Discussions

The day is finally here. Almost 11 months to the day from when the Calgary Hitmen ended the 2008-2009 Brandon Wheat Kings' season with a convincing 4-0 sweep, the Wheat Kings get their chance to prove what they can do in the post-season. A year wiser and with a different supporting cast, they hope that their first round series against the Swift Current Broncos is the beginning of a memorable run that culminates in May with a Memorial Cup championship.  
 
For those who followed the playoffs last year on eBrandon, we go with a bit of a different format for Wheat King games compared to the regular season "Game day threads." Since there are usually so many games grouped close together and folks are usually as interested in discussing road games as much as home games, we're going to go with one thread for an entire series. I'll still post pre-game info for each home game.  
 
As the series progresses, it would be great to see this thread evolve into a series of thoughts and reaction to how it's playing out.  
 
For a few pre-series thoughts and a statistical preview of the matchup, feel free to check out this thread from earlier this week:  
http://www.ebrandon.ca/messagethread.aspx?cat_id=1&message_id=266280  
 
 
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Series schedule (best of seven)  
 
Friday, March 19th - Swift Current at Brandon, 7:30 p.m.  
Saturday, March 20th - Swift Current at Brandon, 7:30 p.m.  
Tuesday, March 23rd - Brandon vs Swift Current, 8:00 p.m. (at Regina)  
Wednesday, March 24th - Brandon vs Swift Current, 8:00 p.m. (at Regina)  
*Friday, March 26th - Swift Current at Brandon, 7:30 p.m.  
*Monday, March 29th - Brandon vs Swift Current, 8:00 p.m. (at Regina)  
*Wednesday, March 31st - Swift Current vs Brandon, 8:00 p.m. (Venue TBD)  
 
* - if necessary. All times are CDT.  
 
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Swift Current Broncos (Season record: 37-30-1-4, 7th in Eastern Conference)  
 
Top regular season scorers: Cody Eakin (47+44=91), Justin Dowling (32+46=78), Michael Stickland (25+32=57), Stepan Novotny (25+31)  
 
Top scoring defenceman: Travis Bobbee (8+24=32)  
 
Full scoring: http://whl.ca/stats/statdisplay.php?type=skaters&subType=19&season_id=234&leagueId=26&lastActive=&singleSeason=&confId=0  
 
Starting goaltender: Word is that the Broncos, much like the Wheat Kings, have been riding whoever the hottest of their two goaltenders ends up being. Right now that would be Morgan Clark, however Mark Friesen played the Wheat Kings much better this season. Have to wait and see, I'll guess Clark for game one but Friesen ready to go for game two if they lose.  
 
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Brandon Wheat Kings (Season record: 50-18-1-3, 2nd in Eastern Conference)  
 
Top regular season scorers: Matt Calvert (47+52=99), Brayden Schenn (34+65=99), Scott Glennie (32+57=89), Aaron Lewadniuk (37+49=86)  
 
Top scoring defenceman: Colby Robak (16+50=66)  
 
Full scoring: http://whl.ca/stats/statdisplay.php?type=skaters&season_id=234  
 
Starting goaltender: Have also gone through a goalie rotation situation for much of the year. Jacob De Serres has gotten most key starts in recent weeks and is 1-0 against the Broncos this season, so I'll guess the Wheat Kings start with him.  
 
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I'll have starting lineups for tonight's game hopefully approx 45 mins before game time.