PHOTO BY SCOTT VANKOUGHNETT
Redemption sure tastes sweet.
After losing five in a row to the Calgary Hitmen dating back to their WHL playoff series, the hometown Brandon Wheat Kings were able to shake their demons en route to a 5-4 overtime victory Friday night.
With the win, the Wheat Kings get another shot at the defending Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires in Sunday’s finale. They lost to the Spitfires in the tournament opener 9-3.
Jay Fehr was the hero in this one, as he took a drop pass from Toni Rajala just inside the blueline, and fired it past Martin Jones.
The game didn’t start well for the home squad as they fell behind by two goals twice.
Joel Broda got the ball rolling with his second of the tournament, followed by Ian Schultz nine seconds later with his first.
Alex Urbom got Brandon back to within one at the beginning of the second, only to have Tyler Fiddler restore the two goal cushion.
Fehr spoke after the game about how important it was to stay upbeat and positive to get back in the game.
“We knew we had a lot of momentum the crowd was great tonight,” he said. “We had a lot of confidence in the way that we were playing and just wanted to keep it going.”
And keep it going they did.
The Wheat Kings rallied off the next three goals – Matt Calvert, Travis Hamonic, and Colby Robak – to take a 4-3 lead with 15 minutes left in the third.
“We’ve had that problem sometimes during the year when we get scored on early we fold the tents but tonight the boys wanted it,” Calvert said “We didn’t want to have our last game together, and wanted a chance to play for the Memorial Cup on Sunday.”
Those aspirations looked a little more bleak as the period went on, as Misha Fisenko scored his first of the tournament to tie the game at four.
But the hockey gods were smiling down on the host team, as Fehr potted his third of the tournament 3:16 into the extra frame.
“We felt like we had a lot of hockey left,” Brayden Schenn said after the game. “We battled back from 2-0 and then 3-1. We have an older hockey club and didn’t want it to be our last game together.”
Hitmen forward Mackenzie Royer felt that they might have overlooked the Wheat Kings.
“Maybe our heads weren’t in it,” he said. “Maybe we thought we’d won five in a row and just set our sticks down and it’d be easy. They’re a good team over there and we didn’t show up tonight.”
Jones, who stood on his head making 43 saves, couldn’t really put words together to explain what happened.
“Obviously it was a tough game and a tough way to go out,” he said. “We didn’t play our best tonight and I think that’s what’s going to hurt the most.”
It was a tough loss for the Hitmen, as they won the WHL championship and were red-hot against the Wheat Kings.
“Our goal was to get to the finals and win the Memorial Cup,” Jones said. “To fall short is pretty disappointing.”
Jacob De Serres was solid for Brandon, stopping 25 of 29 shots.
Three Stars: 1) Brayden Schenn, 2) Martin Jones, 3) Jay Fehr
Topics: Brandon Wheat Kings, Brayden Schenn, Calgary Hitmen, Jay Fehr, Mackenzie Royer, Manitoba, Martin Jones, Matt Calvert, Memorial Cup, Windsor Spitfires
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