On Tuesday night, the Brandon Wheat Kings came out guns blazing as they hammered Tri-City 10-2. On Wednesday night, the club rolled into Spokane to challenge the Chiefs for the first time this season in a game the team will surely want to forget.
Adam Beckman had one goal and four assists and, he was a +4 as Spokane dominated the Wheat Kings 7-1 inside of the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.
“We played on our heels tonight,” said head coach Dave Lowry, courtesy of wheatkings.com. “The concerning thing is, it’s the second time this has happened in the back half of back-to-back nights. Our start cost us the hockey game.”
On a night when they were outshot 30-to-19, Spokane scored the game’s first five goals. Starting at the 14:21 mark, Luke Toporowski netted his third of the season with Beckman getting his first assist of the game.
Just less than two minutes later at the 15:53 mark, Spokane went up 2-0. Matt Leduc scored his first of the season with the assists going to Eli Zummack and Adam Beckman.
With a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, Spokane kept coming hard in the second. Adam Beckman scored his fifth of the season in what turned out to be a career game. Owen MacNeil assisted on the insurance goal.
With 3:22 left in the midway frame, Bear Hughes scored his fourth goal of the season and Connor Gabruch was joined by Filip Kral with the assists. The goal made it 4-0 Spokane
They weren’t done there, however. Eli Zummack made it 5-0 just 27 seconds later, and Spokane led by that scoreline after 40.
Brandon was also outshot 16-to-8 in the second.
“We got out-battled in front of our own net,” added Lowry. “The goals we gave up in the second period, we just weren’t competing hard enough.”
Play early in the third period did provide a good feeling for Brandon. On a beautiful pass from Nolan Ritchie, Jake Chiasson scored his first-ever Western Hockey League goal. The goal was scored at 2:12.
That was it for Brandon. Filip Kral made it 6-1 for Spokane 6:02 into the final frame. Michael King then scored his third goal of the season as Spokane took a 7-1 lead, finishing the scoring.
Brandon plays their sixth game of a seven-game trip on Friday when they take on the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
“We better remember this feeling,” concluded Lowry. “The effort we put forth was unacceptable. The way we lost the game really stings. It’s something we will address, and we won’t make these same mistakes again.”
Spokane, meanwhile, is on home ice against Portland on Friday night.
The Chiefs are now 6-4-1 while Brandon is 5-8.
Wheat Tips:
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- Ethan Kruger started the game and made just 17 saves on 22 shots. In relief, Connor Ungar went 6-for-8.
- 12 Chiefs had at least one point, led by Beckman with his five points.
- 13 Brandon skaters were negative on the night. Connor Gutenberg was -4.
- Brandon went 0-for-5 on the power play while Spokane went 1-for-3.
