Hitmen fall in Game 1

Hit of the Game

Giffen Nyren is sandwiched between Wheat Kings forwards Shayne Wiebe and Brayden Schenn, but Nyren gets the best of it as both Wheat Kings fall to the ice.


Save of the Game

Wheat Kings goaltender Jacob Deserres, a Calgary native, made multiple saves in a row mid way through the third to maintain the lead. First, a glove save robbery on Tyler Shattock and then a timely right pad on Jimmy Bubnick


Post-Game Commentary

Mike Williamson - Hitmen Head Coach

"They’ve got a good transition game, but I thought through 40 minutes we stood around and watched a lot. Tonight we seemed to sit back and maybe respect them too much. We have respect for Brandon, they’re a great hockey team, but in that sense we talked about making sure you’re more prepared, more ready to come hard instead of standing and watching. We stood around and watched a lot tonight."

"We just need a better effort tomorrow.I told the team after if I thought we gave everything we did tonight and we were at our best and still fell short, then you start scratching your head."

Jimmy Bubnick - Hitmen forward

"You can’t dwell on the negatives and we’ve got to jump back and battle again tomorrow. We had a solid third period, a lot of chances at the end. We’ve just got to get traffic and get shots on net."

Travis Hamonic - one goal, one assist for Brandon

"Throughout the game we definitely just pushed and we kept pushing and pushing. Whenever you’re this far into a playoff push and the games are getting as big and as physical and as demanding as they are, it’s obviously going to be a big push from both teams. They showed a lot of heart. That’s something that didn’t catch us off guard. We knew that they were going to keep pushing. For us we’ve just got to worry about the Brandon Wheat Kings. At the end of the day we’re going to turn the page. Now we’re just looking forward to Game 2 and tomorrow’s a whole new day."

Kelly McCrimmon -Head Coach and GM of Brandon

"I thought the first period was our best period. We had good jump and started the series off on the right foot. We just challenged ourselves to regroup and refocus at the second intermission."

"Obviously a big goal by our team right around the mid way point … the 3-1 goal which turned out we needed."

"I don’t think we exploited anybody. Calgary’s a team that makes you work hard for your chances."