Wheaties put their trust in Paps

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This article was published 22/04/2015 (4131 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are goalies with better regular-season numbers in the Western Hockey League than Wheat King Jordan Papirny, but Brandon forward John Quenneville knows who he wants between the pipes with the game on the line.

In his second WHL season, Papirny is establishing himself as a goalie who rises to the challenge in big games. Owner of a career 2.97 goals-against average and .906 save percentage in the regular season, he’s improved those marks to 2.65 and .926 in 19 career playoff games, backing the Wheat Kings to series victories over the defending champion Edmonton Oil Kings and Regina Pats this spring.

Through two rounds of playoffs this year, Papirny leads all starters with a 1.98 GAA and a .938 save percentage and has gone 3-0 in overtime, including a 42-save, 3-2 double-OT win that eliminated the Oil Kings and back-to-back extra-time victories in the final two games versus the Pats.

“You look at the Edmonton game, I don’t think he was going to let another goal in,” said Quenneville, whose team hosts the Calgary Hitmen on Friday to open the Eastern Conference final. “… I think he’s there when we need him the most and that’s a great trait to have.”

The stats back that up, too. Papirny hasn’t given up a goal after the second intermission in any of the Wheat Kings’ last six games and he has a remarkable .964 save percentage in third periods and overtime sessions in this year’s post-season.

Papirny’s playoff heroics didn’t start in the WHL. He’s a former Alberta AAA Midget Hockey League playoff MVP and backstopped his South Side Athletic Club Lions to an Alberta Bantam AAA title.

When asked about his big-game prowess, Papirny often subtly steers the conversation in a different direction, although he does admit to loving this time of year.

“Everything’s a lot more ramped up in playoffs and the excitement’s awesome,” he said. “It’s a fun time of year, obviously, because of what’s at stake.”

Papirny’s body of work in the regular season was nothing to sneeze at either. He was sixth in the WHL in both goals-against average (2.74) and save percentage (.910), while his 44 wins topped the league. Still, in his second year of National Hockey League draft eligibility, he’s ranked only 28th among North American goalies for this year’s draft by Central Scouting, and he had to settle for second-team all-star status in the Eastern Conference, behind Edmonton’s Tristan Jarry.

“I think he’s a really underrated guy in that he doesn’t get as much draft talk as other guys which I don’t know why, it blows my mind,” said Quenneville, who has played with Papirny since their bantam days with Edmonton’s South Side Athletic Club. “You look at the (1996-born) goalies … he’s the best of his age group. Just look at the win column this year, how he’s done. He’s such a great goalie. He’s stolen so many games for us and he’s huge.”

ONE-TIMERS: RW Jayce Hawryluk and RW Reid Duke both remained absent from the Wheat Kings’ practice on Tuesday after being inured in the second round.

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