 |
| Ty Lewis (#14) fist bumps with James Shearer (#32) after Brandon’s win. |
On Saturday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Wheat Kings had
to withstand the battle of a fired up host Saskatoon Blades side, who were
playing in front of 5,826 spectators.
The Wheat Kings scored some timely goals
and road a 29-save performance from sophomore netminder Dylan Myskiw to pull
out a 4-2 victory.
The victory allowed the Wheat Kings to improve to 37-26-3-2
and lock up a playoff berth for a fifth straight year.
“It is a good feeling,” said Mattheos. “It is a bit of a
relief.
“Guys worked hard for it for sure in the last bit. It is not
our best game, but we’ll take it.”
 |
| Stelio Mattheos scored the Wheat Kings first goal on Saturday. |
The Wheat Kings were also playing in an East Division that
saw the Moose Jaw Warriors, Swift Current Broncos and Memorial Cup hosting
Regina Pats all make deals to stack their teams this season before the WHL
trade deadline rolled around on Jan. 10.
Before the deadline on Jan. 10, the
Wheat Kings dealt star defenceman Kale Clague and then captain Tanner Kaspick
in separate trades to the Moose Jaw Warriors and Victoria Royals respectively
for a plethora of players and WHL Bantam Draft picks.
 |
| Dylan Myskiw, left, knocks the puck up to one of his defencemen. |
Mattheos, who is second in Wheat Kings team scoring with 41
goals and 45 assists, believes his team is on the start of an upward swing
during this last stretch heading to the end of the regular season.
“We want to keep building our game heading into playoffs,”
said Mattheos. “Once we get to playoffs, we want to do some damage.
“We want to prove some people wrong and obviously win as
many games as we can.”
 |
| Wheat Kings RW Evan Weinger, left, checks Blades D Jackson Caller. |
The Blades were playing a lot more free and easy than they
had in Friday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Calgary Hitmen and Tuesday’s 6-5 win
over the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Out of seemingly nowhere, the Wheat Kings jumped ahead 1-0,
when Mattheos scored on a backhand shot with 46.5 seconds to play in the opening
frame.
At the 9:38 mark of the second period, left-winger Linden
McCorrister wired home his 18th goal of the season to give Brandon a
2-0 lead.
 |
| Michael Farren snaps a shot on goal for the Blades. |
Moments later, the Blades had a glorious chance to tie the
game during a net scramble that saw centre Kirby Dach and left-winger Gage
Ramsay both get turned away in close. Right after those opportunities, Wheat
Kings defenceman Schael Higson sprung right-winger Luka Burzan on a breakaway.
Burzan proceeded to tuck home his 13th goal of
the campaign to put the Wheat Kings up 3-1.
“It was a huge goal for us,” said Mattheos. “We were in our
zone for almost a minute.
“Dylan (Myskiw) stood on his head, and we kind of just
caught a break. Good on Burz (Burzan) to finish that goal.”
The Blades didn’t go away. At the 6:47 mark of the third period,
right-winger Josh Paterson scored on the power play to cut Brandon’s lead to
3-2. The hosts pushed hard looking for the equalizer.
 |
| Cole Reinhardt had an empty-net goal for the Wheat Kings. |
Cole Reinhardt sealed victory for the Wheat Kings scoring
into an empty net with 17.3 seconds to play in the third period.
Nolan Maier turned away 12-of-15 shots to take the setback
in goal for Saskatoon.
While the Blades scored once on the power play, Mattheos
said the four successful penalty kills his squad had played a key role in
Saturday’s outcome along with the saves made by Myskiw.
“I think goaltending was huge,” said Mattheos. “We give big
credit to Dylan (Myskiw) for the win, and also our PK I think was really good.
“Our power play wasn’t our best tonight, so it was nice that
the PK could step up.”
With the loss, the Blades fell to 32-32-3-1 and moved
dangerously close to missing the playoffs for a fifth straight year. Out in
Prince Albert, the host Raiders won their ninth straight game posting a 4-3
overtime victory over the Calgary Hitmen.
 |
| Eric Florchuk nearly capitalized on a late third period chance. |
Both the Blades and Raiders have four games remaining on
their respective regular season schedules, and the Raiders need to earn just
two more points in the standings to clinch a playoff berth.
The Blades are off until this coming Tuesday, when they
travel to Brandon to face the Wheat Kings. The Wheat Kings will travel to Moose
Jaw on Sunday before returning to Brandon to host the Blades. The Raiders
return to action this coming Tuesday, when they travel to Moose Jaw to face the
Warriors.
Mattheos is one of the holdovers on the Wheat Kings roster
from when they won the WHL title in 2016.
When the post-season rolls around, he
believes that experience will be a big help to his club.
 |
| Ty Lewis and the Wheat Kings will return to the post-season. |
“Just having played that many games in the playoffs and
knowing what it takes and knowing how long it really is if you go deep, it is
going to be huge for us,” said Mattheos. “We want to use that to our
advantage.”
NOTES – The Wheat
Kings were without star overage goaltender Logan Thompson on Saturday. Thompson
was injured in his team’s 6-3 victory in Brandon on Friday over the Swift
Current Broncos. Ethan Kruger, who spent the season in the Alberta midget AAA
ranks with the Sherwood Park J. Ennis Kings, joined the Wheat Kings to be their
backup goalie. The J. Ennis Kings have been eliminated from the Alberta midget
AAA playoffs.
The Blades wore special Don Cherry style suit inspired jerseys to promote organ donation awareness.
The Blades wore special Don Cherry style suit inspired jerseys to promote organ donation awareness.
Shirley, Fiala power Stars romp over Regina
 |
| Grace Shirley had a big night for the Stars. |
On Saturday at the Agriplace Arena, Shirley picked up two
goals and two assists and Fiala had two goals and one assist to power the Stars
to a 6-0 victory over the Regina Rebels in Game 1 of a best-of-five Saskatchewan
Female Midget AAA Hockey League semifinal series between the two clubs.
Thanks to finishing first overall in the SFMAAAHL, the Stars
had a bye into the semifinal series. The Rebels won a best-of-five SFMAAAHL
quarter-final series 3-1 against the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats to
advance to the semifinal series.
The Stars led 2-0 after the first period and 5-0 after the
second frame.
Kaitlin Jockims and Mackenna Parker both scored singles for
the Stars.
Jordan Ivanco turned away 16 shots to pick up the shutout
win in goal for Saskatoon. Chantel Weller turned away 33 shots to take the
setback in goal for the Rebels.
Game 2 of the series is set for Monday in Regina. Game 3 is
slated for Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Agriplace Arena.
Ashe blasts Bears to series opening win
 |
| Jordan Ashe blasted home the winning goal for the Bears on Saturday. |
The 17-year-old physical defender blasted home a goal to the
top corner of the Hounds goal at the 10:18 mark of the third period to deliver
the Bears to a 1-0 victory at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. The
Bears, who are the defending SFMAAAHL champions, have won their last 13
straight league playoff games dating back to last season.
Ryan Fontaine made 26 saves to pick up the shutout win in
goal for the Bears. Kaitlyn Ross turned away 35 shots to take the setback in
goal for the Hounds.
The Bears swept way the Battlefords Sharks in a best-of-five
SFMAAAHL quarter-final series 3-0. The Hounds claimed a best-of-five
quarter-final series with the Melville Prairie Fire 3-1.
The Bears and Hounds will go at it in Game 2 of their semifinal
series on Sunday in Wilcox, Sask.
Game 3 is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser
Centre in Prince Albert.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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