Thompson and Thompson tame Blades

By Les Lazaruk

 

BRANDON – They aren’t a law firm…they aren’t even brothers!

But (goaltender Logan) Thompson and (right winger Baron) Thompson were the difference as the home-standing Wheat Kings handed the Saskatoon Blades their second loss in as many nights by a 3-1 score Saturday.

Baron Thompson broke up a scoreless goaltenders duo between Ryan Kubic of the Bridge City Bunch and Logan Thompson. The Lakeville, Minnesota product deflected Zach Wytinck’s power play point shot late in the second period before the 6’5”, 252-pound sophomore found Stelio Mattheos with a perfect cross-ice feed and shot for what turned out to the game-winning goal.

Logan Thompson had just one hiccup, allowing Jake Kustra to score short-handed with 1:15 left in the third period to give the Blades some life, only to have it snuffed out by Evan Weinger’s empty-net tally as time ran out. While he came within 75 seconds of a second consecutive shutout, Logan Thompson did make 36 saves as Saskatoon out-shot Brandon by a 37-24 margin…21-5 in the third period.

The result improved the Wheaties record to 11-6-1 while the Bridge City Bunch fall to 7-10-1. The Blue and Gold are off until Wednesday when they host the East Division-leading Warriors…then visit Moose Jaw Saturday with a home game in between on Friday against Brandon.

Pacman Points – Randen Schmidt became the 996th player to suit up for Saskatoon in the Blades’ 54-year history. The defenceman was called up from his home-town Regina Pat-Canadians of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA League following Friday’s 6-4 home loss to Swift Current. He played, and took a regular shift…even in the third period, because Seth Bafaro was handed a suspension by the WHL for the checking from behind major penalty and accompanying game misconduct he received for pushing Broncos defenceman Artyom Minulin face first into the boards.

The victory for the Wheaties ended a four-game losing streak, head-to-head against the Bridge City Bunch.

Also coming to an end where consecutive-game point streaks for three Blue and Gold skaters…centre Cam Hebig’s three-game run (two goals and three assists for five points), left winger Braylon Shmyr’s three-gamer (1+3=4) and defenceman Libor Hajek’s four-game points streak (2+3=5).

As well, the Blades went 0-for-3 on the power play, finishing a run of six straight games in which Saskatoon tallied on the man advantage. Brandon was 1-for-5 on the power play.

While Bafaro sat because of suspension, Logan Doust was a healthy scratch for a second straight game. In addition, forwards Caleb Fantillo and Logan Christensen continued to be sidelined by upper body injuries while Kirby Dach finished his time with Team Canada-Black at the World Under-17 Challenge in Northern B.C.

The Wheat Kings are also awaiting the return of defenceman Braden Schneider from the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. Meanwhile, captain and centre Tanner Kaspick was suspended for Saturday night because of a checking to the head major and game misconduct he was assessed in the first game of the Canada-Russia series back on Monday in Moose Jaw. In addition, reports have defencemen Daniel Bukac and James Shearer close to returning from their respective lower body hurts…but they remained out Saturday. Also, right winger Gunnar Wegleitner was a coaches decision.

Brandon was the better team in the faceoff circle, winning 32 of 60 draws. Mattheos led the way, winning nine of 12 trips to the dot. Brandon Machado was best for the Blades with five wins in eight faceoff situations.

The busiest individual shooter was Hebig for the Bridge City Bunch with seven shots on goal. Left winger Gage Ramsay had five shots on goal and defenceman Evan Fiala with four. Those were all more than the top individual shooter for the Wheaties…Baron Thompson, Ty Lewis and Rylan Bettens…all with three shots on goal.