Mccartney Scores a Hat-Trick to Help Melt the ICE 5-3
Published on April 15, 2021 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release
Regina, SK - The Wheat Kings jumped out to an early lead Wednesday night and never gave it back, picking up an important two points in a 5-3 win over their provincial rival Winnipeg ICE. Ben McCartney scored his first career WHL hat trick and Connor Ungar made 38 saves to help the Wheat Kings take back a share of first place in the East Division with the Saskatoon Blades.
"We'll take the two points tonight," said Wheat Kings head coach, Don MacGillivray. "Winnipeg got better as the game went on and they're a good club."
The Wheat Kings have won all three meetings with the ICE this season and now sit four points ahead of them in the standings.
"They've got some very good, high-end players and that's going to be a good club for a few years so we've got a good rivalry," said MacGillivray. "We're 3-0 against them this year. We went 4-1-1 in our last 6 game segment, so we'll take that every day."
Veteran forward Riley Ginnell opened the scoring just 1:52 into the game when he entered the zone with linemates Nolan Ritchie and Lynden McCallum. Ritchie flipped Ginnell a pass who ripped it past ICE goaltender Gage Alexander high and hard, popping the water bottle for his fourth goal of the season.
Ginnell liked the Wheat Kings' start and said he reaped the benefits of playing with scorers like Ritchie and McCallum.
"I felt our whole team was looking good, we got our legs moving early so it was very beneficial. Ritchie's a very smart player and he's always in the right spots so I can't complain at all. He's very good with the puck as well, so you've just got to be in the right areas for him and he'll make that play".
The next goal came at 9:10 off the stick of Brett Hyland, scoring his second of the season into a yawning cage created by Ty Thorpe and Nate Danielson. On a strong forecheck, Thorpe took advantage of an ICE defenceman catching an edge, eventually feeding it to Hyland for the score.
The ICE answered back 4:55 into the second period on a Connor McClennon goal assisted by WHL leading scorer Peyton Krebs and Owen Pederson.
4:12 later, Ben McCartney would score one of the prettier goals by the Wheat Kings this season. On the rush, Ridly Greig fooled the defence sending the puck across his body to Chad Nychuk who fired a pass from the top of the hashmarks to McCartney near the side of the net. The wide open net, and Alexander completely out of position, was a testament to the crisp passing and vision of Greig and Nychuk.
At 13:36, rookie Conor Geekie scored his third goal against the Wheat Kings this season shooting a wrist shot through traffic on the power play to bring the ICE back to within one.
The ICE enjoyed six power play opportunities on the evening while Brandon didn't have a single man advantage. Winnipeg wasn't called for a single penalty the entire game.
"Apparently the refs think we need to work on our penalty kill so we got the job accomplished here tonight," said MacGillivray with a laugh. "We got to play everybody and then we started taking some penalties. And we deserved the penalties, there's no question about that. The disappointing part is we didn't get one power play in the game so we must've been playing the cleanest team in hockey".
The ICE put together a much stronger second period but the Wheat Kings escaped leading 3-2. Coming off two days of rest, the difference was beginning to show between a well-rested ICE team and a Wheat Kings squad who was playing their third game in four nights.
At 7:42 in the third, McCartney and Jake Chiasson got a partial breakaway together but ended up shoulder to shoulder trying to outpace the ICE defence. Eventually Chiasson nudged the puck ahead for McCartney who made a sliding play on his knees to score a highlight-reel goal over Alexander and extend Brandon's lead by two.
"Chaser put it forward and I knew he was tired", said McCartney. "And Chaser made a nice play. I was pretty much just yelling "Chaser, Chaser, put it up".
At 14:47, Owen Pederson brought the ICE back to within one when he scored on another Winnipeg power play. The goal made for an exciting final four minutes of the game that kept Brandon's Ungar on his toes until the final horn. Eventually the puck got turned over and McCartney would net his third of the night for a 5-3 final score.
"We got disjointed, I don't know if it's because it's our third game in four nights and we were fatigued a little bit but we had a lot of guys that didn't really play the way we need to play to be successful so we're thankful that our goalie played real well tonight," said MacGillivray. "And we we made a couple adjustments on the PK that really helped us tonight against a really good power play and we got the job done so that's all you can ask for."
This was the second game in a row that Ungar started in as many nights and MacGillivray liked what he saw from his 18-year old goalie who had his work cut out for him with 41 shots faced.
"He played really well tonight, I thought he controlled his rebounds much better than he did the night before and just looked more confident. Froze the puck at good times. He was the reason we got the two points here tonight, for sure."
Gage Alexander made 21 saves in the loss for the ICE.
The Wheat Kings now take a much needed break, getting back to their points race atop the East Division on Saturday against the Moose Jaw Warriors at 9 PM.
Western Hockey League Stories from April 15, 2021
- Rhinehart's First Career Hat-Trick Leads Blades to Victory over Pats - Saskatoon Blades
- Rebels Trying to Stay Positive Despite Lack of Success in Injury-Plagued Season - Red Deer Rebels
- Winnipeg ICE Increase Creativity to Continue Strong Commitment to the Community During the 2020-2021 Season - Winnipeg Ice
- Broncos Face ICE for Third Time this Season - Swift Current Broncos
- Blades Hunt 5th Straight Win Hosting Pats - Saskatoon Blades
- Mccartney Scores a Hat-Trick to Help Melt the ICE 5-3 - Brandon Wheat Kings
- Scoring Dries up in 5-0 Loss - Prince George Cougars
- Winterhawks Take Point in Rubber Match with Chiefs - Portland Winterhawks
- ICE Fall to Wheat Kings 5-3 - Winnipeg Ice
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