Chiefs visit Brandon

Due to a scheduling conflict, the Chiefs game on tonight from Brandon will be heard on AM KJRB 790.

Rob Henderson of The Brandon Sun has a short advance the Spokane Chiefs’ visit to the Wheat Kings tonight. It’s posted below.

Gregg Drinnan had the particulars from the Chiefs’ 11-1 victory at Regina on Saturday:  first time the Chiefs had scored 11 goals in a road game since Jan. 16, 1999, when they beat the Medicine Hat Tigers, 11-2. The last time Spokane scored 11 times at home? That would be Feb. 14, 2009, in an 11-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings… . It was the seventh time in franchise history that the Chiefs scored in double digits in one game. The record for most goals in one game is 16, set Jan. 30, 1988 in a 16-7 victory over the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors. The team record for most goals in a road game is 12, set March 22, 1986, in a 12-9 victory over the Victoria Cougars. Levko Koper had six points, including two goals. The last Chiefs player to enjoy a six-point game? F Ned Lukacevic had three goals and three assists in a 7-4 victory over the visiting Portland Winterhawks on Dec. 15, 2004… . Anthony Bardaro, who had 11 points in 63 games last season, is enjoying a six-game point streak. He has all four of his goals and seven of his nine assists over his last six games.

Cory Wolfe of The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix has the reaction on the Blades’ third jersey.

by rob henderson
Kelly McCrimmon might just have a rare luxury today when he fills out the Brandon Wheat Kings ’ lineup: A full roster to choose from.
The Wheat Kings (6-10-0-1) play their first Western Hockey League home game in three weeks tonight when they host the Spokane Chiefs and right-winger David Toews looks like a good bet to be back in the lineup from a high ankle sprain that has kept him out for a month.
Toews is listed as day-to-day and McCrimmon, the team’s head coach and general manager, said the final decision won’t be made until today but the 20-year-old from Winnipeg practised fully on a line with Scott Glennie and Mike Ferland on Thursday and said he feels ready to go.
“We’re gonna kinda see where we go here,” said Toews, who was cleared by a doctor earlier this week. “I think there’s a pretty good chance I’ll get to play.”
Rookie right-winger Jens Meilleur has been cleared after breaking his hand in the pre-season while defenceman Ryley Miller (jaw/concussion) and captain Shayne Wiebe (leg), who were injured on the club’s West Coast road trip, were also all systems go at practice yesterday and don’t appear on the team’s injury report.
All told, the Wheat Kings are as healthy as they’ve been this season.
Nobody’s happier about that than Meilleur, who has waited six long weeks to make his WHL debut. The Wheat Kings have a few extra bodies up front so there’s no guarantee when that will come, but the 17-year-old who played for the Manitoba Junior Hockey League ’s Waywayseecappo Wolverines last season is thrilled to know his first game could be just around the corner.
“I just get goosebumps,” he said. “It’s your first WHL game. I’m ready and I wanna go out there and help the boys out.”
The Wheat Kings face a pair of unfamiliar opponents this weekend in the Chiefs and tomorrow’s opposition, the Seattle Thunderbirds , who come to Brandon only once every two seasons.
The Chiefs (7-8-0-0) sit last in the U.S. Division, but have won five of their last eight, blasting the Regina Pats 11-1 and topping the East Division-leading Saskatoon Blades 3-2 on this road trip before a 5-2 loss to the Prince Albert Raiders on Wednesday .
“From what I can tell, they’re playing very well,” McCrimmon said. “They won in Saskatoon — no one in the Western Hockey League has done that this year — so I think that obviously they’ll take some confidence out of that. They won decisively in Regina and I thought played pretty well in Prince Albert. They’re going to be a good team and we’ll need to play pretty well.”
ONE-TIMERS: The Wheat Kings were missing a pair of players from practice on Thursday as LW Hampus Gustafsson and D Eric Roy fell victims to an illness that has been making the rounds through the dressing room … Spokane D Reid Gow of Killarney has five points in 12 games in his rookie season … C Brayden Schenn was scratched by the L.A. Kings last night and remains at eight games. Assistant GM Ron Hextall said earlier in the week the club planned to make a decision sometime after Schenn’s ninth game on whether to keep him or return him to Brandon … Edmonton traded G Cam Lanigan, 18, to Kamloops on Thursday for G Jon Groenheyde, 19.