Blades’ McKay at his pest best in win over Wheat Kings

Blades LW Riley McKay (#39) chirps Wheat Kings D Zach Wytinck (#29).

    It’s a Riley McKay world and the Brandon Wheat Kings are just living in it.

    The feisty 19-year-old left-winger with the Saskatoon Blades started and ended the proceedings with an exclamation point on Sunday in a 6-3 WHL regular season victory over the Wheat Kings. 

    In between, the Swan River, Man., product was at his agitating best getting into all sorts of extra-curricular activities on the ice, while scoring two goals and engaging in a fight before 4,815 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

    McKay provided the exclamation point with 1:33 remaining in the third period scoring into an empty-net to seal the win, and he proceeded to chirp Wheat Kings 19-year-old defenceman Zach Wytinck after the tally.

Riley McKay scored a pair of goals for the Blades on Sunday.

    “I was just having some fun with it,” said McKay. “(I was) just giving a little bit of trash talk to make sure that he knows we won the game.”

    The fifth meeting between the two sides was fairly chippy and saw both sides goes 2-for-7 on the power play. It seemed like the type of game that was built for McKay, who has 117 penalty minutes this season, and he didn’t deny it.

    “I really like when games are like this,” said McKay. “It is fast paced, hard hitting and it is lots of fun.”

    All parts of McKay’s game were on display Sunday besides the side that sees him play the role of agitator. He can make some pretty creative offensive plays as well.

Riley McKay (#39) celebrates his breakaway goal.

    In opening the game’s scoring at the 9:23 mark of the first period, he looked like former Blades captain Derek Hulak going in on a breakaway switching from forehand to backhand and sliding a shot past Wheat Kings netminder Jiri Patera.

    “That was a good one,” said McKay, who has 11 goals and nine assists this season. “I didn’t know it went in for sure or not, because it went slow over the line.

    “I thought it went in, so it felt good.”

    A little under four minutes later, McKay engaged in a spirited fight with Wheat Kings defenceman Braydyn Chizen. McKay, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 192 pounds, was outsized by Chizen, who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 207 pounds, but more than held his own in the bout.

    Blades overage right-winger Max Gerlach said his team gets pumped up, when McKay is out there doing his thing.

Blades LW Riley McKay, left, fights Wheat Kings D Braydyn Chizen (#5).

    “He is awesome to have in the room,” said Gerlach, who had three assists in the win. “It is awesome when he goes out there and fights probably the biggest guy in the league early in the game.

    “It gets us fired up on the bench. I thought it was good from all the boys. I think that everyone was pretty emotionally invested in the game.

    “That is how the playoffs are going to be. It is good to see everyone comfortable in those situations and come out with a big two points.”

    Shortly after McKay’s fight, the Blades struck for a pair of goals 31 seconds apart from each other coming from the sticks of rookie left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, who celebrated his 17^th birthday on Sunday, and captain Chase Wouters. 

Riley McKay controls the puck in the offensive zone.

    The surge gave the Blades a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

    Brandon pushed back in the second frame. Overage left-winger Linden McCorrister scored a short-handed goal 32 seconds into the frame, and captain Stelio Mattheos netted a power-play goal at the 10:39 mark to cut the Blades lead to 3-2.

    Just 43 seconds later, Wouters netted his second of the game to give the Blades a 4-2 advantage. Sunday marked the first time this season Wouters scored twice in one game.

    “I hadn’t scored two goals in a game in a while,” said Wouters. “That was a pretty cool experience for me.”

    Before the second period ended, the Wheat Kings cut the Blades lead to 4-3 with a power-play goal coming from 16-year-old rookie left-winger Ridly Greig.

    The Blades jumped ahead 5-3 at the 5:02 mark of the third, when offensive-defenceman Dawson Davidson wired a point-shot that was tipped by centre Tristen Robins to the top right corner of the Brandon goal.

    That set the stage for McKay to get his empty-netter near the end of the frame.

    Wouters had a sly smile, when he talked about McKay.

Kyle Crnkovic scored for the Blades on Sunday.

    “Riley, he is a big part of our team,” said Wouters. “He’s physical, and he does all the right things for us.

    “He gets goals when he can, so it’s perfect.”

    Nolan Maier made 25 saves in goal for the Blades, who have won four straight to improve to 34-13-8 to sit fourth overall in the league. Jiri Patera would turn away 31 of 36 shots in goal for the Wheat Kings, who feel to 23-22-3-4 with the setback.

