Moose Jaw 3 @Swift Current 2
It figures that after a night of up-and-down hockey reminiscent of the late 1980’s in the WHL, we would see the same two teams be locked in a tight, much lower scoring affair. A night after the Swift Current Broncos (19-6-2-0) Tyler Steenbergen provided a big goal with the overtime winner, the league’s leading goal-scorer notched the Teddy Bear Toss marker. It was the Moose Jaw Warriors (21-5-1-1) who had the early scoring though, as they scored thrice in the first and held on for a 3-2 road win. This knots the season series between the top two teams in the East Division at two wins apiece.
Luka Burzan and Jayden Halbgewachs each had two points in the Warriors 21st win this year in just 28 tries..
The Warriors and Broncos played an even affair until Moose Jaw jumped all over Logan Flodell and chased him from the net after the mid-period break. Tanner Jeanott got things started at 10:32. He got in behind the defense and drove the net from the left side. He was able to tuck the puck under Flodell, before falling on top of him.
Just 17 seconds later, Halbgewachs followed up his own shot and beat Flodell with traffic all around the overage Broncos netminder.
He then did yeoman’s work on the last of the three goals that would stake the Warriors out to a big lead He looped around the Swift Current net and wired a shot on Logan Flodell from the left face off dot. Flodell kicked out a juicy rebound and Luka Burzan pounded home the chance for his fourth goal of the year. That ended Flodell’s night as he gave up three goals on 10 shots.
As is the case in games this year between these two, no lead is insurmountable. Tyler Steenbergen got Swift Current on the board with the Teddy Bear Toss goal over seven minutes into the second. The goal came on the power play as Jeannot took a four-minute double minor for high-sticking, given the Broncos a long man-advantage.
After a lengthy delay, during which Steenbergen left with an unknown ailment and did not return, the Broncos added another power play goal, as Glenn Gawdin took a nice feed from Aleski Heponiemi and was stopped by Evanoff, before finding his own rebound. Heponiemi had two assists in the game and now leads the league in points with 66.
The Broncos could not find another goal in a tight third period and they fell to the Warriors 3-2. Adam Evanoff turned away all eight shots he saw form the desperate Broncos in the third period and 28 of 30 overall.
This game marked Matteo Gennaro’s debut at home in Swift Current after being acquired from the Calgary Hitmen.
Moose Jaw hosts the Medicine Hat Tigers on Tuesday, while Swift Current does the same for the Prince Albert Raiders.
Brandon 5 @Medicine Hat 4(OT)
Neither team counted themselves out of this wild affair on Saturday night. Both teams led after a period was over, but they were tied after the full 60 minutes. The Brandon Wheat Kings (19-7-0-1) then got the winner off the stick of Stelio Mattheos to take this fifth straight. Mattheos is one of just three WHL players who have scored more than one OT winner. One of the others is his teammate Ty Lewis, who had an assist in this one. Mattheos led the way with three points for Brandon. Kale Calgue also had three assists.
The Wheat Kings opened the scoring in the Tigers on the home team’s Teddy Bear Toss night. Evan Weinger scored his third goal in two nights as
David Quenneville then sent the fur flying as his one-timer solved Brandon goalie Logan Thompson on the power play with 3:59 left in the first.
Tanner Kaspick added a later marker to give Brandon a 2-1 lead after one.
In the second, Jaeger White, Ryan Chyzowski (PP) and Tyler Preziuso scored in succession t give the Tigers a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes.
In the third period, Baron Thompson notched a goal 2:28 in, before Mattheos tied the game with 4:11 left. He then added another goal 1:35 into overtime to win it.
Logan Thompson stopped 41 of 45, while Michael Bullion turned away 25 of 30.
Brandon will host Regina Wednesday while Medicine Hat starts their trek through the East Division, with a game in Moose Jaw Tuesday.
Prince George 6 Vancouver 2
The Vancouver Giants (12-13-2-2) tried to sweep the weekend set while playing at the Prince George Cougars (10-14-2-2) and seemed to have a good chance until the Cougars scored four straight goals in the last 30 minutes of the game to win their first game in six tries. 
Jared Bethune had three points while Joel Lakusta added two and Taylor Gauthier stopped 22 of 24 in the win.
The Cougars will try to turn this into a streak of the winning kind when they host Kootenay on Tuesday, while Vancouver hosts Portland on the same day.
