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Wheat Kings shot down in comeback attempt

By: Rob Henderson

Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012 at 1:58 AM | Comments: 0

As if two weeks on the road isn't long enough, the Brandon Wheat Kings tacked a few extra minutes onto their West Coast trip on Saturday night.

The Wheat Kings rallied from two goals down in the final 6:47 of the third period, only to lose 3-2 in a shootout to the Prince George Cougars.

Coming off an 8-1 loss to the Western Hockey League-leading Kamloops Blazers on Friday and outshot 38-14 through two periods on Saturday, the Wheat Kings (7-6-2-1) appeared set to meekly return home before Chad Robinson and Colton Waltz scored late goals to salvage a point from the final game of the trip.

The result left Wheat Kings head coach Dwayne Gylywoychuk with mixed feelings.

"A point's a point, but I thought if we would have competed as much as we did in the third period, I think we would have had an overall better result," he said. "We didn't start well, we let a team kinda get underneath us in the first period and then I think that finally when we started to believe and get some momentum going in the third, we were successful."

The Wheat Kings would not have had a chance to come back at all if it weren't for the play of Curtis Honey, who finished the night with 46 saves, including a stop on a second-period penalty shot by Colin Jacobs.

He kept the game scoreless until there was 5:05 left in the second period, when Mark McNulty broke through on a power play for the Cougars (7-7-1-0). That was followed by Brett Roulston's 2-on-1 goal early in the the third period.

Just when it looked like the Wheat Kings — playing their fourth game in five nights — were running out of gas, Robinson found the net on a power play for his first goal since being acquired earlier in the week from the Red Deer Rebels. Waltz, a rookie defenceman, netted the first goal of his WHL career with 2:24 to play in regulation.

Both teams had great chances in overtime as Cougar Jordan Tkatch fired a shot off the post on a short-handed breakaway, and seconds later the Wheat Kings missed a chance at the side of the Prince George net before Brandon blue-liner Eric Roy rang one off the crossbar.

"We just couldn't make one drop," said Gylywoychuk, whose team went 2-3-1-1 on the trip. "We make a great back-door play and I think it hit the post, and then Eric Roy could have put that puck in. He missed by an inch. It might have fallen in, and that's just the breaks. Give credit to the boys for battling back on a long road trip. We got some points (and) we left some points that we wish we could have."

Brandon rookie Jayce Hawryluk notched the first goal of the shootout, but the Wheat Kings wouldn't beat Cougars netminder Mac Engel again, while Caleb Belter and Zach Pochiro — who notched the winner on Prince George's fifth attempt — both scored similar goals with backhands to the top shelf.

ONE-TIMERS: Engel made 26 saves … Jacobs had two assists … Brandon LW Nick Buonassisi, who played three-plus seasons in Prince George, set up Robinson's goal … Brandon was 1-for-4 on the power play, while Prince George was 1-for-3 … Brandon scratched D Tyler Yaworski (suspension), RW Jason Swyripa (wrist, indefinite), LW Richard Nejezchleb (shoulder, one week) and C John Quenneville … The Wheat Kings will begin a five-game homestand Friday against the Moose Jaw Warriors … According to TV station CKPG, Saturday's earthquake off the B.C. coast briefly interrupted the Junior A Spruce Kings' home game in downtown Prince George, although it did not affect the WHL game … RW Ashton Rome of Nesbitt has left Greenville of the ECHL for Germany, signing with Düsseldorf of the DEL.

» rhenders@brandonsun.com

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