Brian Liesse

WHL recap: Tri-City and Brandon foil comebacks; Prince Albert, Calgary, Everett and Kelowna emerge victorious

Brandon 4 Medicine Hat 3 (OT)

The Brandon Wheat Kings (21-7-0-1) have quietly piled up the points in their first 29 games this year. Despite all the attention being given to the Moose Jaw Warriors, Swift Current Broncos, Portland Winterhawks and others, the Wheat Kings now sit with the second best win percentage in the entire league. 

They continued their winning ways on Friday night at home, as they recovered from losing a 3-0 lead, to dominate play in the overtime and sneak out a 4-3 win.

Tanner Kaspick provided the heroics as he went to a dirty area in tight on Medicine Hat Tigers (17-11-2-) goalie Jordan Hollett and found the rebound of a shot from Ty Lewis. This was Kaspick’s third game winner this year.

Linden McCorrister continued his strong return from injury with a goal to open the game. 3:04 in, he took a feed on the rush, split the Medicine Hat defense and beat Tigers goalie Michael Bullion on the blocker side.

Brandon made it 2-0 over four minutes later as Evan Weinger used his speed to get behind the defense and he beat his former teammate in Portland past his left pad. Bullion’s night would end just 7:29 in, after giving up two goals on five shots. Jordan Hollett came on to relieve him.

Hollett would fare no better in the first as a Tanner Kaspick shot caromed off his pads right to Stelio Mattheos on front the former first overall bantam pick swiftly hammered a shot past him.

Like they have done so often this year, the Tigers bounced back. This time they scored three straight in the second and third periods to tie the game up.

First, on a power play Max Gerlach fired a low shot on Brandon goalie Logan Thompson and Mark Rassell sent the rebound over to James Hamblin, who beat Thompson for his eighth goal of the year.

Then later in the second, Tyler Preziuso took a feed from Dalton Gally in front of the Brandon net and tried to pass over to a teammate. The pass was knocked down, but Preziuso quickly corralled the loose puck and beat Thompson for his ninth goal of the year.

Medicine Hat completed the come back in the third as Hamblin found a rebound in front on the power play for his second of the night.

Brandon then put to rest Medicine Hat’s hopes for a wild come back win, with a truly dominant performance in overtime. They out shot the Tigers 8-0 and eventually beat Hollett for their seventh straight win.

Thompson stopped 39 of 42 for the win, while Hollett gave his team a chance by turning away 38 of 40 in relief.

The Tigers continue their road trip with a game in Regina on Saturday, while Brandon hosts another hot team in the Kelowna Rockets.

 

Prince Albert 6 Kamloops 5 (SO)

The Prince Albert Raiders (12-11-5-2) got a goal from Cole Fonstad with just 2:32 left in regulation to force overtime and then had him score the only goal in the shootout to take a tight 6-5 win.

The Raiders were led by two goals and an assist by Curtis Miske and two assists from Brayden Pachal and two points from Fonstad. 

Kamloops (13-15-0-1) got two points apiece from Connor Zary and Nick Chyzowski (in his 300th career game).

Ian Scott did not allow Zary, Brodi Stuart or Garrett Pilon to beat him in the shootout and stopped 35 of 40 in the game. Dylan Ferguson was good for 32 stops on 37 attempts.

P.A. snapped a three-game losing streak with the win and will try and keep that going Sunday in Saskatoon. Kamloops continues their road trip through the East Division with a game Saturday in Toon-town.

Kelowna 7 @Regina 5

Despite a hat trick from defenseman Josh Mahura, the Regina Pats (15-14-2-0), could not stop the potent Kelowna Rockets (18-8-2-1) on Friday. Kelowna, who is finally reaching a full roster, got two goals apiece from Leif Mattson and Nolan Foote and two assists from Libor Zabransky in the win.

It was a wild game that saw both starting goalies get pulled at some point. In the end, it would be Roman Basran out-dueling Max Paddock by stopping 22 of 23.

The Pats opened the scoring four minutes in as Jake Leschyshyn dropped a pass off to a driving Josh Mahura and the defenseman picked the top corner on Rockets goalie Jame Porter.

The Rockets responded 1:37 later, as Leif Mattson got his stick on a point shot from James Hilsendager and redirected it past Regina goalie Tyler Brown.

The up-and-down first continued with a less-rare than it used to be goal from rangy d-man Braydyn Chizen. Jack Cowell won a battle along the half boards in the Regina zone and swung a pass to a wide open Chizen. The Minnesota Wild draft pick then drilled a shot past Brown for his third this season and second in as many games.

The Pats then tied things up again in a hurry. Just seven seconds later, Matt Bradley drove down the left wing and wired a pass over to Nick Henry at the back post for a tap in goal.

On a night of many goals, the Pats got a lucky one to take the lead again. A shot on the power play from Mahura was stopped by Porter, but the puck trickled through his pads and lay behind him. The Pats fought for the puck and Nick Henry tipped in his second on the night.

Just 1:05 later, the Rockets tied the game at three. Nolan Foote drove into the Pats zone off a line change and wired a shot into the top corner, over Brown’s glove. The goal gave Foote markers in his last three straight games.

Regina completed the seven-goal first with another marker form Mahura. He drove the net and found the rebound of a shot from Leschhshyn for his 10th this year.

Porter was pulled from the Kelowna net after the first, in favor of 16-year-old Roman Basran. Porter had given up four goals on 14 shots.

