Blowout loss tough to swallow

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This article was published 24/05/2010 (5762 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

History will have to wait.

Bidding to bring the city its first MasterCard Memorial Cup title — on home ice no less — the Brandon Wheat Kings were instead rolled 9-1 by the defending champion Windsor Spitfires on Sunday at Westman Place.

Last night’s game marked the second time the Wheat Kings had played in the Memorial Cup final since the event went to a tournament format in 1972, joining the2-1 overtime loss that Brandon suffered to the Peterborough Petes in the 1979 final.

While second place in a tournament featuring the top teams in the Canadian Hockey League is no small feat, the way it happened last night — tying the record for the most lopsided final since 1972 — made it tough for the Wheat Kings to put a positive spin on their performance.

"We played (the Spitfires) two games this season and we had probably two of our worst games," said Wheat Kings co-captain Brayden Schenn, whose team lost 9-3 to the Spitfires in the opening game of the tournament.

"We got away from the game plan, didn’t do the things that we wanted to do to win against this team and look what happens. They outscored us pretty heavily and took it to us, but give credit to them, they’re a good team. … It’s over with now and I guess we can’t really do anything about it."

Buoyed by their thrilling5-4 overtime victory over the Calgary Hitmen in the semifinal on Friday night, the Wheat Kings came out of the gate strong in the final, but were eventually worn down by relentless pressure from the Spitfires, falling behind 2-0 in the opening period.

"I thought we did have a good start," Wheat Kings head coach/general manager Kelly McCrimmon said.

"I thought the first goal really seemed to impact us. I didn’t think we were as good for the remainder of the first period and really I thought it would have really helped us had we got to the break at 1-0 and we gave up the goal with 30 seconds left in the first. I thought that was the goal that, in hindsight, hurt us."

The Spitfires stretched their lead to 3-0 early in the second period, before the Wheat Kings found a faint spark of hope on Matt Calvert’s second-period power-play goal, 8:16 into the frame. That spark was quickly snuffed out, however, on a curious Greg Nemisz goal 40 seconds later. Even the Windsor players didn’t seem to know the puck had gone into the net until the video replay officials made their ruling.

"It was special to score and it was kind of a timely time," said Calvert, who played his final junior game and was named to the tournament all-star team along with teammate Travis Hamonic. "I thought we were right back in it, we had two really good shifts … and that fourth goal was just a killer for us. (It) just shifted us and we got running around after that and it just got ugly from there."

The Wheat Kings now lose overagers Jay Fehr, Aaron Lewadniuk and Calvert to graduation, while a number of other players on the roster will likely move on to the professional ranks.

Schenn doesn’t know where he will be next season as he will try to earn a spot on the roster of the National Hockey League’s Los Angeles Kings. But after finishing second in both the Memorial Cup and the world junior hockey championship, he said it’s been a bittersweet season to say the least.

"Obviously a lot of highs and a lot of lows," Schenn said. "Obviously, the two biggest lows to me … were the loss to the U.S. in the world junior tournament and now this one.

"The thing is though, it could make us better in the long run. It leaves that bitter, bitter taste in your mouth when you had two pretty good opportunities to try being a winner. Everyone wants to be a winner, but this year we just fell short two times."