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WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Wheat Kings Buck Broncos 5-2 for Third Win in a Row

March 28, 2021 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


The Wheat Kings extended their win streak to 3 games on Sunday afternoon, downing the Swift Current Broncos 5-2 at Regina's Brandt Centre.

After a scoreless first period, the Wheat Kings fell behind just 27 seconds into the second when Broncos forward Michael Farren put one past Wheat Kings netminder Connor Ungar.

The Broncos then added to their lead when Owen Williams scored a lucky goal at 6:30 in the second from Brandon's hashmarks. He fired a shot that found a Wheat Kings stick and the puck fluttered over Ungar's shoulder and found the back of the net to give the Broncos a 2-0 lead.

A two-goal deficit was far from ideal for Ungar who was starting his third game of the season on Sunday. But when asked what was going through his head after the unlucky bounce, he said he didn't let it him knock him off his game.

"After you go down two-nothing you kind of just have to focus on the next one. Just try and give your team a chance to come back and win and you know that's what I did and that's what the guys did in front of me. So yeah, those flukey goals happen and there's nothing you can really do about them so you just have to look forward and keep going."

It was 20-year old forward Marcus Sekundiak who finally got the Wheat Kings on the board at 7:26 in the second when a partial rush by the Wheat Kings left him with the puck near the hashmarks in front of the Broncos net. Sekundiak wired a wrist shot over netminder Isaac Poulter's shoulder to give Brandon some life and cut their deficit in half.

"I think the play started in our own end, the D put it up to Thorpey on the wall and I got the puck and then went into the zone. I tried to feed Thiesser on the far side but it hit a couple sticks and popped out, and then I was right there to put it in the net. It's a big relief obviously, it's a long time coming this year, it's been a bit of a slow start for me but I've just been trying to do everything else right and I think that's what led up to the goal".

At 14:14 in the second, the Wheat Kings tied the game when Ben McCartney made a no-look pass from behind Poulter's net to a waiting Lynden McCallum. The tying goal was McCallum's his sixth in as many games, as the overager has found the scoresheet in every game but his first three this season.

At 16:45, Riley Ginnell was the next Wheat King to score his first goal of the season on a beautiful pass from Chad Nychuk. After the play broke from a faceoff in the Broncos' end, Nychuk wound up with the puck near the point and he made a smooth pass to Ginnell streaking by the front of the net. Ginnell redirected it past Poulter for what would later stand as the game winner.

At 9:58, Nychuk got his own goal after getting a pass from Brett Hyland shortly after he entered the zone on the left side of the ice. On a slight odd man rush, he elected to keep and shoot, roofing it over the short side corner of Poulter's shoulder to make it 4-2.

"I kinda called for it, I was open and Schneids made a good pass," said Nychuk. "And then I just hit Brett and joined the rush and kind of pulled his defender to him and I just joined it to make it a 2-on-1 and he made a nice sauce pass and - I've been really snake bitten lately - so that one felt really good."

The last goal of the game would come via an empty netter by Ridly Greig. The win was somewhat of a relief after trailing by two goals to a team who had won two of their last three games.

"I liked how we stuck with our game," said Wheat Kings head coach, Don MacGillivray. "We fell behind, obviously, it was a tough game. Swift's playing really well, they've been scoring a lot of goals lately but our penalty kill was good tonight. Our goaltending was good tonight."

"We're happy with the win. We'll take the win, move on, and get ready for the next one".

The Wheat Kings were in the penalty box five times on the evening, something MacGillivray says his team needs to fix. He said the message will continue to be that undisciplined penalties won't work for them to win hockey games. But he said the balance of goal scorers in the game, especially three different players getting their first of the season, was a positive on the evening.

"It was nice to see Riley Ginnell get on the board, it was nice to see Marcus Sekundiak get on the board. Those guys do a lot of heavy lifting and you know they got rewarded tonight for some of their play. Nychuk gets on the board, he's hit a couple posts here. So I think that's important when a bunch of different guys are contributing on a nightly basis".

The Wheat Kings will take a day off before suiting up for their next game on Tuesday against the Prince Albert Raiders at 5 PM.

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