The standings speak plainly enough about the upcoming game between the Brandon Wheat Kings and Lethbridge Hurricanes. It’s a four-point game that both teams will be fighting tooth and nail to win.
Saturday’s game against Lethbridge opens up a run of Alberta opponents for the Wheat Kings that carries into February and features both road and home contests. Of all the games coming up, the one against Lethbridge shapes up to be the most intense, as the Hurricanes are nipping at the Wheat Kings’ heels in the Eastern Conference standings.
“We expect it to be a battle with a playoff feel to it,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “They’re on a trip right now, they play tonight against Regina, so we’ll hopefully have some fresh legs tomorrow. At this stage in the season, that kind of gets thrown out the window a little bit. The big focus is the standings and this is a big one in the standings.”
Both the Hurricanes and the Medicine Hat Tigers, Sunday’s opponent, will be wrapping up road trips against the Wheat Kings, but as Murray alluded to those travel legs become less of a factor than sheer will when points in the standings are on the line.
“These kids nowadays are so well conditioned and mentally engaged that sometimes you can overcome those obstacles,” Murray said. “Case in point, when we went up to Prince Albert last time on the 3-in-3 with awful travel, we had a really strong game, one of our best of the year. I think they had a really strong game last game on a three-in-three in our barn as well.”
The game against the Raiders on Sunday, January 14 was more than just a reminder that teams won’t be stopped by unfavorable travel. It was also a big boost for the Wheat Kings’ special teams as both the power play and penalty kill shone.
“Our PK was 8-for-9 and our PP was 2-for-4 and those are good numbers that give us a chance to win the hockey game,” Murray said. “Getting a power play goal, especially at the start of the third period when we were tied, that was a big part of the game.”
Puck drop against Lethbridge on Saturday night will be 7:00, while the Sunday game against the Tigers is going to be a matinee affair, with puck drop at 4:00.
(Article courtesy of the Brandon Wheat Kings)
