Brandon Blue&Gold

Golbourne is out for the rest of the playoffs due to a leg laceration from the Portland series. All reports say that Chartier is skating and practicing well. The Kelowna P by P guy figures he's in tonight. Since it's the final I expect he's in (damnit!).

Oh you know it's on now KBF! On paper this series is almost a coin flip, with Kelowna having slightly better top end talent and (regular season) better defensive zone play while Brandon has slightly better overall talent spread out on all 4 lines (when healthy, which they are as of today) and better goaltending. I honestly have no idea how this is going to play out. My gut says Kelowna but if Brandon can stay out of the box and continue with their good defensive play (felt weird just typing that) then perhaps a trip to Quebec is in the cards for the Wheaties. Plus we owe you guys for 2005 . As for players to watch I think almost everyone has been covered by the other posters. Definitely watch out for Hawryluk, he can score and has been hitting anything that moves for the past month. Bukharts, our little Latvian, can be a genius stickhandler and a devious !@#$ disturber. Fun to watch if you're me but maybe not so much for you. Your forwards will need to watch out for Waltz and Erkamps, our physical Dmen. Eric Roy, a Calgary D man pick,is having a great playoffs. And Tim McGauley, for some insane reason undrafted but was runner up for WHL player of the year, is maybe our most complete player. And don't forget Papirny, WHL goalie of the month for April, started every playoff game for the Wheaties. I could go on but you get the point. From what I see of the Rockets the players I fear/worry about are... Bowey, Morrissey, Chartier, Merkley, Draisaitl, and Baillie. After tonight I may need to add to that list. Anyways this should be a great series. I will be there in person for games 1 and 2. GO Wheaties GO!!!

Not so much about distance as it is about getting on and off the campus which only has two direct entry/exit points. Will be interesting to see how they have it organized for the Grey Cup, with thousands of people from out of town. I also think they have a lot of work to do in terms of safety/crowd control after the games on University Crescent and Chancellor Matheson. Just a matter of time until someone is killed or seriously injured there. Be nice if they would put pedestrian overpasses on those roads. Be much safer for those of us that walk and better flow for the cars and buses.

I was reading some static from other fans and reporters during the Jets-Ducks series on how our fanbase was getting all the love even though we didn't have much to cheer about and our city sucked and blah blah blah. And they kinda had a point, getting the 3rd star in game 4 was pretty weak and a little condescending I thought. But what a lot of those people don't understand and can't ever understand is how it feels having your team ripped, torn, stolen away from you and knowing you would never get it back (did anyone honestly think the NHL would come back during those dark days in the mid to late 90s?). Most of us moved on to other teams and put the Jets behind us for good. Then came the MTS Centre and there was a kernel of hope that maybe, just maybe we could get a team again. It wasn't much, especially seeing how hard the NHL fought to keep Phoenix and Nashville from moving, but it was hope. Then the day we got the Thrashers it was the complete opposite of Apr 96. It washed away 15 years of wrong and made it right again. So, to me anyways, when we yell "True North" it's our way of saying thank you to TN for bringing our team back (yeah I know the Thrashers were never in Winnipeg, not the point) and fixing that wrong from 96. And maybe a little FU to the rest of the league for letting us leave in the first place. Having said all this I do think that it should stay at Jets games. Not a fan of hearing it at Bomber games and it should never be heard at Wheaties game.

no kidding. The Jets are in big danger of becoming the Riders of the NHL and that's not a compliment. Agreed. I was in Brandon for the Wheat Kings playoff game on Saturday and was stunned to hear the True North shout out during the anthem. I get it during Jets games (although the circle jerk the fans give themselves afterwards is a different matter) but it's weird to hear it at other events completely unrelated to TNSE. It's been going on for the past couple years at Wheaties games and it annoys the hell out of me. TN has nothing to do with the Wheat Kings whatsoever. It would be like me yelling "Blue!" during the anthem like I was at a Bomber game. No connection there either. To be fair though it's usually just a handful of people (mostly kids that don't know any better) while the vast majority of us ignore them. I will admit that was the loudest "True North" shout I've heard at Westman Place all season this past Saturday. I blame you Bigg Jay . And I'm right there with you on your point about the cheering right after the True North chant. Bugged me for years. I love the chant itself at Jets games but cmon Jets fans, act like you've been there before.

And Brandon is up 2-0 on Calgary in their series. No prospects on either team that are Jets but quite a few that are drafted. Notables are Tambellini (NYR), Virtanen (Van), Sanheim (Phi), Thomas (TB), and Kanzig (Cal) from the Hitmen, and P. Quennville (Clb), J. Quennville (NJ), Hawyrluk (Fla), Roy (Cal), Klimchuk (Cal), Pilon (2015) and Provorov (2015) for Wheat Kings. No more Jets sadly but there is still playoff hockey going on in Manitoba.

And who took game 2? . At least you can go see a game 5 now.

I was looking at mock drafts last week regarding who the Jets might take. Bittner and Ehler's teammate Timo Meier were guys that looked very intriguing. Most pundits think Meier will be gone before the Jets pick and Bittner could fall into the 20s. But I think either guy would do well for us. Both are physical and can score. Bittner's size is especially appealing.

