WHL recap: Wheat Kings stay winning, Pats and Silvertips win, while Chiefs blowout Thunderbirds

Kelowna 4 @Brandon 7

Two of the hottest teams in the WHL connected 11 goals on the night. The Rockets were coming into this one riding a six game win streak while the Wheat Kings had won seven in a row. It was an offensive duel that would see six different scorers for the Wheat Kings and four for the Rockets. Neither team’s goaltender was stellar on the night but Logan Thompson wound up with 36 saves on 40 shots. The Rockets pulled James Porter Jr. after he allowed the Wheat Kings fourth goal. Ty Lewis would finish the game with two goals and an assist, Stellio Mattheos and Tanner Kaspick had a goal and three assists a piece.

Medicine Hat 2 @Regina 4

The Memorial Cup hosts have been looking for a rallying point in their season, tonight was a chance to begin that journey against the tough central division leaders. Just 53 seconds into this one a Cale Fleury point shot hit leading scored Matt Bradley (20) and bounced past former Pat Jordan Hollett. The rest of the first period would be all Medicine Hat as they would out shoot the Pats 12-11 and put two goals past Max Paddock. Hayden Ostir would score his eighth goal while Henry Rybinski would score his first WHL career goal. The rallying point would come late in the second period when Emil Oksanen would score his 12th goal of the year to tie the game. The Pats out shot the Tigers 15-5 and would see the game tied heading into the third period. It would again be all Regina in the third, outshooting Medicine Hat 20-17 in the third while putting two goals behind Hollett. Robbie Holmes game winner was his sixth on the year and Jake Leschyshyn (8) would seal it with 44 seconds to go.

Everett 2 @Portland 1

It was teddy bear toss night in Portland and the fans were nervous heading into it. Everett again has become a stingy team, Carter Hart has backstopped the team to seven straight wins, three of them via the shutout. Since their winning streak of ten games, the team has won just one of six. It would be a defensive effort for both sides through the first period, both teams creating chances but remaining in a 0-0 stalemate. It would be a short burst of offense that would put Everett up 2-0, first Connor Dewar scored on the power play on a shot that just foiled Cole Kehler. Just 22 seconds later, a shot that missed the net rimmed around the boards to Jake Christiansen. He would put a shot toward the Winterhawk net and Bryce Kindopp (7) got a stick on it and it went high blocker side on Kehler. In the third period the fans would finally get the chance to toss the teddys. Alex Overhardt made a beautiful pass to a wide open John Ludvig (2) and he would wire a wrist shot past Hart to make a game of it. Despite a full minute of 5-on-3 and 20 shots in the third period, the Winterhawks could not close the gap. Hart finished the game with 42 saves.

Seattle 2 @ Spokane 9

It was not a pretty night in Spokane if you are a fan of Seattle. It would be Seattle that would open the scoring though. 13:44 into the first period Jarett Tyszka’s point shot would foil everyone in front of the net and get past Donovan Buskey. Then it would be all Spokane. Jaret Anderson-Dolan (11) would tie the game within a minute of Seattle’s goal. The first would end tied at one, Spokane outshot Seattle 13-6. The second period would be an onslaught, 13-6 would be the shots again for Spokane but this time they would score four goals. Jake McGrew (5) and Tyson Helgesen (4) would score 20 seconds apart. Then Zach Fischer (12) and Milos Fafrak (3) would score just two minutes apart to make it 5-1 Spokane at the end of the second period. The third period would continue to go Spokane’s way as Jaret Anderson-Dolan would score a short-handed goal to put the home side up 6-1, followed by Zach Fischer scoring his second of the night. Fafrak would net two goals in 14 seconds to get his first WHL hat trick. His third goal would make it 9-1 Chiefs. Reece Harsch would add a late power play goal for the Thunderbirds and the final score would be 9-2 Chiefs. They also heavily outshot Seattle 40-19. The Chiefs would go 0-for-7  on the power play while Seattle would go 2-for-4.