Where Similarities End Brandon’s Edge On Chiefs Slight But Sure

Meet the Brandon Wheat Kings and the Spokane Chiefs, the franchise twins.

The Wheaties and Chiefs - who play the first game of the Western Hockey League championship finals tonight in Brandon - are an 18-hour bus ride apart, but in style and substance they are as close as two hockey clubs get.

Both take the body and cycle low. They get on the forecheck. They preach desperation and think of themselves as relentless in pursuit of the puck.

Jason Podollan of Spokane and Chris Dingman of Brandon give each team a superstar presence.

Both goaltenders - questionable at the start of the year - are solid. Spokane’s David Lemanowicz made the transition from last year’s backup to this year’s goaltender of the year and playoff winner.

The Wheat Kings solved their problem - Brian Elder’s groin injury - on Jan. 10 when they brought in netminder Jody Lehman from the Colonial League.

Lehman, who had ditched the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors, was a backup in the minors when the Wheat Kings obtained his rights and installed him as their starter.

The general managers, Spokane’s Tim Speltz and Kelly McCrimmon of Brandon, are friends.

Behind the benches, Brandon’s Bob Lowes and Mike Babcock of the Chiefs are partial to kids with strong character and a commitment to defense.

Lowes, whose team fought off injury on the way to the league’s best record, is WHL coach of the year, Babcock the runner-up.

Records are nearly identical. Spokane went 50-18-4 and is 8-5 in the playoffs. Slightly better at 52-19-1, the Wheat Kings are 12-2 in the playoffs.

Games 1, 2 and possibly 3 are in Brandon’s 5,008-seat Keystone Center, which has standing-room for another 800, pushing capacity to 5,808.

The Chiefs are home on Wednesday and Thursday nights in the Arena, plus next Saturday night if necessary.

The winner of this best-of-seven goes on to the May 11-19 Memorial Cup in Peterborough, Ontario.

Advantages in this series - slim as they are - favor the Wheat Kings. Among them:

Home-ice. If the series goes seven, the decisive game will be played in Brandon, although that might not prove much of an edge.

The Chiefs are a great road club and “Brandon fans are experts who tend to sit and watch,” said Mike Sawatzky, who covers the Wheaties for the Brandon Sun. “They don’t make a lot of noise. You’d rather play at home, but I’m not sure that’s as big an edge as it might seem.”

Playoff experience. The playoff-seasoned Wheat Kings were in last year’s Memorial Cup tournament. Although they lost in the WHL finals to Kamloops, Brandon went on to the Memorial Cup tournament anyway, since Kamloops was the host team.

Brandon pounded Hull (technically Les Olympiques De Hull) 9-2 before losing close ones to the Detroit Junior Red Wings 4-3 and 2-1, and a tough one to Kamloops 6-4.

Skilled blue-liners. Spokane’s physical defensemen stepped up in the Kamloops series. Sean Gillam, Adam Magarrell, Hugh Hamilton, John Shockey, Joel Boschman and Chris Lane may not match up on paper with what Kamloops brings to the rink, but look who’s in the finals?

The Chiefs wouldn’t have handled the Blazers four games to two without effective D-men. Magarrell, a Manitoba kid who played 89 games for the Wheat Kings before his 1995 trade to Spokane, has the added motivator of a homecoming.

Still, the Brandon blue-liners come in with the edge based on superior creative skill.

Wade Redden, the second pick in last year’s NHL entry draft (New York Islanders), has a game-winner and a short-handed goal in the playoffs. Justin Kurtz, a defenseman who can lead the rush, scored 75 points in 53 games.

They’re tough from the point of the power play.

Dingman’s bothersome knee was scoped during the season by the NHL Calgary Flames, who made him their first-round draft pick in ‘94. Since then he’s a changed player.

Although the Wheat Kings regained forward Mark Dutiaume (groin) just in time for the playoffs, he reportedly has a hip pointer. Dutiaume is a physical presence who was projected to be the first-line center. He’s a factor, if healthy.

Redden has had a back problem. Darren Van Oene missed a game in the Prince Albert series with a hip.

Brandon’s most effective line in its 4-2 series win over Prince Albert was Kelly Smart at center with Peter Schaefer on the left wing and Dingman - normally a left winger - on the right side. As Brandon’s most skilled player, Schaefer presents matchup concerns.

Babcock has started Podollan for a brief shift with the first line, with center Darren Sinclair and left wing Dmitri Leonov, then teamed him with Jan Hrdina and John Cirjak.

Podollan - the league’s leading scorer in the playoffs with 28 points in 13 games - was pivotal in the Kamloops series.

He’ll draw a crowd.

Hrdina is difficult to match. It’ll be interesting to see who Lowes sticks on him.

Two key questions: Who’ll referee and how much will he let go? The Chiefs’ penalty kill in the playoffs is a shaky 75.8 percent. Avoiding undisciplined minors is critical.

The Chiefs stayed out of the penalty box in Game 6 at Kamloops - and blew the Blazers out of the series.

Skating short-handed is a quick way to exit a short series.

The Chiefs were better head-to-head. They played the Wheat Kings twice and whipped them 5-1 in Spokane on Nov. 4 and 8-6 in Brandon a week later.

Still, with Lehman established in goal and Dingman right, the Wheaties are better than they were in November. They’re on a roll. They’ve won an incredible 25 of their last 27.

Don’t look for them to stop now.

Tickets available

Less than 1,000 tickets remain for the Chiefs home playoff opener against Brandon on Wednesday. Tickets can be purchased through G&B Select-A-Seat outlets or the Chiefs ticket office at 328-0450.

There are nearly 1,500 tickets remaining for Game 4 on May 2 and less than 3,300 left for a possible Game 5 on May 4.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo