The Kootenay Ice survived a late-game push to edge out the Brandon Wheat Kings 3-2 on Saturday to sweep the back-to-back weekend series.
Plenty of excitement for the crowd of 3,472 that showed up for Pink the Rink night, which is themed around anti-bullying.
Peyton Krebs led the way with a pair of goals, while Cameron Hausinger tallied his 15th effort of the year. Stelio Mattheos and Luka Burzan provided offence for the Wheat Kings, the latter scoring his second goal in as many games against the Ice.
Matt Berlin got his second consecutive start for Kootenay, backstopping his team to the win with 19 saves and earning high praise from head coach James Patrick.
“I thought Matt Berlin was really good,” Patrick said. “He made the saves he needed to, he made some huge saves at certain points of the game.
Patrick said it was important to get him back into a game after a tough debut where he came off an injury and got lit up for four goals in seven shots in the first period against the Edmonton Oil Kings.
“You get a new goalie, he came off a hamstring injury, he was hurting for almost three weeks and then just a little rusty getting back in first game,” said Patrick, “but when we had a chance, we wanted to get him back in there and I thought tonight was the best game of the three he’s played for us, by far. We outshot them, I think we out-chanced them, but I think the chances that he saved in the second half of the game were huge.”
For his part, Berlin was happy to get the win and find his groove, after coming over in a trade with Seattle before the deadline.
“Obviously, my first game against Edmonton wasn’t the best, coming off an injury there, but I’m getting a lot more comfortable with the guys now and making friends and everyone is playing well in front of me,” Berlin said.
“…I didn’t get off on the greatest start, but its good to get rolling again, get my game back and [just want] to keeping it going.”
After getting pummeled for six goals on Friday evening, the Wheat Kings tightened up defensively, however, the Ice had plenty of chances in the opening period.
There were a couple tap in opportunities that went wide, while Colton Veloso sent the puck through the crease on a wide-open goal, but it was Krebs who put the Ice on the board late in the frame, collecting a loose puck and stuffing it home.
“I liked our first period and we got, not a break, but to score late in the first period, I just thought we had some chances,” said Patrick. “I thought we could have scored two or three; we had an empty net we didn’t put away, we didn’t capitalize on our chances, but then we got the one goal.”
The two teams traded goals in the second period 10 seconds apart; Hausinger doubled the lead before Mattheos returned the favour for Brandon.
Patrick singled out the play of Mattheos as a player who was a constant threat.
“I thought in the second period, they started throwing everything at us, and they had a real good push,” Patrick said. “We sagged a bit. It’s disappointing giving up a goal right after scoring, but again, they were not just going to lay over. They got some good players; they got two elite players. I thought as the game went on, Mattheos started dominating. He’s a strong kid and he’s a good power forward and I thought he gave us some tough matchups.”
Again with some late heroics, it was Krebs who put the Ice back up to a two-goal lead in the final two minutes of the middle period. That was his third goal in two games against the Wheaties and puts him four points in the lead for the rookie scoring race.
Early in the third period, Burzan took advantage of a struggling Ice powerplay and scored a shorthanded effort, but that would do it for goal production from both sides.
“Third period, we handed them a goal, but outside of that, the last 10 minutes, I thought we were real good with our third man,” Patrick said. “I thought we played real well in the neutral zone and made it tough for them.”
Late in the affair, it felt like a photo finish as Brandon pushed hard for the equalizer.
The Wheat Kings got a late powerplay and pulled their goalie for a six-on-four, however, that left their empty net exposed for icing on the penalty kill. Krebs nearly tallied a hat trick after Colton Veloso unselfishly dished him the puck in the neutral zone, however, Krebs’ shot barely went wide.
With Pink the Rink night, the energetic crowd swelled to just under 3,500 — one of the largest of the last few seasons —setting the tone right off the bat as the anthem singer led a sea of voices for O Canada.
Krebs said the team reveled in the atmosphere.
“It was awesome,” Krebs said. “Cranbrook — every game it’s been getting better and better and I think as long as that’s happening, they’re going to get a lot more better games and with the crowd support, it gets the boys fired up and I think with O Canada there, when they were singing the anthem, it gave me chills and I’m sure it gave the rest of the guys chills too.”
