Brandon Down in MMHL Playoff Series

  Mario Petit stopped 42 shots to lead the Eastman Selects to a 3-2 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings in Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League playoff action Wednesday night.
 
  Landon Plett had two goals and an assist and Brett Howden a goal and two helpers to lead Eastman offensively, while Jordy Stallard and Ty Lewis had the goals for Brandon.
 
  "We outchanced them by a long shot, but pucks were bouncing over sticks and there were times we were probably squeezing our stick a little too tight," said Brandon coach Ken Schneider, "If we just relax a bit, that puck might settle down and end up on a stick clean so that we might get a good shot off."
 
  The victory gives Eastman a 2-1 lead in the Best-of-Five semifinal series with Game #4 set for Beausejour on Friday night.
 
  "We just have to keep grinding in there.  We knew, coming into this series, that they were going to be tough and physical," said Stallard, "We just have to break past that and play like we’ve played all year."
 
  "Have we won two games back-to-back this winter?," added Schneider, whose team finished atop the regular season standings with a 39-3-0-2 recrd, "We’ve won lots of games and two is certainly not an impossibility by any means."
 
  A fifth game, if necessary, would be Sunday afternoon at the Sportsplex in Brandon.