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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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 18^th 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 10^th 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 13^th 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.

    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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