    Besides winning their last four straight, the Blades have collected points in the standings in their last 10 straight games going 8-0-2 over that stretch of time.

Captain Chase Wouters had a pair of goals for the Blades on Sunday.

    “The guys have been playing awesome,” said McKay. “We’re just staying the course.

    “We always say that in the dressing room, just stay the course and play a full 60 (minutes). No matter what happens in the game just keep playing hard and keep working, and we know we’ll have a good outcome.”

    The Wheat Kings return home to host the Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday at Westoba Place at 7 p.m. local time.

    The Blades now head out on a four game road swing beginning on Wednesday, when they travel to Medicine Hat to take on the Tigers at 7 p.m. local time. McKay is looking forward to the upcoming crunch time push.

Blades G Nolan Maier (#73) stops Wheat Kings LW Cole Reinhardt (#23).

    “We’re getting into that last stretch here, where it is all like playoff hockey,” said McKay. “We just have to play simple and play hard and try to get the win.”

    NOTES – The Blades were without star centre Kirby Dach, who left Saturday’s 4-1 victory over the Broncos in Swift Current after taking a puck in the throat. Dach sat out as a precaution.

    Aiden De La Gorgendiere, who is a 16-year-old defenceman, is listed as being out indefinitely with an upper body injury. He suffered the injury taking a hit from Edmonton Oil Kings left-winger Jake Neighbours in a 4-3 overtime setback the Blades took at home on Feb. 2. 

The Blades celebrate their victory on Sunday.

    Neighbours was given a boarding major and a game misconduct on the play and was suspended for four games by the WHL office.

    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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Haden, Blades benefit from pre-Christmas luck

Gary Haden reacts to scoring the winning goal for the Blades on Friday.

    Gary Haden believes he might have a rabbit’s foot waiting for him under the Christmas tree back home in Airdrie, Alta.

    Even if he doesn’t, he plans to do everything he can to protect his current game stick.

    On Friday before 3,219 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the 19-year-old left-winger scored the winning goal for the Saskatoon Blades in surprising fashion.

    With the Blades locked in a 2-2 tie with the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings and having been badly outplayed in the third period, Haden drove down the right wing on a last second rush. He fired a shot on goal that was turned away by Wheat Kings netminder Ethan Kruger.

    The rebound of Haden’s shot deflected off the skates of Wheat Kings left-winger Cole Reinhardt into the Brandon net with 4.1 seconds remaining in the third period. 

Wheat Kings G Ethan Kruger looks at the Blades winning goal in his net.

    That tally gave the Blades a stunning 3-2 victory in the WHL regular season clash and boosted their winning streak to four straight games.

    On Tuesday night, Haden had four goals and an assist in a 6-3 home ice victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings using the same stick that accounted for the winner Friday against the Wheat Kings.

    “I am going to keep this stick I am using,” said Haden. “I am not using that one in practice or anything.

    “I can’t afford to have this one break. This one has been good to me so far, so let’s keep it going.”

Nolan Maier makes one of his 18 third period saves in the Blades net.

    Haden credited star 17-year-old netminder Nolan Maier as the reason the Blades were able to win on Friday night. Maier made 33 stops in the contest and an incredible 18 saves in the third period to give Saskatoon a chance to steal a victory.

    The Wheat Kings stormed the Blades for the entire third frame holding an 18-5 edge in shots on goal in that stanza. Early in the third, Maier had to make a big pad stop on a rebound chance by Wheat Kings left-winger Linden McCorrister.

    Maier also received some help from his teammates too. Saskatoon overage right-winger Max Gerlach made a diving stick stop to keep Wheat Kings left-winger Ben McCartney from dumping the puck into an empty side of the Blades goal near the midway point of the frame.

Josh Paterson scored for the Blades in the first period on Friday.

    Late in the third, Maier robbed McCorrister on a breakaway and made a key blocker stop on Wheat Kings right-winger Caiden Daley.

    “We can thank him (Maier) for that one for sure,” said Haden. “He really bailed us out.

    “I’ve been on a few successful teams. On every successful team you have a good goalie. He is always there to bail you out no matter what, no matter the situation.

    “Tonight, we really didn’t play Blades hockey in the third period, but he made some big saves.”

