WHEAT KINGS HEADED TO THE FINAL

FINAL/OT: Wheat Kings 5, Hitmen 4

Fehr Scores in OT and lifts Wheat Kings to MasterCard Memorial Cup Final

PRESS RELEASE
BRANDON, Man. – Jay Fehr scored his third goal of the tournament 3:16 into overtime to send the Brandon Wheat Kings to their first MasterCard Memorial Cup championship game in just over thirty years with a 5-4 win over the Calgary Hitmen.

The intensity level was off the charts in the first few minutes of the opening frame. Bodies were flying everywhere with both teams trying to take over the momentum. Calgary got the first power play opportunity at 13:31 after Darren Bestland went to the penalty box for holding and the Hitmen capitalized. Joel Broda jumped on his own rebound and pushed a backhand shot past a sprawling De Serres.

Less than thirty seconds later, Ian Schultz quieted the hometown crowd by blasting a wrist-shot from the bottom of the face-off circle behind the Wheat Kings’ goaltender. The Hitmen retreated to their dressing room with a comfortable 2-0 lead after the first period.

Alexander Urbom cut the lead in half at 1:35 with his first goal of the MasterCard Memorial Cup to get the crowd going at Westman Place. Calgary regained their two-goal advantage after Tyler Fiddler broke into the offensive zone and blasted a hard slap-shot beyond Jacob De Serres at the midway mark. But it didn’t take long for the Wheat Kings to battle back. Matt Calvert registered his second goal of the tournament just two minutes later.

Travis Hamonic added a power play marker with ten seconds left to play in the second period to tie it up at three. The Wheat Kings outshot the Hitmen 15-4 in the second frame.

The fans at Westman Place exploded into cheer at 5:09 of the third period as Brandon took a 4-3 lead thanks to a blast off the stick of Colby Robak. But Misha Fisenko forced overtime scoring at 14:48 of the third period.

Jay Fehr sent the Wheat Kings to the MasterCard Memorial Cup championship game 3:16 into overtime.

Brayden Schenn was named the game’s first star. Martin Jones received second star honours while Fehr, the hero on this night, got the nod for the game’s third star.

The Brandon Wheat Kings will battle the Windsor Spitfires in the championship game of the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup on Rogers Sportsnet and RDS which kicks off on Sunday at 6 pm (CDT). The game can also be seen live on Sportsnet.ca and on the NHL Network in the U.S.