Good point. Three young Jets playing in this series, will have to go and try and hustle a free ticket to one of the games... Looks like Petan's winger is a guy named Bjorkstrand from Denmark. It appears that Danish minor hockey is starting to improve immensely. Bjorkstrand is up for WHL player of the year against McGauley from the Wheat Kings. Bjorkstrand should win, he had an insane year. Columbus chose well. Meanwhile McGauley is undrafted. Would look real nice playing for the AHL Jets/Moose/Whatever next season. Hint Hint Chevy.

Would love to have Brayden on the team. Luke not so much.

Petan is coming to town, my town. He's here getting ready to lose to the Rockets tomorrow. Don't forget De Leo!

I don't know. Can Winnipeg afford two victory parades in one year?

This. I live in a Rider heavy area and I just don't engage (for the most part ). No desire to feed their egos further and make me look small and bitter. Besides if they feel the need to rock all their Rider gear in far off places around the world, doesn't that come off as attention seeking and insecure? If so then I say carry on Rider fans. Any Blades fans over in Brandon you have to deal with too ? Only if you're passing through on the way out east.

It's what happens after the faceoffs that can be an issue. At times Slater shows why he should stay on the 4th line.

I'll admit that was my first thought when I started reading your post. Interesting to see what they find in the coming days.

This. I live in a Rider heavy area and I just don't engage (for the most part ). No desire to feed their egos further and make me look small and bitter. Besides if they feel the need to rock all their Rider gear in far off places around the world, doesn't that come off as attention seeking and insecure? If so then I say carry on Rider fans.

How does anyone get off blaming the team that had a 2 - 0 halfway through the second? My point is it's a 'the chicken or the egg' argument. I'm not knocking Hutch. But sometimes a tired team needs the goalie to bail them out. Playing back to back road games all the way out on the West coast, coupled with the injury situation - to me it was obvious they would need some extra help from the goaltender. The way Pavs has been playing of late, I think he would've helped them weather the storm during that slump in the second. Just my 0.02 I'd say Hutch bailed them out several times last night. Too bad the rest of the team couldn't return the favour. I won't say we should have won that game because the Canucks appear to be a good team that deserved the win, but if the Jets team that I saw play the Blues and Caps a few days ago showed up in Vancouver we'd all be praising another Jets win. I hope it's just a case of being fatigued and a bit shorthanded on talent that finally caught up to us. Getting Little and Buff back would certainly help with that.

I read that article earlier today. I too am worried. What's been scaring me about this is that Winnipeg almost has to win out the rest of the way since the teams immediately above and below us are running just as hot, if not hotter, than we are. The Wild can't stop winning with Dubnyk, Calgary carries on just fine without Giordano, LA is doing its wily veteran routine just in time for the playoffs, Chicago stays out of reach and Vancouver looks very secure especially after last night's game. Hell even teams like San Jose and Dallas could threaten if they go on a streak, although this is unlikely now I do admit. We won 5 of our last 6 games and gained basically one spot (on LA). We could lose that spot before our game against the Blackhawks. And the Kings get the Oilers twice before the end of the season? Cmon man! We need at least one of the teams I mentioned above to cool off, and the Jets can't let up. This is getting tense. I both love it and hate it.

If the Riders are smart they are seeing what has gone down with the stadiums in Winnipeg, Ottawa and Hamiltion. The good and the bad. There is a lot of free education for them as they build their stadium. They should have no excuses whatsoever in building and completing a damn fine CFL stadium. And I hope they do, I actually mean that . Our issues aside, I am still very happy with IGF and look forward to returning in June.

That was Kristers Gudlevskis. He's with their AHL franchise right now. Vasilevskiy came from Russia and was in the World Juniors a couple years ago. Highly touted if I recall.

For a guy that hadn't played since January, Postma was very solid. If last night's game is the norm for him would rather Postma in than Pardy at this point (when and if some D guys get healthy of course).

Sadly me too. We're not winning crucial games while every other team above and below us are on a tear. We're not playing badly, far from it for the most part. I think we peaked too soon while the Wild, Kings, and maybe the Sharks are still rising. Still have hope though. Going to the final game (Calgary) in April. Be nice if it actually meant something.

So for next game, do you pretend the final goal didn't happen and put in Pavs who did a damn fine job coming in for Hutch? Or go back with Hutch like nothing happened. I didn't see the actual game just heard it on 1290 so I can't really judge how good or bad Hutchinson was tonight.

What tickets have ever costed $52 for a Jets game? The last minute ones? I have never seen tix below $80. Granted I am out of town and use Ticketmaster or Stubhub.

Looking for change. Not very satisfied living in Saskatoon. The only thing I will miss in Saskatchewan is my house and going to Rider games. Other than that, it's pretty boring and ugly out here. My personality is better suited in the east where I can get out of the house and do more. Plus, CFL games are national, so I can still enjoy Rider games on TV . What about your Blades? You'll have to adopt a QMJHL team.