Perhaps the most heavily anticipated game of the 2014-15 Western Hockey League season took place Saturday night in Kelowna.
The host Rockets and Brandon Wheat Kings squared off in a game many believe will be a preview of the WHL championship series, and the Rockets earned the early upper hand with a 6-1 victory.
Kelowna and Brandon are generally considered the teams to beat in the Western and Eastern conferences, respectively. The Rockets came into the game 11-1-0-0, the Wheat Kings 10-2-1-0. Kelowna was the top-ranked team in the entire Canadian Hockey League, Brandon was sixth.
It wasn’t just that they were two top teams, it was the nature in which they were winning games. Brandon was the highest-scoring team in the league with 74 goals in its first 13 games. Kelowna was second with 62 goals in 12 games. The Wheat Kings came into the game having scored an astounding 33 goals in their previous four outings. So fireworks were expected when the teams met.
For two periods Brandon controlled play, but Kelowna rode the goaltending of Jackson Whistle to a 2-1 lead heading into the third. Then the Rockets took control in the third period with four goals against a Brandon team finishing up a three-games-in-four-nights road trip through the B.C. Division.
Madison Bowey scored twice for Kelowna, and Nick Merkley added a goal and three assists. But Whistle, who stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced, was the hero for the Rockets.
“By far Jackson was our best player tonight, especially in the first two periods where they out-chanced us, probably at that time 3-1. Certainly they were the better club,” Kelowna coach Dan Lambert told the Kelowna Daily Courier. “I thought we came out OK in the first seven minutes, but a couple of penalties gave them momentum and they kept it going for a long time. And then we stood around a little bit. But certainly Jackson was the reason why we got two points tonight.”
Said Brandon coach Kelly McCrimmon: “It was a well-played game by both teams. Certainly Kelowna sustained it through three periods. After two periods, we felt we were playing well; it was a good game.”
Saturday’s game was the one-and-only meeting between Kelowna and Brandon this season, so for the Wheat Kings to exact revenge they’ll need both teams to still be playing in May.
Around the WHL
Former Everett Silvertips coach Mark Ferner, now the general manager and head coach of the B.C. Hockey League’s Vernon Vipers, was accused by Prince Albert of tampering with 18-year-old forward Colton McCarthy, who left the Raiders earlier this season. Ferner denied the allegation and McCarthy is not on Vernon’s roster. … Brandon finds itself in an import quandary as 20-year-old Czech forward Richard Nejezchleb was returned to the team by the American Hockey League’s Hartford Wolf Pack. The Wheat Kings now have three Europeans for two spots, the other two being 19-year-old Latvian forward Rihards Burkarts and 17-year-old Russian defenseman Ivan Provorov, both of whom are off to blistering starts. Trading Nejezchleb would be complicated by the fact he counts as both an import and an overager. … Prince Albert filled the overage roster spot that opened up when Dakota Conroy left the team by claiming forward Marcus Messier off waivers. Messier was released by Spokane after the Chiefs acquired overage forward Calder Brooks from Prince Albert in a trade. … Victoria addressed injury issues with its goaltending by acquiring the rights to 18-year-old Jayden Sittler from Kootenay in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2015 bantam draft. … Red Deer’s Conner Bleackley was named the WHL Player of the Week. The 18-year-old forward had one goal and five assists as the Rebels went 2-0.
Leaders
Points—Cole Ully (Kamloops) 26; goals—Jayce Hawrluk (Brandon), Tyson Baillie (Kelowna), Chad Butcher (Medicine Hat), Austin Carroll (Victoria), Jari Erricson (Prince George), Jake DeBrusk (Swift Current) 10; assists—Nick Merkley (Kelowna) 20; penalty minutes—Braden Christoffer (Regina) 50; wins—Jackson Whistle (Kelowna) 11; goals against average—Nick Schneider (Medicine Hat) 1.25; save percentage—Schneider .941.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson
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