– Richard Nejezchleb scored a power-play goal at 4:56 of overtime as the Brandon Wheat Kings edged the Regina Pats 4-3 on Saturday night. Jens Meilleur, John Quenneville and Tyler Coulter scored second period goals for the Wheat Kings to give them a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes before Regina stormed back wtih three unanswered third period goals to send the game to overtime. Jordan Papirny made 31 saves in the Brandon net as the Wheat Kings improved to 7-1-2-0 in their last ten home games and 21-15-4-0 overall. The victory moves Brandon, once again, into sole possession of fifth-place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference standings. For more on the Wheat Kings, visit Bruce Luebke’s blog at http://luberslounge.blogspot.ca/
– Brandon Wheat Kings’ forward Braylon Shmyr and Team Pacific had to settle for silver at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge Saturday. The United States downed Team Pacific 4-0 in the gold medal game. Shmyr had two assists in six games at the tournament.
– It was a disappointing Saturday for Canada’s junior hockey team. Canada lost 5-1 to Finland in the semifinal at the World Junior Championship in Malmo, Sweden. Canada will play for bronze Sunday against Russia, who lost 2-1 to Sweden in the other semifinal. Canada finished fourth at last year’s tournament, ending a run of 14 years of finishing in the top three.
– Alex Henry stopped 50 shots to give the OCN Blizzard a 3-2 win over the Virden Oil Capitals in one of four games in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League on Saturday night. Arty Kalashnikov and Jake Dudar scored the goals for Virden, who fell to 23-12-2-0 on the saeson. The Oil Caps have a five point lead over second-place Dauphin in the Sherwood Division and visit the Kings on Sunday night.
– The Brandon AAA Midget Wheat Kings saw their 18-game winning streak come to an end with a 5-3 loss to the Winnipeg Wild Saturday night. The loss leaves first-place Brandon just one point ahead of the Wild in the standings. Coltyn Bates, Jordy Stallard and Ty Lewis scored the goals for the Wheat Kings. Other games Saturday included Morgan Geekie having two goals and an assist as Yellowhead beat Interlake 5-1 while Matt Williams and Tanner Lewis had the goals for Southwest in the Cougars 2-1 victory over Eastman.
– Defenceman Torey Krug had two goals and an assist and Tuukka Rask made 36 saves to lead the Boston Bruins to a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets Saturday. Dustin Byfuglien scored and Ondrej Pavelec stopped 25 shots for Winnipeg. The Jets have lost two in a row since bringing a three-game winning streak into the new year.
– A milestone goal for former Wheat Kings’ captain Mark Stone Saturday night. Stone scored his first career NHL goal in helping Ottawa to a 4-3 overtime victory over Montreal. Meanwhile, two former Wheat Kings scored in Philadelphia’s 5-3 win over Phoenix Saturday. Brayden Schenn notched his 10th of the season for the Flyers while Rob Klinkhammer scored his 8th of the year for the Coyotes.
– The Brandon University men’s volleyball team dropped a four-set decision to the host Saskatchewan Huskies (25-17, 25-17, 18-25, 25-20) in the final of the EBWM Men’s Volleyball Invitational in Saskatoon on Saturday. Roy Ching had 11 kills and three blocks and Sam Tuivai 11 kills and five blocks for Brandon. Tuivai, Dan Boutwell and David Stasica were named to the tournament all-star team.
– Andrew Luck is the toast of the town in Indianapolis. The Colts’ quarterback threw four second-half TD’s to lead Indianapolis over Kansas City 45-44 in the first wild-card game of the day. Indianapolis was down 38-10 in the third quarter before Luck stepped up to earn his first career playoff victory. The Colts will play either Denver or New England next weekend.
– Shayne Graham kicked a 32-yard field goal on the final play of the NFC wild-card game to give New Orleans its first road playoff victory, 26-24 over the Philadelphia Eagles. The win sends the Saints to Seattle for next Saturday’s divisional playoff game against the NFC’s top seed.
