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WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Wheat Kings Drop First Meeting with Raiders 5 - 3

March 16, 2021 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


It was a game dictated by special teams on Tuesday as the Prince Albert Raiders beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-3 in Regina's Brandt Centre.

Thirteen penalties were handed out in the game (6 to Brandon, 7 to Prince Albert) forcing both teams to adapt either up, or down a man several times through the 60 minutes.

The Wheat Kings got on the board first, 4:37 into the game when defenceman Vincent Iorio blasted a shot from the blue line on a feed from Ben McCartney. Raiders netminder Max Paddock made the initial save but the shot was hard enough to squeak past the padding on his upper body and past the goal line giving the Wheat Kings the early lead.

The Raiders didn't answer back until 11:27 into the period when Evan Herman scored his second of the season, the only goal in the period to be scored on even strength. The Wheat Kings took four penalties in the first period to the Raiders' two, both teams capitalizing more than once on the powerplay throughout the game.

"I thought we had a good start to the game, we had some momentum going and then we took some dumb penalties that took the momentum away from us and then we were chasing the game the whole night," said Wheat Kings head coach, Don MacGillivray. "Totally opposite from last game where we had everyone going, tonight we had lots of passengers, guys on their own page and to be successful against good hockey clubs you have to have everybody flowing the same way and tonight we just didn't."

With Wheat King forward Reid Perepeluk in the box for roughing, Prince Albert got their second goal of the game, first of their power play goals, at 13:19 in the first period when Herman got the puck low in Brandon's zone and fed a tap in play to Michael Horon.

Brandon answered back on yet another power play late in the period when McCartney parked himself on the dot and took a pass from Braden Schneider, sending a one-timer slapshot past Paddock and tying the game at 2 goals apiece.

Less than two minutes into the second frame and once again on a man advantage, the Raiders' Reece Vitelli scored to put the Raiders up by one but it wasn't without controversy from the Wheat Kings' bench. With the play behind Brandon netminder Connor Ungar's net, the puck squirted out towards Ungar's crease where he appeared to put his glove over the puck. Before the whistle was blown, Raiders forward Spencer Moe jammed his stick into Ungar's glove and sprung the puck loose to a waiting Vitelli who backhanded it home, giving the Raiders the lead.

The Raiders led by 1 until Graydon Gotaas put them up by one more at 16:55 in the second period, Horon finding Gotaas across the ice and on the rush for a sharp angle shot over Ungar's shoulder.

With the Raiders leading by 2 late in the third period, Eric Pearce scored to spread the lead and then with 2 seconds left in the game the Wheat Kings answered on a pretty passing play that gave defenceman Neithan Salame his first goal of the game.

"We talked about this today in our game day meeting, when we lost our first game to Moose Jaw, we needed to reset and be ready to go against Winnipeg," said MacGillivray. "And then when we beat Winnipeg, we needed to reset and be ready to go for P.A. Whether you win or lose, you kind of have to take this Hub as a series - every game is like a playoff game and you have to reset and it's a good teaching point for our guys. We certainly didn't have a good reset for our guys for tonight's game..."

Vincent Iorio thought his team brought their game A-game physically but weren't necessarily carrying the right mindset once they were trailing.

"One thing Don's really done a good job with us for these past three years, for all the veteran guys, is put these games past us. And focus on the next game. That's what hockey's all about, we treat every game like it's a playoff series. Win or lose, focus the next day and regroup and get ready to play."

With the team killing penalties throughout the game and heading into the second intermission down two, Iorio said the coaching staff's message was clear as to what they needed to improve on.

"Lack of discipline. Our discipline wasn't very good today."

"We know what we have as a group and we know we have something special so I think for us, have a good skate tomorrow for a practice and focus up for the Swift Current game on Thursday".

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