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Wheat Kings fall short in Kelowna

By: Rob Henderson

Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012 at 12:56 AM | Comments: 0

The Brandon Wheat Kings' power play short-circuited on Saturday night.

The Wheat Kings gave up short-handed goals to Colton Heffley and Dylen McKinlay in a 4-2 Western Hockey League road loss to the Kelowna Rockets.

Heffley opened the scoring, 6:49 into the game, and Brandon head coach Dwayne Gylywoychuk said despite a solid start, the Wheat KIngs weren't the same after that.

"The shots were 0-0 and I thought we were fine," said Gylywoychuk, whose team was 0-for-4 on the power play. "Then we get a power play, (allow) the short-handed goal and we didn't fight through that adversity … and I thought it led to the second goal and right away we were behind the eight ball."

Tyson Baillie gave the Rockets a 2-0 lead midway though the first period, McKinley notched the eventual game-winner in the second, and Zach Franko rounded out the scoring for the Rockets (6-5-1-0) in the third.

Alessio Bertaggia and Tim McGauley replied for the Wheat Kings, who are also 6-5-1-0, but have dropped six of their last eight games since starting the season 4-0.

Both Brandon goals came in the second half of the game as the Wheat Kings attempted to rally, but they were never able to get closer than two goals, and Gylywoychuk said the club needs that late effort more consistently.

"We stepped up and started to play with some pace and tempo, grind some time and all that type of thing and it's something that we needed to do and have to do for 60 minutes," he said. "There's times we're better, and there's times we're not good, but we've got to learn."

The Wheat Kings are 1-2 on their West Coast road trip, which continues Tuesday against the Victoria Royals (8:30 p.m., CKLQ).

ONE-TIMERS: Brandon G Corbin Boes made 31 saves, while Kelowna G Jordon Cooke stopped 27 shots … The Wheat Kings killed off all four Rockets power plays … D Riley Van Horne was a last-minute addition to Brandon's lineup, replacing ill D Ryley Miller, and responded by picking up an assist for his first WHL point, and a plus/minus of +2 … In addition to Miller, Brandon scratched RW Jason Swyripa (wrist, indefinite) and LW Richard Nejezchleb (upper body, day-to-day) … Kelowna scratches included C Ryan Olsen (suspension), RW J.T. Barnett (knee), LW Carter Rigby (shoulder) and D Mitchell Chapman (knee) … New assistant coach David Anning will join the Wheat Kings in Victoria on Sunday.

» rhenders@brandonsun.com

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