WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Wheat Kings Punish Pats 7-2 for Fifth Win in a Row

Published on April 2, 2021 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


Lynden McCallum opened the game's scoring at the 9:58 mark of the first period. Getting a cross ice pass from Nolan Ritchie, McCallum was stopped on his initial try by Pats netminder Roddy Ross. As the Pats defence tried to collect the rebound, McCallum persisted, stealing the puck back and backhanded it over the shoulder of Ross.

"Brett made a good play, kept it in and went down low to Rids" said McCallum. "I kinda tried to sneak back door and the goalie made a good save on me and then I just kind of turned around and their d-man had the puck and I just lifted his stick and shot it quickly and it went in."

The next goal came on the Wheat Kings' penalty kill as the Pats were bringing the puck out of their zone. Riley Ginnell played strong on the forecheck and poked the puck away, bringing it back the other way and waiting for defenceman Braden Schneider to join the rush. Ginnell found Schneider in the centre of the ice where he fired it high past Ross to put the Wheat Kings up by two.

McCallum would pot his second of the game and eighth of the season shortly after, grabbing a rebound next to the net and scoring just 43 seconds after the Schneider marker.

"Again, I was just kind of hanging around the front of the net," said McCallum. "Good things happen".

Ridly Greig made it 4-0 before the first period ended, after Ben McCartney dished it to Greig who kept the puck on his stick streaking across the Pats hashmarks, waiting out Ross and putting it in with 1:21 left.

Not to be outdone by a fellow rookie from the Manitoba parkland region, Wheat Kings rookie Tyson Zimmer was the next to player to find the scoresheet less than two minutes later. Zimmer received a gorgeous pass up the middle from Logen Hammett that sent him in on a partial breakaway, flipping the puck past Ross for his first WHL goal.

"I was just cutting across the ice and got an amazing pass, honestly. We made eye contact and he put it right on my tape, it hopped off my stick a little bit but I skated into it and low blocker was open so I just chipped it in there".

Riley Ginnell scored his third of the season at 9:53 in the third period and the Pats added another at 11:36 off the stick of Carson Denomie. Nolan Ritchie would score the final goal of the game at 14:31, jamming in loose puck to make it a 7-2 final.

Ethan Kruger played another solid game for the Wheat Kings stopping 26 of 28 shots

"Defensively I thought we played another shutdown game, obviously we came out hot at the start," said Kruger. "We scored four goals in the first...our third periods have definitely been our strength I think, we just kind of shut teams down, limit their chances and just try and close out the game."

When asked what difference he sees in his game this season from last, Kruger says his off season work with Wheat Kings goaltending coach Tyler Plante has helped his game develop since 2020.

"I worked on my skating lots and beating the pass. Tyler likes to yell at me and tell me to beat the pass every time so it's ingrained, but I think we're just playing so good as a team, we're all just thriving right now."

Head coach Don Macgillivray thought that despite the early four goal lead after the opening frame, the Wheat Kings still had room to improve, but Kruger's play helped them keep the lead.

"We got off to a good start and I wasn't really crazy about some of the things we did in the first period, I thought we got some nice goals because we got pucks into the right areas and we got some heavy pressure and turned some pucks over. But we still made some mistakes that I thought we cleaned up in the second period. I thought our second period was really good tonight. And that for me was the difference in the hockey game. I thought we shut it down and didn't give them a sniff. In the first period, Ethan Kruger was very good. He was really sound all night."

The Wheat Kings take a two day break off before facing the Saskatoon Blades on Easter Sunday at 7 PM, Manitoba time.

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