    The Wheat Kings drew first blood at the 5:17 mark of the first period, when 16-year-old rookie centre Ridly Greig sniped home his seventh of the season to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

    The Blades pulled even at 1-1 a little over three minutes later, when centre Brandon Machado deflected home a point shot from offensive defenceman Dawson Davidson.

Brandon Machado, left, battles along the boards for the Blades.

    Saskatoon jumped ahead 2-1 before the opening frame ended, when Blades right-winger Josh Paterson cut across the front of the Brandon goal and his shot deflected off the stick of a Wheat Kings defenceman into the Brandon net.

    The Wheat Kings tied things up at 2-2 on a short-handed two-on-one break with 4:09 remaining in the second period. McCartney slipped a pass to McCorrister to send him in alone on the Blades goal. McCorrister tucked home his 11^th of the season to put the visitors on even terms with the home side.

    The first 40 minutes were evenly played and the shots on goal were tied 17-17. That set the stage for the crazy finish in the third.

    Kruger ultimately made 19 saves to take the setback in goal for the Wheat Kings (14-10-3-3).

    These two teams will go at it again on Saturday in Brandon at Westoba Place before both departing on their respective Christmas breaks.

Linden McCorrister had a goal for the Wheat Kings on Friday.

    Saskatoon improves to 21-10-3 with the win, but Blades head coach Mitch Love admits he didn’t expect to see his team win in the fashion they did on Friday night.

    “We got real lucky tonight in my opinion,” said Love. “The other team probably deserved a better fate, and our guys understand that.

    “That was the message delivered after the game. We strayed away from what has made us successful to this point in the year. They took total advantage over there.

    “We’ve got to be better tomorrow.”

    While he had an outstanding performance, Maier said he gained some extra energy in the third due to Gerlach’s diving save. Maier likes the fact his team was able to pull out a gutty win in a game they could have very well lost.

The Blades and mascot Poke Check celebrate their win on Friday.

    “It was kind of hectic,” said Maier. “I think everyone saw that one sliding save by Max Gerlach.

    “That really helped me out. That kind of just showed the character in our room. It just kind of helped me out along that whole stretch.

    “It is kind of a good battle back for our team, but we know we have to be better than that. We’re going to do that tomorrow.”

    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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Fonstad heats up for Raiders, scores twice in Saturday’s win

Cole Fonstad (#24) celebrates his second goal for the Raiders on Saturday.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Cole Fonstad is all about team success, but he still wants to play a bigger part in making the party great.

    The 18-year-old left-winger, who was selected in the fifth round and 128^th overall in last June’s NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens, has contributed to a special start this season season for the Prince Albert Raiders. With that said the Estevan, Sask., product hasn’t been the biggest driving offensive force that has helped the Raiders get voted into the top spot on the CHL’s Top 10 rankings.

    It appears Fonstad is starting to find his time to play a bigger part in contributing to the Raiders success.

    On Saturday night before a packed standing room crowd of 3,107 at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre, Fonstad scored two key goals to power the Raiders past the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-2 in a WHL regular season tilt.

Cole Fonstad has points in his last six games for the Raiders.

    The win allowed the Raiders to improve their WHL leading record to a remarkable 28-1-0-1.

    Fonstad now has points in his last six straight games totalling four goals and four assists over that span of time.

    “I think that is my role is to contribute offensively,” said Fonstad, who has 10 goals and 13 assists appearing in all of the Raiders 30 games this season. “Obviously at the start of the year, it wasn’t going as well as I thought.

    “It is nice to kind of get back and start making plays again and feeling more confident with the puck and build some chemistry with my linemates.”

    In recent games, Fonstad has been played on the line with overage standout Noah Gregor at centre and talented 16-year-old rookie Ozzy Wiesblatt at right wing. Fonstad said he has found a groove playing with Gregor and Wiesblatt.

    “Once you get chemistry, you kind of know where guys are,” said Fonstad, who was selected by the Raiders in the first round and fifth overall in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft. “Then, you can just get rolling.

    “It is a lot easier on the ice to kind of know where guys are.”

Cole Fonstad was selected in the NHL Entry draft by Montreal.

    When he wasn’t putting up points, Fonstad was pumped to see his teammates have success. He said he will always support and congratulate his teammates, when they do well.

