PHOTO BY SCOTT VANKOUGHNETT
Brandon, Man. — At least for tonight, history does repeat itself.
The Calgary Hitmen put up a five-spot in the first twenty minutes, pacing themselves to a 5-1 victory over the host Brandon Wheat Kings Wednesday night.
The round robin is officially complete and the win ensures the Hitmen home-ice advantage in the semi-final game Friday night.
The theme of tonight’s game for the Wheat Kings was redemption.
That didn’t work out too well.
Kris Foucault started the scoring just under three minutes in on a shot that squeaked between the legs of Wheat Kings goalie Jacob De Serres.
Brandon came back with a quick response 29 seconds later, as Jay Fehr took a nice pass from behind the net and buried it past Martin Jones to tie it at one.
Foucault potted his second of the game less than three minutes later, and said after the game that it was important for them to get the next goal.
“We scored a quick one and they scored a quick one,” he said. “Of course scoring the next goal and getting the confidence and the team back together was definitely huge.”
He wasn’t kidding, as the flood gates opened after that goal.
Before the period was out, Cody Beach, Jimmy Bubnick, and Tyler Shattock scored and the game was out of reach.
Bubnick – with his four-point night – passed Taylor Hall for the tournament lead in points with eight. He explained that it was a matter of finally getting things to go the way they wanted them.
“It was a matter of getting the bounces and plucking away,” he said. “We never got the bounces in the playoffs and now we are. Things are going right right now and we have to keep it going into the semi-finals.”
It was a tough night for the Wheat Kings, who have now been outscored by the Hitmen 11-2, dating back to game six of the WHL semi-finals.
Rotating captain Matt Calvert explained that they created a hole they couldn’t dig themselves out of.
“We put ourselves in a bad situation, and then we had to work ourselves back up from there,” he said. “It obviously didn’t happen tonight. The good news is we get another second chance. We will either have one game left in the season or two now.”
He went on to explain that he doesn’t buy into the momentum factor even tough Calgary has won five straight games against them.
“If you look at it that way we beat them every game in the regular season, and then they beat us in the playoffs,” Calvert said. “When it comes down to this it shows what your team has in character and it’s going to come out to who wants it more now.
Things got testy towards the end, as Foucault took a knee-on-knee hit from Shayne Wiebe in the neutral zone.
Foucault limped off the ice in obvious discomfort, while teammate Rigby Burgart chased Wiebe around the ice. As Wiebe went into the corner, Burgart checked him from behind into the boards.
The Wheat Kings ended up with two five-on-three power plays for two minutes each, but couldn’t capitalize on either.
Calvert believes that they’re buzzing, but just aren’t clicking right now
“We need to keep on shooting and get more guys to the net,” he said. “And after that, we need to let our skill level take over.”
Foucault said after the game that he put himself in an unfortunate situation. He went on to say that the injury was just a stinger and he’ll be in the lineup Friday night.
Jones stopped 39 of 40 shots he faced, while De Serres was 25 of 30.
Stars of the Game – 1) Kris Foucault, 2) Jimmy Bubnick, 3) Tyler Shattock
Topics: Brandon Wheat Kings, Calgary Hitmen, Cody Beach, Jacob De Serres, Kris Foucault, Manitoba, Martin Jones, Matt Calvert, Memorial Cup 2010
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