Feisty Wheaties, not Blades, get important victory

By Les Lazaruk

 

BRANDON – IF the Saskatoon Blades are watching WHL playoff hockey for a fifth consecutive spring, they could look back on Friday’s 6-3 loss to the Wheat Kings as one of those games that did them in.

Leading 3-1 with five minutes to play in the second period against a Brandon team that was 1-7-3 in their previous 11 games, the Bridge City Bunch appeared to have things in command.

But, junior hockey being what it is, the avalanche of Wheaties goals coincided with the growing snowball of blue and gold mistakes.

“We made a poor decision with the puck, brought it in front of our net and, obviously, it ended up in the back of our net,” explained Blades assistant coach Ryan Keller about the Luka Burzan goal that started the Brandon comeback late in the middle frame. “From there, we kind of unravelled, really. We were going good up until then and then, that little bit of adversity, we couldn’t recover from.”

In the third period, the Wheat Kings played mad and physical. Leading scorer Ty Lewis didn’t like being flattened on a hit from Saskatoon defenceman Mark Rubinchik and confronted him a few seconds later. While there was no fight, both players received slashing minors and the Wheaties responded on the four-on-four situation as captain James Shearer scored his first goal of the season.

A few seconds after the tying goal, Linden McCorrister hammered bridge city bunch forward Chase Wouters with a body check, then knocked down Dawson Davidson in a subsequent fight. While McCorrister took 17 minutes of penalties and was done for the night, Brandon had energy and the Blue and Gold couldn’t regain any.

Cole Reinhardt’s second goal of the game, off an odd-man rush caused by an ill-advised neutral zone pinch, with 6:08 remaining gave the Wheat Kings the lead for good. Chase Hartje and Evan Weinger added insurance with Blades goaltender Tyler Brown on the bench for an extra attacker.

Max Gerlach, Brad Goethals and Davidson, with his first since coming to Saskatoon from Regina, scored for the bridge city bunch, now 26-26-3 for the season. They are still tied with Prince Albert for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Raiders lost 5-1 Friday in Swift Current Friday. Meanwhile, 30-19-5 Brandon moved four points ahead of Regina into third place in the East Division, 10 up on the blue and gold and P.A. The Pats fell 4-2 at home to Kootenay.

The Blades and Raiders meet Saturday at 7:05 at SaskTel Centre in a massive clash between the teams looking to claim the final post-season berth. Saskatoon has won 13 straight home games over Prince Albert, dating back to September 20, 2014.

Pacman Points – Special teams weren’t a factor Friday as the bridge city bunch were 0-for-2 on the power play and the Wheat Kings were 0-for-3.

The blue and gold dressed 15-year-old Koen MacInnes as Brown’s backup in goal with Nolan Maier left in Saskatoon with illness. Blades head coach Dean Brockman is hopeful that Maier and right winger Caleb Fantillo will be able to suit up for Saturday at home against the Raiders. Fantillo missed a second straight game because of a Lower Body injury. Defenceman Randen Schmidt and left winger Tyler Lees were healthy scratches.

Brandon was without hulking right winger Baron Thompson as he served the second game of a four-game suspension. Defenceman Ty Ettinger and forward Caiden Daley were healthy scratches.

Saskatoon out-shot the Wheaties 36-25, but Brandon’s Lewis led all individual players with six shots on goal. Gerlach, Braylon Shmyr, Wouters and Josh Paterson all had four shots on goal to pace the Bridge City Bunch.

The Blue and Gold won 30 of 55 faceoffs, led by Logan Christensen capturing possession on 10 of 16 draws. Marcus Sekundiak was the Wheaties top man in the circle, winning seven of 12 trips to the dot.