Saturday 10 March 2018

Wheat Kings withstand Blades’ battle, clinch playoff berth

Ty Lewis (#14) fist bumps with James Shearer (#32) after Brandon’s win.
    Stelio Mattheos said his Brandon Wheat Kings weren’t at their best, but the 18-year-old centre was pleased his club locked up a playoff berth with a gutty road 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 are riding a three-game winning streak looking to reverse the struggles they’ve had in the second half of the campaign. Entering play on Jan. 3, Brandon sat third overall in the WHL standings with a 25-11-0-1 record and was rated fifth in the CHL Top 10 rankings.
    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.
    Since their high point entering play on Jan. 3, the Wheat Kings posted a 12-15-3-1 record in their last 31 games. When they locked up a playoff berth on Saturday, the Wheat Kings were holding the first wildcard spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.
    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.
    Saturday’s outing didn’t have the best start for the Wheat Kings. Saskatoon had the visitors pinned in their zone for much of the frame.
    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.
    Just over three minutes later, the Blades were finally rewarded for their efforts, when left-winger Michael Farren potted his 10th goal of the season to cut the Wheat Kings lead to 2-1.
    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.
    Inside of the final minute of the third period, the Blades sprung left-winger Eric Florchuk into the Brandon zone on a breakaway, but he was turned away by Myskiw.
    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.
    The Raiders improved to 32-25-9-2 with their win over the Hitmen and hold the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference with a seven-point edge on the Blades.
    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.
Ty Lewis and the Wheat Kings will return to the post-season.
    When the post-season rolls around, he believes that experience will be a big help to his club.
    “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.

Shirley, Fiala power Stars romp over Regina

Grace Shirley had a big night for the Stars.
    Grace Shirley and Joelle Fiala were on fire in the playoff opener for the Saskatoon 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.
    Jordan Ashe blasted the Prince Albert Northern Bears to victory in Game 1 of their Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League semifinal series with the Notre Dame Hounds.
    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.

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