Wytinck’s OT winner caps playoff style desperate effort by Wheat Kings

WHL leading Raiders do some soul searching after setback

The Wheat Kings celebrate Zach Wytinck’s OT winner.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Zach Wytinck was pumped to give his Brandon Wheat Kings a just result after a big desperate effort.

    On Friday night before a standing room crowd of 2,848 spectators at the 2,580 Art Hauser Centre, the 19-year-old veteran defenceman drove home the overtime winner to deliver his Wheat Kings to a 5-4 victory over the host Prince Albert Raiders in a WHL regular season contest.

    At the 3:08 mark of overtime, Wytinck got the puck at the point from teammate Chad Nychuk, skated to a midrange point in front of the Prince Albert net and drove home the deciding goal.

    “Obviously, it is a pretty crazy ending to the game (with) lots of back and forth action and goals,” said Wytinck. “We wanted to get the extra point obviously.

Zach Wytinck gets set to skate in to score his OT winner.

    “I think we played a really good game leading up to that point. I just got a good pass at the blue-line and kind of walked in. They backed off a little bit, and I tried to put it on net.

    “Luckily, it ricocheted in, and that is a big two points for our team.”

    The win was a second in the row for the Wheat Kings, and they will take all the victories the can get at this point in the campaign. They improved to 25-22-3-4 but still six points behind the Calgary Hitmen (29-21-4-1) and the Red Deer Rebels (29-20-4-1) for the two wildcard and final playoff berths in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

    The Wheat Kings have a game in hand on the Hitmen.

    Against the Raiders, who still lead the overall WHL standings with a 46-7-1-2 mark, Wytinck believed his side played like they were in a post-season game.

    “I think we had a really good win,” said Wytinck. “Our desperation level was really high, and that is where it needed to be.

    “You look at the standings. We can’t waste time. We have to get wins.

Zach Wytinck reacts to scoring his OT winner.

    “That is really exciting for our group that we’re playing with that desperation level and doing what it takes to win.”

    The setback was a tough one for the Raiders to take as two third period leads slipped through their fingers.

    The two sides entered the final frame locked in a 2-2 tie.

    At the 2:48 mark of the third, import centre Aliaksei Protas potted his 10^th goal of the season to give the Raiders a 3-2 advantage.

    Brandon tied things up at 3-3 at the 8:43 mark of the third off an unassisted goal from centre Caiden Daley that seemed to come out of nowhere.

    With 6:35 remaining in the third, Raiders star left-winger Parker Kelly drove home a power-play goal, which was his second tally of the night, to give the Raiders a 4-3 advantage.

Parker Kelly said he needed to play better after the Raiders loss.

    Just 15 seconds later, Brandon tied things up 4-4 on a bit of a strange tally. Wheat Kings left-winger Cole Reinhardt threw a bad angled shot on the Prince Albert net and a slow scramble ensured where the Raiders player seemingly just stood around.

    Wheat Kings star right-winger Luka Burzan got the puck by an open right side of the Prince Albert net and made no mistake burying the equalizer.

    Kelly finished the game with a pair of goals and an assist, but he was a minus-two in the plus-minus department. 

Ben McCartney (#22) celebrates scoring for the Wheat Kings.

    The Camrose, Alta., product was on the ice for four of Brandon’s five goals including Burzan’s equalizer and the overtime winner, and that didn’t sit well with the Raiders standout, who is one of the team’s assistant captains.

   “I thought we were all pretty soft tonight myself included,” said Kelly. “It wasn’t a very great defensive game for us, and ultimately, that is what it comes down to.

    “We have to change some stuff in our D-zone if we want to make a deep playoff run. I thought we were really easy to play against. I have to change myself too.

    “I was really soft tonight. Ultimately, it comes down to leadership doing their job and figuring things out.”

Aliaksei Protas scored a third period goal for the Raiders.

    Sean Montgomery had the Raiders other tally on Friday. Ben McCartney and Reinhardt had singles for the Wheat Kings over the game’s first 40 minutes.

    Boston Bilous made 23 saves to take the overtime setback in goal for the Raiders. Jiri Patera turned away 28 shots to pick up the win in net for the Wheat Kings.

    With the Raiders being rated second in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings, Kelly said opposing team’s aren’t going to give his club any free passes.

    “Every team we’re playing against right now, they’re gunning for us,” said Kelly. “It has been like that all year.

    “Every team we play is also pushing for playoffs. We need to start using this as practice for playoff games, because if we take our foot off the gas pedal, I don’t know if we will be able to get it back on the time playoffs come.”

Luka Burzan scored to allow the Wheat Kings to force overtime.

    Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid gave the Wheat Kings full marks for the win.

    “They have a good team,” said Habscheid. “(Wheat Kings owner) Kelly McCrimmon always has a good team.

    “This is no different. They played hard tonight. They played physical, and I thought we just wanted to play river hockey.

    “There were some of our key guys that weren’t very good tonight.”

    The Raiders and Wheat Kings go at it again on Saturday at Westoba Place in Brandon at 7:30 p.m. local time. Habscheid his team basically has to regroup in the simplest of ways.

   “(We) just have to feel sorry for ourselves today, and tomorrow is a new day,” he said.

    NOTES – The Raiders honoured Habscheid for picking up his 500^th WHL career regular season coaching victory as a head coach before Friday’s game. Habscheid accomplished the milestone when the Raiders downed the Hurricanes in Lethbridge 6-5 last Saturday.

Head coach Marc Habscheid and the Raiders look to regroup for Saturday.

    In a pre-game ceremony on Friday, Habscheid was presented with a jacket and a framed display that contained the game puck and scoresheet from his 500^th win.

   The Raiders were still without star right-winger Brett Leason and star netminder Ian Scott, who are both listed as day to day with lower body injuries.

    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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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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