Saskatoon Blades (16-3-0-3, 1st in Eastern Conference)  
 
Top scorers: Derek Hulak (9+20=29), Walker Wintoneak (12+15=27), Gaelan Patterson (10+12=22), Stefan Elliot (8+11=19)  
 
Top scoring defenceman: Elliot (8+11=19)  
 
Probable starting goaltender: Blades have been alternating starts between Steven Stanford and Adam Morrison. If that continues, tonight Morrison (9-3-0-3, 0.918 save pct, 2.42 GAA) would get the call.  
 
Manitobans: Walker Wintoneak (Flin Flon), Charles Inglis (Winnipeg)  
 
 
 
 
Brandon Wheat Kings (12-8-0-2, Tie-3rd in Eastern Conference  
 
Top scorers: Brayden Schenn (9+18=27), Jay Fehr (10+16=26), Matt Calvert (12+13=25), Aaron Lewadniuk (8+16=24)  
 
Top scoring defenceman: Colby Robak (3+13=16)  
 
Probable starting goaltender: Andrew Hayes (10-5-0-1, 0.907 save pct, 2.62 GAA)  
 
 
 
 
Probably the biggest game at Westman Place so far this season as the Wheat Kings try to take a bite out of the Blades' already sizable lead in the East Division standings (9 points)  
 
Saskatoon is red hot, having lost just once in regulation since being shutout 3-0 on October 3 in Brandon. Their record over that span is 14-1-1. The Wheat Kings appear to be turning it up as well, having gone 6-3-1 over their past ten games.  
 
Expect a stark contrast from the type of game we saw on Wednesday. Prince George had the worst goals against average in the WHL. Saskatoon happen to have the best team GAA, with their stingy defense having given up just 52 goals in 22 games (average of 2.36 per game).  
 
Lineups and scratches approx a half hour before game time. Would be great to hear peoples thoughts on the matchup pre and post-game.

If the crowd gets into the game from the get go the WheatKings will win 5-3 and start to shake the friday night curse.If the crowd sits on there hands then we will lose 5-3.Either way the 5th goal will be an empty net goal.lol  
Golden Boys whats up are we going to hear the noise makers tonight,I sure hope so.Are you guys going to be tailgating tonight?

The Wheat Kings record on Fridays is terrible. But the last time the Wheat Kings hosted the Blades, on a Saturday after losing to Red Deer the night before, we won 3-0.  
 
Maybe we should move our clocks ahead 24 hours just before the game.  
 
Or then again, maybe tonight the team will end the "Friday blues".  
 

Saskatoon has 81 GF and 52 GA  
Brandon has 79 GF and 65 GA  
 
If Hayes is on his game, we should squeak two points out of this one. I am predicting the Wheaties finally dump the Friday jinx, score first and win this one by 2 (1 empty net) 4 - 2.

A link to a good story on the Wheat Kings and Brayden Schenn from a Saskatoon perspective.. talks about among other things, the Wheat King starting to turn it around after they "bumbled through the first five weeks of the WHL schedule"  
 
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/sports/Schenn+Wheat+Kings+back+working+order/2218063/story.html

Friday the 13th....

I hate to say it but it's just like clockwork that no matter who we play on Friday we lose and no matter who we play on Saturday we win so until that changes I will have to unfortunately predict a 4-2 Toontown win.  
 
C'mon boys, please prove me wrong!!!

if Brandon could play the team game like Saskatoon does, we would probably only lose another 5 games this year.  

5-2 victory.

Nothing should get the boys pumped up more then the top team in your Division.  
 
I expect a solid effort tonight from Hayes to lines 1 through 4, if that happens I'd say we'll win a 4-3 hard fought win.

nuff said.

Scratches for the Blades are Tyler Kizuik and Braeden Johnson  
 
For the Wheat Kings are Dallas Ehrhardt, Mark Stone, Wheaton King, Jesse Sinatynski and one of Brenden Walker or Klarc Wilson (to be announced prior to game time)  
 
Starting in goal are Steven Stanford for Saskatoon and Andrew Hayes for the Wheat Kings  
 
 
Lines for the Blades will be..  
 
