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WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Wheat Kings Run Away with 8-3 Win over Warriors

April 13, 2021 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


The Brandon Wheat Kings got back into the win column in a big way Tuesday night, dumping the Moose Jaw Warriors 8-3 for their 13th win of the season in Regina's Brandt Centre.

Ty Thorpe got the game's first two goals, his first coming on an outnumbered rush for the Wheat Kings. With four Warriors back on defence, Logen Hammett, Ben McCartney and Thorpe made something out of nothing and Thorpe finished it from in close.

Thorpe's second came at 11:31 of the first, jumping on a rebound from a Neithan Salame point shot to give Thorpe is third goal of the season.

"It was really just a hard net drive, and a really nice entry play pass across," said Thorpe. "And you know when you go hard to the net, good things happen".

At 5:25, defeceman Vinny Iorio jumped up in the rush to wire one high over the glove of Mirwald and give the Wheat Kings a commanding 3-0 lead.

The Warriors stemmed some of the bleeding just 19 seconds after the Iorio goal when rookie Brandon Yager scored for the Warriors.

Nolan Ritchie scored his seventh of the season and the game's first power play goal to round out the period and send the Wheat Kings into the first intermission up 4-1.

Ritchie's goal was the last of the night on Warriors keeper Brett Mirdwald, who was pulled in favour of Boston Bilous. This was the second time in as many games that Brandon caused a Warriors goalie change in the first period. Bilous was pulled after giving up four goals on his first 6 shots the last time the two teams met and Mirwald replaced him.

In the second, it was Lynden McCallum increasing the Wheat Kings' lead when a Logen Hammett point shot found its way to him at the front of the net. The puck was bouncing when McCallum received it and he was able to shovel it past Bilous at 5:51..

The Warriors scored back-to-back markers to give themselves some life, the first coming from Yager for his second of the game at 12:15 and the second by Jagger Firkus at 15:35 on the power play. With the game now 5-3, the Warriors showed a spark and they started to control the play more than they had at any other point in the game.

"I didn't like our second period, I thought we got loose and got away from our game plan and started cheating a little bit," said Wheat Kings head coach Don MacGillivray after the game. "And that can happen when you're up 4-1 after a period and guys take their foot off the gas, but we responded the right way. I thought our third period was better than our second."

Before the end of the second, Ridly Greig scored his seventh goal of the season on the power play when he disguised a shot on net as a low pass along the ice. Ben McCartney was in front of the crease but his stick wasn't needed as the puck beat the pad of Bilous and found the back of the net just 36 second before the end of the period.

Tyson Zimmer scored his third of the season (4:41) and Reid Perepeluk scored his fourth (18:25) to make it an 8-3 final for the Wheat Kings.

Brandon netminder Connor Ungar made 37 saves in the win and Bilous stopped 22 of 24 shots in relief of Mirwald.

"We could've used some of those goals in the last couple games but I liked our power play tonight," said MacGillivray. "Our power play was moving the puck. We had some Grade A, quality chances that we didn't score on but we ended up getting three and I thought the guys really took advantage of what they gave us, they moved the puck extremely well".

After the Wheat Kings lost their last game to the Saskatoon Blades, MacGillivray said he wanted to see his team work on getting "greasier" goals - less fancy, highlight-reel and more gritty, hard working goals.

"Stay around the net, get to the front of the net. I think Thorpe's first two goals, both of them were right in front. Junkyard goals. The pucks were there, rebounds are lying there, and he put them in. Those are good goals and they count the same as a goal to the top corner."

Thorpe hasn't been on the scoresheet as much as he would like so far this season, scoring once and collecting one assist before Tuesday's game. The 19-year old forward has been a faceoff artist though in his three seasons with the Wheat Kings, currently winning 53% of his draws this year. But he said his two goals to start the Tuesday's game felt good for his own confidence.

"It's great to finally contribute on the scoreboard and I think it's been a long time coming. I've definitely been working on my game and I think it's progressed a lot this year and they were just two great plays by my linemates there."

Rookie defenceman Logen Hammett recorded his first multi-point game of the season assisting on both Thorpe and McCallum's goals. He was paired with his roommate and team captain Braden Schneider on the back end for Tuesday's game.

"It's awesome, Braden's a really good player and he makes the game pretty easy playing with him. He makes a lot of good plays, he makes it easier for you as his d-partner, especially in the d-zone."

"He's always making good plays so he'll create time and space for other guys as well and it makes it easier."

The Wheat Kings play their second of a back-to-back schedule tomorrow at 9 PM against their provincial rival, the Winnipeg ICE.

The Wheat Kings will be the "home" team against the ICE and the game will be available to stream online via WHL Live at www.watch.chl.ca or fans can listen to Brandon Crowe call the game on Q Country 91.5 FM, 880 on the AM dial.

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