– The Edmonton Oil Kings jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening seven minutes and went on to a 6-3 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings Friday night. Mads Eller and Curtis Lazar had a pair of goals each for Edmonton while John Quenneville, Rihards Bukarts and Ryley Lindgren scored the goals for Brandon. The loss leaves the Wheat Kings tied with Red Deer for seventh-place in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of ninth-place Prince Albert. Brandon will visit the Raiders Saturdaynight.
– Tanner Kaspick had a goal and an assist to help the Brandon AAA Midget Wheat Kings to a 3-1 victory over the Eastman Selects Friday night. League scoring champion Duncan Campbell returned from a two-game absence to also score a goal for Brandon while Josh Kobelka added an empty-net marker. Reid Stallard stopped 33 shots for Brandon as they tied the Best-of-Five semifinal 2-2. The fifth and deciding game will be Sunday in Brandon (1:30 p.m., Sportsplex).
– The Waywayseecappo Wolverines season ended Friday night with a 5-4 loss to the OCN Blizzard in the third and deciding game of their MJHL’s Sher-Wood Division Survivor Series. The Blizzard move on to meet the Dauphin Kings in one Sher-Wood semifinal, while Virden and Swan Valley battle in the other. Brenden Luschinski scored twice for the Wolverines with singles going to J.J. Cruickshank and Robert Briem.
– Blaine Jarvis scored four goals to pace the Gladstone Lakers to a 6-5 win over the Carberry Plainsmen in the opening game of the Tiger Hills Hockey League’s Eastern Division Final Friday. Tyler Harland netted the overtime winner for the Lakers as they took a 1-0 lead in the Best-of-Five series. Game #2 is Sunday in Gladstone.
– Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton faces Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard in the 3-vs-4 Page Playoff game Saturday afternoon at the Tim Hortons Brier in Kamloops. Stoughton finished the round-robin with a 9-and-2 record and in a three-way tie for first-place with Alberta’s Kevin Koe and B-C’s John Morris. However, the tiebreaking protocal pushed Stoughton to third-place. Morris beat Koe 9-5 in the 1-vs-2 Page Playoff game Friday night to earn a spot in Sunday’s final. Koe, whose team included Brandon product Nolan Thiessen at lead, will face the winner of the Manitoba / Quebec matchup in Saturday night’s semifinal.
– The Provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Virden has a financial hit. The Provincial Women’s Curling Championship turned a profit of about 133 thousand dollars. Attendance for the week was about 12,000 people, and organizers of the event hope the success will motivate Curl Manitoba to eventually hold the Safeway Championship in the community.
