Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663
Game day thread: Prince Albert Raiders @ Wheat Kings, 7 PM
1/4/2011 at 3:00 PM
Prince Albert Raiders (15-22-2-2, 9th in Eastern Conference)
Top scorers: Jonathan Parker (22 goals, 23 assists, 45 points), Mark McNeill (17+27=44), Brandon Herrod (17+19=36), Sebastian Svendsen (17+16=33)
Top scoring defenceman: Ryan Button (3+18=21)
Probable starting goaltender: Duties have been split this year between Jamie Tucker and Eric Williams. With Tucker having started the last two games, I'll guess that Williams (8-9-1-1, 3.54 goals against avg, 0.904 save pct) plays tonight.
Manitobans: TJ Constant (The Pas)
Brandon Wheat Kings (13-22-1-4, 11th in Eastern Conference)
Top scorers: Mark Stone (18 goals, 27 assists, 45 points), Scott Glennie (14+29=43), Shayne Wiebe (18+10=28), Brenden Walker (12+13=25)
Top scoring defenceman: Brodie Melnychuk (5+17=22)
Probable starting goaltender: If the Wheat Kings are into a rotation between Boes and Lston, we'll see Liam Liston (11-13-0-1, 3.48 goals against avg, 0.889 save pct) tonight.
The Wheat Kings and Raiders play the first of two head-to-head games this week that could go a long way toward deciding how far into the playoff race in the Eastern Conference either team might get.
The teams have split their two head-to-head matchups this year, with Brandon having won the most recent game on Dec 12 by a convincing 6-2 score.
I'll have scratches and lineups 30-45 mins before game time. It would be great to hear others' thoughts on the game and its' potential playoff implications. If we're getting too heavily into trade deadline chat, I'd ask that we please use the separate discussion thread that we have going for that topic.