PR - Wheat Kings

WHEAT KINGS CROWNED CHAMPIONS

Put simply they rode a hot goalie and scored by commitee, but for the Saskatchewan Wheat Kings their first league championship in their 10 year history was more than it seemed.

"This is incredible!" Captin Josh Hennessy exclaimed amidst the dressing room clamour, "this just came together, this team! This is just a great championship, all these years. And you know what, we should be around a few more!"

Ironically the Kings nearly missed the playoffs this season. Indeed many of the deals which brought this team together were made out of desperation just to make the playoffs.

"I knew if we made the playoffs, we had a shot," Coach-GM Tyler Young said, "so I made a couple deals to bring in more scoring - as it turned out those are the deals that made this cup run possible."

The additions of Stephen Weiss and Kristian Huselius at the deadline will likely stand-out as the 'deal which did it' in the minds of Wheat-watchers. Weiss and Huselius provided consistent support scoring throughout the playoffs, which was especially needed during the various injuries suffered against the Ice and when Steve Bernier went down in Game 1 of the Conference finals.

Huselius potted the Cup winning goal as the Kings staged a remarkable early 3rd period surge in yesterday's seventh game, scoring three goals in 1:29 to take a 5-3 lead, as the Kings powered back to win the final two games of the series.

"We were exausted, worn out," Conn Smythe winner Jimmy Howard said, "we were playing on pure adrenaline a lot of the time. But after Game Six, when we were down 4-2, we just sat down in our room and said, we didn't make it this far, fight this hard to lose now."

Along with Huselius and Weiss, the Kings had timely support from veterans like Craig Conroy, Glenn Murray, Scott Niedermayer and Sandis Ozolinsh. However, perhaps the key to the Kings' entire run was the play of their group of young players groomed by the system: Peter Mueller, Byron Bitz, John Adams, and Mike Frolik all played key roles in the run. Nik Bergfors, who lead the team in scoring, Howard, and Frolik all especially came into his own over the course of the run. Stalwarts Dimitri Kazionov and Josh Hennessy were their reliable selfs.

"I'm very proud of my boys," Tyler Young said amidst tears, "they played their hearts out, fought for every loose puck, along the boards, in front of the net; they just played with grit and determination and a love of the game. It was a pleasure to watch. My thanks also to our competitors, the Hurricanes, who gave us a heck of a championship series. I though this was a great playoffs!"