All Things Wheat Kings

Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION

Short-handed goals doom Wheaties

By: Rob Henderson

Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 | Comments: 0

Brandon Wheat Kings rookie forward Jayce Hawryluk carries the puck up ice against the Kelowna Rockets in WHL action on Saturday night. (KELOWNA DAILY COURIER)

It was bad enough when the Brandon Wheat Kings’ power play wasn’t scoring.

Now they’re giving up goals, too.

Colton Heffley and Dylen McKinlay both scored short-handed goals to lead the Kelowna Rockets to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Wheat Kings on Saturday night in the Western Hockey League.

Brandon’s power play is clicking at just 8.5 per cent (3-for-35) over the team’s last eight games, including an 0-for-4 showing against Kelowna.

And in Saturday’s two-goal loss, Wheat Kings head coach Dwayne Gylywoychuk said the Rockets’ short-handed markers were obviously killers.

"Those situations come back to haunt you," said Gylywoychuk, whose club slipped to 6-5-1-0 —an identical record to that of the Rockets.

"I think tonight our power play didn’t execute the way we wanted to play. We ended up minus in specialty teams — our penalty kill stepped up for us and did well — but our power play’s got to go back to basics, go back to fundamentals and it’s got to find us a goal."

The Rockets outshot the Wheat Kings 15-7 in the first period and took a 2-0 lead on goals by Heffley and Tyson Baillie.

McKinlay followed up Heffley’s short-handed marker with one of his own 57 seconds into the middle period, firing a shot that snuck just inside the far post behind Brandon goalie Corbin Boes before quickly bouncing back out.

The Wheat Kings got back within two late in the period as rookie defenceman Riley Van Horne stole the puck at the Rockets’ blue-line, eventually leading to a Brandon goal as Alessio Bertaggia scored on the rebound of Kelowna native Ayrton Nikkel’s point shot.

But Zach Franko split the Brandon defence to finish off the Kelowna scoring in the third period before Wheat King rookie Tim McGauley wired a shot past Rockets netminder Jordon Cooke late in the game.

Playing in only his second game of the season, Van Horne earned his first WHL point with an assist on McGauley’s goal, posting a plus/minus of +2 for good measure.

Van Horne wasn’t even supposed to be in the lineup, but was a late addition due to veteran Ryley Miller’s illness, and Gylywoychuk was impressed by the young defenceman’s performance given the circumstances.

"Riley did extremely well," Gylywoychuk said.

"He was told (Saturday) afternoon he wasn’t playing. He came down, didn’t miss a beat and just played, and for a young guy to do that, that’s excellent.

"He had a great game, never got himself in trouble. He did all the little things that you’ve got to do and had a good night back there."

Now 1-2 on their annual West Coast road trip, the Wheat Kings have two days off before wrapping up the tour with four games in five nights, starting Tuesday against the Victoria Royals (8:35 p.m., CKLQ).

ONE-TIMERS: Boes made 31 saves, while Cooke stopped 27 shots … The Wheat Kings killed off all four Rockets power plays … In addition to Miller, Brandon scratched RW Jason Swyripa (wrist, indefinite) and LW Richard Nejezchleb (upper body, day-to-day) … Kelowna scratches included RW J.T. Barnett (knee), LW Carter Rigby (shoulder) and D Mitchell Chapman (knee).

» rhenders@brandonsun.com

Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition October 22, 2012

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It was bad enough when the Brandon Wheat Kings’ power play wasn’t scoring.

Now they’re giving up goals, too.

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It was bad enough when the Brandon Wheat Kings’ power play wasn’t scoring.

Now they’re giving up goals, too.

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