Friday night was a special night inside of Westoba Place in the Wheat City for a couple of reasons. The first being the Wheat Kings would be playing their first home game in just about three weeks. The second being Ethan Kruger.
Kruger made 24 saves to pick up his first career Western Hockey League shutout as the Wheaties blanked the Swift Current Broncos, 5-0 in front of just about 3600 fans as Brandon made their return home.
Kruger stopped 13 shots in the first, five in the second, and six in the third in the win.
“It felt good out there to get my first shutout of the year. Swift Current’s goalie played lights out as well, but we were able to get some goals and the win,” said Kruger after the win courtesy of wheatkings.com. “We haven’t been great at home and the message going into the game was we needed to win.”
Brandon had a season-high 53 shots in the game, but it took them a while to score. With 18 of them alone in the first, Cole Reinhardt capitalized on an opportunity at the 15:41 mark to put Brandon up 1-0. Nolan Ritchie and Dom Schmiemann earned the assists.
With a 1-0 lead, the game slowed down as far as goals went. It wasn’t until there were 32 seconds left in the second when Brandon would strike again. This time it was Nolan Ritchie who hammered a shot past Reece Klassen to put Brandon up by two. Luka Burzan and Ridly Greig got the power play assists.
“Burzan put a good puck on net and it came up the middle, so I just sort of shot it as hard as I can and it went in,” said Ritchie who scored two on the night. “It was a huge night. I was struggling to find the back of the net early, but I’m starting to feel better. I think I can build some momentum off this.”
Up 2-0 after 40, Brandon sealed things in the third with three goals. 15:03 in, Ben McCartney scored his seventh and Riley Ginnell beat Klassen for an unassisted goal at the 16:14 mark.
With 53 seconds left, Nolan Ritchie capped off a great night with his third of the season and second of the night.
Ritchie’s second goal was on a breakaway that he was able to go five-hole to beat Klassen.
It was only Brandon’s second win of the season on home ice compared to four losses.
“It was a really big win for us on home ice, we’ve really wanted to win for our fans,” continued Ritchie.
“We needed to win to get some fans in the building and we put a show on for them,” concluded Kruger.
Brandon will remain on home ice to continue their three-game homestand on Saturday. They welcome the Lethbridge Hurricanes to town who beat the Winnipeg ICE on Friday.
Swift Current will hit the reset button as they head to the Wayne Fleming Arena for a matchup with the ICE on Saturday before heading to Lethbridge on Wednesday.
Wheat Tips:
- Kruger was named the Wheat Kings’ TELUS Player of the Month for October.
- Brandon went 2-for-6 on the man advantage while Swift Current went 0-for-2.
- Swift Current has now lost two in a row and they’re 1-6-1-2 in their last 10 games. Brandon has won two in a row and they’re 5-5 in their past 10.
- Brandon also won 44 faceoffs compared to 25 for the Broncos.
