-for-4 on the power play over the first two periods to take a 4-0 lead. Brayden Point also tallied twice for Moose Jaw, wrapping up the scoring into an empty net. Justin Kirsch scored a goal and set up two others in the victory.
Jason Swyripa replied with a pair of goals for the Wheat Kings in the third period, with one of them coming short-handed.
“It was good for us to get two by their goalie,” Gylywoychuk said. “We’ll see the same goalie (tonight) so it was important for us to take that and we’ve got to take what we did in the lastd 15 minutes and use it (tonight) when we play against the same team in our building.”
Curtis Honey started in net for the Wheat Kings but was replaced after two periods, having stopped 23 of 27 shots. Corbin Boes made 13 saves the rest of the way as Brandon mounted a late challenge.
The Wheat Kings nearly cut the lead down to one, but Warriors goalie Justin Paulic stopped Jens Meilleur, who was on a 2-on-0 breakaway with Chad Robinson, for one of his 27 saves on the night.
Tonight’s game is guaranteed to be the final WHL contest for two members of the Wheat Kings — overagers Nick Buonassisi and Tyler Yaworski, who were both acquired in trades prior to the season. As well, the club has six 19-year-old players — Boes, defenceman Rene Hunter and forwards Swyripa, Robinson, Meilleur and import Marek Kalus. Only three of those players can be full-time members of the Wheat Kings next season, although the club can take until October’s overage deadline to make that decision.
<B>ONE-TIMERS: Brandon scratched C/LW <B>John Quenneville (knee), C <B>Tyrel Seaman (concussion), C <B>Quintin Lisoway and LW<B> Jesse Gabrielle on Friday … Moose Jaw RW <B>Jordan Messier concluded his three-game suspension … At least two Moose Jaw players will continue their season after this weekend. <B>Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that Warriors
D <B>Morgan Rielly will join the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, while D <B>Kendall McFaull is also ticketed for the AHL, with the Oklahoma City Barons.
» rhenders@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition March 16, 2013
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The Brandon Wheat Kings will be playing for pride tonight.
The Wheat Kings lost 5-2 to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday night in Saskatchewan, ensuring Brandon will finish in last place in the Eastern Conference.
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The Brandon Wheat Kings will be playing for pride tonight.
The Wheat Kings lost 5-2 to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday night in Saskatchewan, ensuring Brandon will finish in last place in the Eastern Conference.
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