Kelowna 5 Kootneay 2
The Kelowna Rockets (17-8-2-1) have nearly caught the Victoria Royals at the top of the B.C. Division, despite starting the year many points behind their fast-starting rivals. They won their fifth straight Saturday, as Kole Lind returned to post two points and pace the Rockets to a 5-2 win over the visiting Kootenay ICE (12-15-1-0).
The Rockets got on board first as Conner Bruggen-Cate stole the puck near the ICE blue line and skated at the net, before beating goalie Bailey Brkin. The Teddt Bear Toss goal came 12:09 in.
Braydyn Chizen then double the Rockets lead late in the second period. He jumped up into the play and sneaked a shot through Brkin’s pads.
The third period brought a total of five goals in a 13-minute span. First, Lind buried a one-timer off a feed from Dillon Dube over six minutes in.
Then, Martin Bodak netted his first WHL goal to cut the Kelowna the lead to two. He caught Kelowna goalie Roman Basran leaning to his right and fired to his left from the slot on the power play.
Nolan Foote took a cross-ice feed from Dube on the power play and reinstated the three-goal lead with 4:41 left.
James Hilsendager made the score 5-1 with 4:10 left off a nice saucer feed from Lind. Then, Alec Baer netted his 12th of the year late to close out the scoring.
Basran stopped 24 of 26, while Brkin turned away the same amount on 29 attempts.
The Rockets will take their win streak on the road as they start their East Division trip in Regina next Friday. They won’t be home until after Christmas. Kootenay will head over to Kamloops now for a Sunday afternoon affair.
Everett 3 Saskatoon 0
Carter Hart is on a tear for the Everett Silvertips (15-12-1-1). He turned away all 30 shots the Saskatoon Blades (10-14-2-1) threw at home and posted his fourth shutout since returning to the lineup on November 3rd. He now extends his franchise record for career shutouts out to 23. 
Everett has beaten the Blades for six straight seasons and extends their win streak to five games. Hart has started each of those five games.
Montana Onyebuchi scored the Teddy Bear Toss goal in the first period as he one-timed a drop pass Sean Richards 6:53 in. You may have won big money had you bet on the blue liner to net the big goal, as this is just his second this year and third career marker.
Matt Fonteyne extended the Everett lead to two as he took a feed from Onyebuchi and beat Saskatoon goalie Nolan Maier down low to his glove side.
Patrick Bajkov added his 15th on the season 57 seconds into the third to make this a 3-0 final.
Maier stopped 34 of 37 for the Blades. Everett was 0/7 on the power play.
Spokane 4 @Tri-City 3(OT)
The Tri-City Americans (14-9-3-0) welcomed star center Michael Rasmussen back into the lineup and the Detroit Red Wings draft pick had an immediate impact. The rangy middle-man was in on two of his team’s three goals and helped them out to a 3-1 lead.
Unfortunately for them, they gave up three straight goals to the Spokane Chiefs (15-10-1-2), including the overtime winner from Ty Smith and dropped a 4-3 contest. 
Ethan McIndoe scored twice for Spokane, while Kailer Yamamoto, Ty Smith, Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Nolan Reid all chipped in two points as well.
Declan Hobbs stopped 25 of 28 and earned his first WHL win since, while playing for Kootenay, he beat the Chiefs on 2/12/16.
Dylan Coghlan opened the scoring for the Americans as he jumped up into the play and skated in before beating Hobbs to the glove side.
The Chiefs tied the game just under a minute and a half later as Hudson Elynuik found Riley Woods with an incredible pass at the back door.
Rasmussen then got a familiar power play goal in a familiar way. He got his stick on the ice and tapped home a back door pass from Morgan Geekie with 48 seconds left in the first.
Jordan Topping then got the Ams out to a two-goal lead early in the second period. He eyed Hobbs and the Spokane net before wiring a shot past the former and into the latter 5:16 into the second.
The Chiefs then got to work and handed Ti-City their fourth loss in five games.
First, McIndoe collected his own rebound and beat Tri-City netminder Patrick Dea with 10:03 left in the second. Then, McIndoe followed the puck and found it in the Tri-City crease in behind Dea. He tapped it in for his second of the night. It came just one minute into the third and tied the game up.
Ty Smith then provided the heroics as Yamamoto raced round a duo of Tri-City defenders and found the d-man all alone to Dea’s right.
Tri-City won the first two games of the season series.
Spokane will head to Everett for yet another match up with the hot Silvertips next Friday. The Americans, meanwhile will hope for better luck on the road as they play in Kent against Seattle on Friday.