Curtis Hamilton - Travis Toomey - Josh Nicholls  
Jeremy Boyer - Charles Inglis - Burke Gallimore  
Derek Hulak - Gaelan Patterson - Walker Wintoneak (they have this listed as their third line, but statistically they're the first)  
Darian Dziurzynski - Brent Benson - Randy McNaught  
 
Sam Klassen - Stefan Elliot  
Teigan Zahn - Jyri Niemi  
Duncan Siemens - Dalton Thrower  
 
 
For the Wheat Kings  
 
Calvert - Schenn - Glennie  
Rajala - Fehr - Lewadniuk  
Hale - Van de Velde - Depape  
Ferland - Ciarelli - Wilson or Walker  
 
Urbom - Robak  
Bestland - Melnychuk  
Schneider - Miller  

3-0 Saskatoon already and 1st is just barely half over..  
 
Edited by ChrisV, 2009-11-13 20:11:55

cmon, your team outworks sask, outshoots them, and you give up 3 goals on 4 shots...wind out of the sails and game over at that point...sure Bdn is going to try but it's game over...I also thought it funny how big a game bdn thinks it is, measuring stick and all that usual bs and the blades play their back up...they see it as a game against a middle of the pack team and they'll rest their # 1...still does not matter either...currently 4 - 2 blades at time of the post! calgary next week..r we to expect anything different? I hope so..dig deep boys and find a way in a meaningful game!

Well it sucks that we lost but I honestly thought we outplaned Toontown for 58 minutes of that game. Obviously giving up 3 goals in a 2 minute span in the 1st when we had been outshooting them 6-0 really sucked. Not scoring on the 5-3 for 1:39 to start the 3rd and virtually doing nothing sucked and then the Blades scoring on their 1st powerplay right after that really hurt us. We kept battling and just couldn't buy that equalizer. Too bad Calvert deeked himself out on that penalty shot with 5:50 left as the crowd was really feeling it at that time. Those 2 hits by Bestland were huge in the 3rd as well.  
 
Well it seems the Friday night curse in Brandon lives on. If we were playing Regina tomorrow night the game would be in the bag but since were playing on Sunday I don't know what to expect.

well, I am sure there wasn't a Wheat King fan that left the game tonight feeling like the Wheat Kings weren't deserving of a win. They played so well for the majority of the game...it's disappointing to have games where the oppositition is soundly outshot and yet we come out on the short end of the stick (pardon the pun).

The blades didn't have to go 100% after they were up 3-0 . the blades played with the lead the rest of the game. The wheat kings didn't deserve to win that game. The wheat kings played well because the blades were going 80%. the game was over in the first 9 mins of the game.

Do we make the other teams goalies look like All-Stars?  
 
We had 47 shots tonight 3 goals  
 
Last Friday 42 shots 0 goals  
 
What is the problem?  

Brandon did again played a game deserving of a better fate...however despite the penalty shot and 5 on 3 u can't chalk up a 3 spot and say game on. i agree with silaic, it was game over in the first. kelly Mac finally said they are in the businees of getting results and they need to get more. it was a game they probably should have won 3-1 or 3-2 while not having to come back and win 5 -4.

Great game to watch tonight. The team is starting to come around with all the 40 shot games.

ChrisV said "3-0 Saskatoon already and 1st is just barely half over..     Edited by ChrisV, 2009-11-13 20:11:55"

That was the game right there.  
 
The positive thing is the Wheaties didn't give up after those 3 quick goals, when they easily could have and that's a very good sign.