Kelowna rebounded from their rough first with two straight markers in the first 5:40 of the second. First, Leif Mattson got his second goal on the night as while moving across the net front, he got his stick blade on a shot from Libor Zabransky. Then, Dillon Dube took a pass in behind the Pats defense and beat Brown to give his squad the 5-4 lead.

Kelowna kept the scoring going in the third as 5:17 in, Carsen Twarynski took a pass in the slot, spun and beat Brown on the blocker side for his 20th this year. That goal would finally spell doom for Brown as he was yanked in favor of Max Paddock. Brown gave up six goals on 25 shots.

Nolan Foote added a seventh goal for the Rockets as he beat Paddock from the right face off dot.

Mahura added a late goal to complete his first hat trick and there were 14 different penalties in the last four minutes of regulation as things got a little feisty.

Kelowna takes their six-game win streak against Brandon’s seven-game one on Saturday. Meanwhile, Regina will play host to the Medicine Hat Tigers.

Calgary 6 Swift Current 1

This game was expected to be all about the return of Matteo Gennaro to Calgary, the team that traded him away a scant two weeks ago. Instead another storyline dominated the web with star defenseman Jake Bean sitting out. The speculation reached a boiling point as fans across the WHL started dreaming that the Carolina Hurricanes first round pick and seeming World Juniors lock, would be putting on their team’s sweater soon. Hitmen head coach put a stop to that speculation by telling reporters that Bean was held out for “precautionary reasons.”

The Calgary Hitmen (9-16-3-1) did not let any of that bother them Friday, as they took down the visiting Swift Current Broncos by a 6-1 score. Jake Kryski had three assists for the Hitmen and Mark Kastellic had two points, while a former Broncos forward, Conner Chaulk added tow goals against his former team.

The Broncos were without Tyler Steenbergen and Aleksi Heponiemi Friday and they struggled as you might expect without the two top scorers in the league.

Tristen Nielsen and Andrew Viggars are still out for Calgary.

Everett 3 Spokane 0

Carter Hart is giving the Everett Silvertips (17-12-1-1) a chance to win no matter the shot differential. On Friday night in Everett, he stopped all 39 shots he saw, while his rival Declan Hobbs only had to face 19, of which he turned away 17.

The Spokane Chiefs (15-11-1-2) fired 13 shots on Hart in each frame, but the career leader in shutouts in Everett’s team history (24) was up to the task yet again.

He gave his team the chance to win, despite them giving a strong Chiefs squad six power plays.

Sean Richards broke the scoreless tie with an unassisted snipe with 48 seconds left in the second period. He went wide of the net and fired a tight angle shot, that somehow found its way past Hobbs. The goal was Richards’ 15th this year.

Matt Fonteyne one-upped Richards by scoring from an even tighter angle. He took a ricochet off the boards on his backhand and flipped it off of Hobbs and in one minute into the third.

The ‘Tips cinched the game and made it seven straight wins when Patrick Bajkov scored an empty netter with 2:25 left.

 

Hart has now allowed just nine goals in his last 11 starts. His ‘Tips will head to Portland for a game against the slumping Winterhawks.

Spokane will face the Seattle Thunderbirds at home Saturday.

Spokane’s Dawson Weatherill is out week-to-week with an illness while Jeff Faith is still out day-to-day.

Tri-City 6 @Seattle 5 (OT)

The Tri-City Americans (15-9-3-0) and Seattle Thunderbirds (13-13-3-1) have faced each other a lot recently. They played their fifth game against each other already this year, after meeting in the playoffs last Marc as well. 

While the Thunderbirds crawled back from trailing by three to force overtime and earn a point, it was Tri-City’s Jordan Topping who gave the Americans the 3-2 season series edge by netting the overtime winner with only 45 seconds left in the extra frame.

Brett Clayton and Michael Rasmussen each had two goals for Tri-City, while Zack Andrusiak led the way for Seattle with three points.

Clayton opened the scoring with a great fore-checking effort. He won a puck battle near the Seattle net and quickly backhanded a shot top shelf before Seattle goalie Matt Berlin was prepared.

Matthew Wedman then tied it for Seattle 30 seconds later. He drove the net and squeezed a shot through Tri-City goalie Beck Warm for his third goal of the year.

Noah Philp gave Seattle their first lead later in the first, as he gathered in a rebound and patiently waited out Warm before lifting it over him.

The Americans came out firing in the third period and fired 16 shots on Seattle’s Matt Berlin, beating him four times. First, it was Morgan Geekie finding Rasmussen driving the net. Then it was Rasmussen tipping home a shot from Geekie. Dylan Coghlan added a shot, using a screen to make it 4-2 and then Riley Sawchuk gathered in a rebound and spun around to face the net, before beating Berlin. Just like that, one period of hockey had turned a one-goal Seattle advantage into a 5-2 Tri-City lead. Berlin was pulled after giving up five goals on 25 shots.

Give credit to the T-birds though, they refused to quit. On the power lay, Nolan Volcan got a stick on a shot form Andrusiak to cut the lead to two. Then while on another power play, Andrusiak found his own blocked shot and beat Warm to make it a 5-4 game. Donovan Neuls completed the come back as he split the defense and drove the net, sneaking a shot through Warm’s pads with seven seconds left.

Topping then spoiled the night for Seattle fans as he got behind the Tri-City defense and waited out Dorrin Luding, beating him up high.

Luding stopped 15 of 15 for Seattle, while Beck Warm turned away 12 of 17.

 

Aaron Hyman and Austin Strand are out for Seattle along with Carl Stankowski and Liam Hughes.

Park AuCoin is still out for Tri-City.

Seattle heads to Spokane Saturday while Tri-City hosts Everett on Sunday,