    He was really excited to see how well 19-year-old right-winger Brett Leason has done in his third full season in the league. Leason had a pair of assists on Saturday, and he has netted at least one point in all 30 games the Raiders have played to this point in the campaign.

    The Calgary, Alta., product has obliterated his career highs in leading the WHL in scoring with 28 goals and 36 assists for 64 points. Leason and Raiders star goaltender Ian Scott have been invited to the main selection camp for Canada’s world junior team, which starts Tuesday and runs through to Friday in Victoria, B.C.

Cole Fonstad controls the puck in the offensive zone.

    “We all knew Leas (Brett Leason) was a great player last year,” said Fonstad. “To see him come and how much he is producing this year, it is special to see.

    “It is pretty amazing for a guy to go unnoticed the last couple of years and just come into this year and take off like that. Obviously, we are really happy for him to go to the world junior camp. We think he is going to be great there.”

    As for Saturday’s game, the Wheat Kings withstood the Raiders initial push and opened the game’s scoring at the 14:18 mark of the first period. While working on the power play, Wheat Kings left-winger Linden McCorrister gathered a loose puck in front of the Raiders net and popped home his 10^th tally of the season to give Brandon a 1-0 lead.

    At the start of the second, Brandon tried to clamp down on the host side with some tight checking.

Cole Fonstad, right, celebrates his first goal in Saturday’s game.

    With 5:29 to play in the second, the Raiders offence exploded scoring three times in a span of 89 seconds to go ahead 3-1.

    Fonstad started the surge sniping home a shot from the slot.

    Just 40 seconds later, fan favourite and power forward Kody McDonald knocked home a rebound from a shot taken by offensive defenceman Max Martin to put the Raiders ahead 2-1.

    Just 49 seconds after that tally, overage centre Sean Montgomery scored on the power play to complete the Prince Albert surge. Leason picked up an assist on Montgomery’s goal to ensure his point scoring streak to start the season stayed alive.

    Fonstad was pumped he was able spark his club scoring his team’s first goal.

Brett Leason has points in all of the Raiders 30 games this season.

    “It felt good,” said Fonstad. “We were taking some penalties there and kind of got away from our game.

    “It was good to kind of get the momentum back. I think it got some energy back. I think, when we are on our game or get some little momentum like that, we can score a lot of goals really fast.”

    The Wheat Kings gained some traction before the second frame ended, when star right-winger Luka Burzan scored 50 seconds after Montgomery’s marker to cut Prince Albert’s edge to 3-2.

    At the 1:56 mark of the third, Fonstad scored his second of the night firing home the rebound of a shot taken by Gregor to give the Raiders a 4-2 advantage.

    Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid was pleased to see Fonstad hit another gear and expects the third-year winger will have more big moments as the campaign moves on. 

Noah Gregor had three points for the Raiders on Saturday.

    Habscheid said it will make the Raiders that much more able to keep winning, if Fonstad keeps hitting a higher gear.

    “He is a big part of our team,” said Habscheid. “He is a big part of last year.

    “If he can step up and keep playing, that will help our depth and just make us more hard to defend against. Goal scorers score goals, and if they don’t, they get frustrated and they lose a little bit of confidence. He got a couple tonight, and that should help his confidence.”

    Brandon appeared to trim the Raiders edge to one goal later on in the third, but McCorrister had a goal disallowed because he grabbed the puck and chucked it into the Prince Albert goal on a net scramble.

    Gregor scored the Raiders final goal with 5:30 remaining in the third period to go along with two assists and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department. The tally by the Beaumont, Alta., product was his 100th career WHL regular season goal.

    Scott turned away 39 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Jiri Patera turned away 42 shots to take the setback in net for the Wheat Kings, who fell to 14-9-3-3.

Riley the Raider has fun with a young fan.

    Fonstad wants to keep his hot streak going, especially considering the Raiders could potentially be without Leason and Scott for some time if they make Canada’s world junior team.
    Both are slated to leave the Raiders for the Hockey Canada selection camp on Monday.

    “Obviously, those guys are huge parts of our team,” said Fonstad. “Scotty (Scott), he can win you a game.

    “He is the best goalie in the league by far. We feel that, and we’re lucky to have him. People are going to have to step up and fill their roles.

    “We’re just going to have to buckle down and get these wins.”

The Raiders salute the fans at the Art Hauser Centre.

    The Raiders return to action on Sunday, when they travel to Saskatoon to face the Blades (4 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

    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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