When a team gives up 3 goals after outworking the other team - it gets hard on the emotion and you could see the heads drop and the game changed completely. I think the team played well for 55 minutes or so, but in the end it adds up to good intentions and a LOSS. Good intentions aside and outworking teams, without the positive result, this is a .500 team STILL!!! I saw some good signs, but it is still an L. I sawe some good passing, but it is still an L. I saw some great saves from Hayes, but in the end some poor goals lead to an L. Are all of you guys satisfied with great intentions and 55 minutes of pretty good hockey and an L every other night. We will see some good games coming up and some pretty good efforts, but is the .500 status really going to change? I agree that SASK let up a bit and allowed BWK to get some jump, but this game was over at 3-0.

know whats happening in May, its time to clean house before we get too far back. We palyed well enough for the win except for goaltending which was BRUTAL.

would be boring if we were in 1st place.

Gotta be proud of the way they kept at it tonight. Hopefully they see that with this type of effort, lots of wins will happen. They outplayed the current top team in the dub, that was the best effort i've seen this season, very encouraging.  
 
Edited by Rico, 2009-11-14 00:13:26

I guess we'll just have to keep shooting until they start going in, but maybe aim for top corner more instead of hitting goalie in the chest.  
 
 
 
Edited by TeamCanada, 2009-11-14 00:54:09

First off, Saskatoon didn't exactly start their backup. They have a 1A and 1B, which happens to be the best goaltending duo in the WHL. Stanford was the starting goalie in PA last season. The Raiders decided to keep Zemlak instead and dealt him to the Blades after the season started.  
 
The Wheaties need to be more physical. They play best when they play tough, in your face hockey, and they haven't done that much this year at all. The only guys consistently finishing checks are Miller and Bestland.  
 
The goaltending wasn't BRUTAL as someone said. On the contrary, I thought Hayes played quite well. The Blades goals went like this: screened shot, screened shot, pile up in the crease, powerplay goal. The only one you can blame him for is the pile up, as he should've had it in his trapper.

Trevor said "First off, Saskatoon didn't exactly start their backup. They have a 1A and 1B, which happens to be the best goaltending duo in the WHL. Stanford was the starting goalie in PA last season. The Raiders decided to keep Zemlak instead and dealt him to the Blades after the season started.     The Wheaties need to be more physical. They play best when they play tough, in your face hockey, and they haven't done that much this year at all. The only guys consistently finishing checks are Miller and Bestland.     The goaltending wasn't BRUTAL as someone said. On the contrary, I thought Hayes played quite well. The Blades goals went like this: screened shot, screened shot, pile up in the crease, powerplay goal. The only one you can blame him for is the pile up, as he should've had it in his trapper. "

He may have let in 3 of first 4 shots but he wasn't as bad as it looked on the score board.  
 
He also made big saves later in the game to gave us a chance to get back in it.  
 
 
 
Edited by TeamCanada, 2009-11-14 00:52:21

And the real positive we need to take out of this game is that we showed we can compete when we put put a big effort from all players. That was the most complete effort i've seen all season, and the result was we outplayed the top team in the CHL. The guys just need to take pride from that and build with more efforts, we will start destroying some teams if we play complete games such as this......

TeamCanada said "    Trevor said "First off, Saskatoon didn't exactly start their backup. They have a 1A and 1B, which happens to be the best goaltending duo in the WHL. Stanford was the starting goalie in PA last season. The Raiders decided to keep Zemlak instead and dealt him to the Blades after the season started.     The Wheaties need to be more physical. They play best when they play tough, in your face hockey, and they haven't done that much this year at all. The only guys consistently finishing checks are Miller and Bestland.     The goaltending wasn't BRUTAL as someone said. On the contrary, I thought Hayes played quite well. The Blades goals went like this: screened shot, screened shot, pile up in the crease, powerplay goal. The only one you can blame him for is the pile up, as he should've had it in his trapper. " He may have let in 3 of first 4 shots but he wasn't as bad as it looked on the score board.     He also made big saves later in the game to gave us a chance to get back in it.         Edited by TeamCanada, 2009-11-14 00:52:21"

Exactly, I agree 100% with both of your comments.