Wheat Kings Harvest Crown Chiefs’ Year Ends With First Shutout

The Brandon Wheat Kings left Spokane Thursday night without a doubt in anyone’s mind.

Their first Western Hockey League championship in 17 years is no fluke.

The Wheat Kings are headed for the Memorial Cup as WHL champs after eliminating the West Division-champion Spokane Chiefs 3-0 in the Arena.

It was the Chiefs’ first shutout loss of a superb season in which they went 59-27-4 and turned Inland Northwest sports fans into hockey fans.

It was a classy ending to a tight league championship series, with many of the 10,125 sending the Chiefs off the ice and home for vacation with a standing ovation.

Next stop for Brandon is the May 11-19 Memorial Cup in Peterborough, Ontario, after Vinnie Jonasson, Wade Redden and Mike Leclerc scored in support of a 26-save shutout by Jody Lehman.

The Most Valuable Player of the series - won by the Wheat Kings four games to one - was Brandon center Bobby Brown, who was kept off the scoresheet in Game 5 but was representative of the tough, skilled, two-way players who made the difference in the series.

“The strength of the organization from management down is character,” said the over-age Brown. “We pride ourselves on always trying to be the hardest-working team on the ice. It was a battle all the way through that came down to the little things - like taking hits to make plays.

“This is special to me and the other 20-year-old on the team,” Lehman said. “We knew going into the playoffs, this is our last year. By no means are we done. The big prize is still on the way. I couldn’t write a better script. The book’s not finished yet, but it’s looking good right now.”

It was the last game as a junior for Spokane’s over-ager, left wing Dmitri Leonov. He wasn’t sure what the future holds for him.

“Three years goes so fast,” said the 21-year-old from Chelyabinsk, Russia. “First year, I don’t play a lot. Second year, I break my ankle. This seems like first and last year for me. I’m going to miss the fans. I’m going to miss my teammates.”

Leonov looked up from his locker room cubicle through tears.

The Chiefs have probably seen the last of scoring leader Jason Podollan, who has signed with the NHL Florida Panthers and could be playing pro hockey before the week is out.

What’s next for Podollan?

“I wasn’t really looking at that until you asked that question,” said Podollan, who was singled out by both coaches - Mike Babcock of the Chiefs and Brandon’s Bob Lowes - as Spokane’s player of the series. “If I get a phone call (from Florida) I’ll be on a plane. If not, I’ll be going home like everyone else.”

Captain Sean Gillam - although he hasn’t signed with the Detroit Red Wings - is another whose junior career may be history. Jan Hrdina is another who said so long to junior hockey. Goaltender David Lemanowicz looked around the room, wondering if he were seeing it for the last time as a Chief.

Darren Sinclair walked out into the chilly spring night not knowing if another year of juniors is in the cards.

Babcock was upbeat, finally confessing what he’d kept to himself - that Brandon was simply a better hockey club.

“We didn’t suddenly get bad,” he said. “It’s not like we went out and self-destructed. They were better. Not many teams were capable this year of making us look like we had inadequacies. They were.”

The Wheat Kings got the game-winner in the first period after making another one of their lucky breaks.

Jonasson - the beneficiary of a timely break from the penalty box that led to his setting up Wednesday night’s winning goal - got his stick on Ryan Robson’s shot and bunted the puck in for a 1-0 Wheat Kings lead with 4 minutes, 43 seconds left in the first period.

“The guy (Robson) just flipped it at the net,” Lemanowicz said. “It was going to land in my lap and out of nowhere Jonasson lifted it. It landed flat on his stick and he almost lacrossed it into the top part of the net. Nobody knew where it was … except for me.”

Special teams play kept the Chiefs close.

Three times the Chiefs killed off 5-3 Brandon power plays totaling 1:45 of the opening period. In all, the Chiefs snuffed five first-period Wheat Kings power plays.

But penalty killing is no way to win a series. Brandon’s power play - the best in the league - finally broke through on Spokane’s penalty-kill unit inside the final minute of the second period.

Lemanowicz never saw Redden’s slap shot from the top of the left circle until it went between the legs of Spokane’s Hugh Hamilton. The power-play goal at 19:06 effectively ended the series.

Brandon led 2-0 at that point, heading into the second intermission. The Wheat Kings are 53-1-1 when leading after two.

Lemanowicz, who rejected 32 shots, gave up the third goal at 7:48 of the third period - Leclerc’s snap shot from the high slot.

As the game was winding down the fans rose in tribute, cheering the Chiefs off the ice.

Wheat Kings 3, Chiefs 0

Brandon 1 1 1 - 3

Spokane 0 0 0 - 0

First period - 1, Brandon, Jonasson 4 (Robson, Redden) 15:17. Key penalties - Hamilton, Spo, 4:48; Anneck, Bran, 5:16; Kurtz, Spo, 7:19; Schutz, Spo, 11:07; Hrdina, Spo, 12:15; Anneck, Spo, 15:42; Leonov, 16:28; Favaro, Spo, 17:40. Second period - 2, Brandon, Redden 5 (Smart, Dingman) 19:06 (power play). Key penalties - Shockey, Spo, 2:41; Kurtz, Bran, 9:14; Gillam, Spo, 18:02. Third period - 3, Brandon, Leclerc (Brown, Cyrenne) 7:48. Key penalties - Redden, Bran, 10:29; Redden, Bran, 17:18; Anneck, Bran, 19:42. Power plays opp. - Brandon 1-7, Spokane 0-7.Saves - Brandon, Lehman 9-16-11 - 26. Spokane, Lemanowicz 13-11-8 - 32.A-10, 125

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo