2010 NHL Entry Draft

Brandon beats Calgary OT to make Memorial Cup final

Friday, 05.21.2010 / 11:34 PM / 2010 NHL Entry Draft

By Adam Kimelman - NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor

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Brandon beats Calgary OT to make Memorial Cup final
Jay Fehr's goal 3:16 into overtime gave Brandon a 5-4 win over Calgary and a berth in the Memorial Cup final against defending champion Windsor.
Jay Fehr scored 3:16 into overtime Friday night to give the tournament host Brandon Wheat Kings a 5-4 overtime victory against the Calgary Hitmen and a berth in the Memorial Cup championship game.
 
Brandon will face the defending Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires in Sunday's final (7 p.m. ET, NHLN-US, Sportsnet). Windsor is bidding to become the first repeat champion since the 1994-95 Kamloops Blazers. Brandon is in the Memorial Cup final for the first time since 1979.
 
Toni Rajala set up the winning goal when he cut through the Calgary end, drawing three Hitmen players with him. He dropped a pass for the trailing Fehr, who beat goalie Martin Jones with a quick shot from the high slot.
 
Travis Hamonic had a goal and a pair of assists, and Alexander Urbom, Matthew Calvert and Colby Robak also scored for Brandon. Brayden Schenn had three assists and Scott Glennie had two.
 
Joel Broda, Ian Schultz, Tyler Fiddler and Misha Fisenko scored for Calgary, and goalie Martin Jones made 43 saves on 48 shots in a losing effort.
 
It was a tremendous turnaround for Brandon, which lost to Calgary 5-1 in Wednesday's round-robin finale, and trailed Friday's game 2-0 after one period and 3-1 midway through the second.
 
It also was the 11th time this season the teams have met, and the win gave Brandon a bit of revenge for losing to Calgary in five games in the WHL semifinals.
 
Brandon had the better of the play in the first period, but Calgary came away with a 2-0 lead on goals nine seconds apart by Broda and Schultz.
 
Michael Stone set up the first goal, carrying the puck into the Brandon end along the right wall in the dying seconds of a power play. Stone got rubbed out of the play but managed to slide the puck to Brandon Kozun. He found Broda, a Washington Capitals prospect, alone in front of the net, and Broda scored on his own rebound at 15:34.
 
On the ensuing faceoff, Fiddler found Schultz, the Hitmen captain, and he beat Brandon goalie Jacob DeSerres at 15:43.
 
Urbom got Brandon on the board when he scored off the rebound of a Fehr shot 1:35 into the second, but a bad line change by Brandon led to Fiddler scoring shorthanded to make it 3-1 at 9:43.

Brandon got back within one goal when Calvert, a Columbus Blue Jackets prospect, took an entry pass from Schenn, pivoted in the right circle, used Hitmen defenseman Del Wilson as a screen and scored past Jones at 11:58.
 
Brandon missed on its first two power plays of the second period, but took advantage of their third chance. Calgary couldn't clear the puck and it ended up on the stick of Hamonic, a New York Islanders prospect. His shot through traffic got past Jones with 11 seconds left in the second.
 
The Wheat Kings rode that momentum into the third and took a lead on Robak's power-play goal at 5:09. Calgary's Ben Wilson was sent to the penalty box for high-sticking, and on the ensuing faceoff in the Calgary end, Schenn beat Cody Sylvester on a faceoff and won the puck straight back to Glennie. Glennie quickly moved the puck across the zone to Robak, and the Florida Panthers prospect beat Jones.
 
Fisenko evened the score when he took advantage of a strange carom off the end boards behind the Brandon net. Kozun fired a shot from the point that was deflected over the goal and off the glass, but the puck popped right back in front. DeSerres couldn't find it, which allowed Fisenko to stuff it across the line at 14:48.

Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected]