WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Wheat Kings Handle Broncos in 6-1 Win, Lead WHL with 34 Points

Published on April 21, 2021 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


The Brandon Wheat Kings found the back of the net early and often to down the Swift Current Broncos 6-1 for their fourth and final meeting this season at Regina's Brandt Centre.

Nolan Ritchie led all scorers with two goals while Rylan Thiessen potted his first goal as a Wheat King and added an assist, Lynden McCallum scored and put up an assist and rookie Nate Danielson finished with a pair of assists. Ethan Kruger earned his 11th win of the season in net for the Wheat Kings making 17 saves while Isaac Poulter stopped 27 of 33 shots in the loss for the Broncos.

Lynden McCallum opened the scoring at 14:28 in the first period with a swooping power move that pushed the puck in past Broncos netminder Isaac Poulter. The goal is McCallum's 13th of the 2020-21 campaign, leading all Wheat Kings in goals this season.

The Wheat Kings outscored the Broncos 3-1 in the second period, the first from Nolan Ritchie on the power play, 2:27 into the frame. Matthew Ward answered for the Broncos two minutes later but Ritchie would bag his second of the night at 17:33 to restore the Wheat Kings' two-goal lead. With 56 seconds left in the period, Brandonite Rylan Thiessen scored his first goal as a Wheat King to give Brandon a 4-1 cushion.

"Jake had it on the half wall and made a nice move to beat his guy and he gave it down low to McCartney," said Thiessen. "I saw a little lane so I jumped in and he made a nice pass to the middle and I one-touched it into the back of the net."

Chiasson was in a giving mood on Wednesday night, setting up Brett Hyland for the Wheat Kings' next goal in the third period. Chiasson sent a slap pass to the front of the net where Hyland was able to corral the puck and bury his third goal of the season. Vinny Iorio rounded out the scoring with his fifth of the season at 11:38 for a 6-1 final.

"I like that we won the hockey game," said Wheat Kings head coach, Don MacGillivray. "I said to the guys after the second period that I thought we were cheating ourselves a little bit tonight, I didn't think we played our best game tonight. But we did what we needed to do - sometimes those games are tough when they look like a mismatch on paper, and Swift works hard."

The Broncos entered Wednesday's game having won just one of their last nine games but have been a rapidly improving team over the course of the season. The Wheat Kings sit on top of the division making Wednesday the most uneven match up possible in the #SubwayWHLHub at the moment, but MacGillivray said that's no reason to build bad habits as they look towards their final three games of the season.

"There were a lot of things in our game tonight that needs to get sharpened up for a team who doesn't really like us very much, P.A. That will be a real tough game and obviously Regina beat us last time so those are two tough games but we'll focus on P.A. next. We're expecting a tough game. They play the teams we're fighting for first with - Winnipeg and Saskatoon - so they have something to play for and they're a good club. They're better than their record shows and we've had tough games against them in the Hub so I expect nothing less".

Thiessen echoed his coach's comments about Prince Albert, having seen the Raiders last season when they were loaded with talent and were a frontrunner in the division. Despite their current 6th-place ranking, the Wheat Kings don't take the Raiders lightly.

"We know they're one of our biggest rivals and they get up to play us every game. We know it's always going to be a battle and those are the funnest games to be in. Because they're our rivals and it's fun to be in so I thin we've just got to play our game and stick to our systems and we'll be good.

After the division's second-place Blades lost to the Regina Pats on Tuesday, the Wheat Kings now control their own fate leading by 3 points and having played only one more game than Saskatoon. Nolan Ritchie admits that the Wheat Kings have been keeping their eyes on the scoreboard a little bit because ultimately, they want to win the division.

"Yeah there's a little bit of that, but we try not to worry about it too much. We try to just come here, play as hard as we can and give us the best chance to win every night. The next three games are really big ones against really good teams so we're going to have to come and play each and every night".

The Wheat Kings get a pair of off days before seeing the Raiders at 7 PM on Saturday, April 24th. They'll face the Pats the following night at 9PM before facing off against the Blades the following Wednesday at 5 M

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Western Hockey League Stories from April 21, 2021


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