Wheat Kings wallop Winterhawks

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This article was published 18/10/2014 (4089 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Playing their last home game for three weeks, the Brandon Wheat Kings made a memorable exit.

Jayce Hawryluk had the first four-goal game of his Western Hockey League career as the Wheat Kings blasted the Portland Winterhawks 10-3 on Saturday night at Westman Place. The Wheat Kings have scored 15 times in their last 69 minutes of hockey, having notched five late goals in their 8-3 win over the Swift Current Broncos on Friday, and Hawryluk said that big finish carried over into Saturday’s game.

"I think we carried the momentum we had from the game before," said Hawryluk, who took over the team lead with nine goals and also notched his league-best fourth game-winner of the season. "We had a big, strong period in the third and I think we just carried that pace into this game, and I think we were flying all game."

Reid Duke scored his first goal as a Wheat King and added three assists as Brandon improved it’s record to 8-2-1-0 and stretched its lead in the East Division to four points. Rihards Bukarts and Peter Queneville had a goal and an assist each, and rookies Ivan Provorov, Nolan Patrick and Kale Clague — who also had an assist — scored the Wheat Kings’ other goals.

Chase De Leo scored twice for Portland, which got its other goal from Dominic Turgeon.

The Wheat Kings went into the game believing the Winterhawks (2-8-0-2) were a much better team than their record indicated, and Portland carried itself that way early as the teams skated to a dead heat through 10 minutes of lightning-paced hockey to open the game.

Brandon broke through first, as Bukarts took a precise stretch pass from defenceman Ryan Pilon and scored on a breakaway. Provorov added to the lead four minutes later, scoring on a power-play point shot, and the Winterhawks were never able to recover.

"The first period was as fast a period as we’ve played in all year," Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. "Our guys were ready to play. They were very respectful of Portland’s speed and skill and Portland came out hard. They had great pace to their game as well, so a very well-played first period by both teams. We were fortunate to score first to take the lead and head into the intermission with, I thought, our feet under us and a lead on the scoreboard."

Brandon mounted a relentless attack, firing 48 shots at Portland goalies Brendan Burke and Bolton Pouliot, who replaced Burke after Brandon took a 4-0 lead early in the second.

While his game was overshadowed by the offence, Wheat Kings netminder Jordan Papirny counted some big saves among his 27 stops, including one on Ethan Price in the first period when the game was scoreless. McCrimmon also credited his defence corps with making a key contribution.

"Again, in a 10-goal game, you maybe don’t recognize your defence as much as you should, but I thought our defence moved the puck very well and were a big part of our game offensively and defensively," he said. "It all started with those six guys as a group, I thought, playing a real strong game."

The Wheat Kings open their seven-game road trip on Wednesday when they visit the Prince George Cougars.

ONE-TIMERS: The 10 goals are the most by a WHL team this season and the most by the Wheat Kings since an 11-3 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders on Jan. 7, 2012 … Portland had beaten Brandon in their previous five meetings, with the Wheat Kings’ last win occurring on Oct. 17, 2008 … The crowd of 4,533 is Brandon’s largest home attendance of the season … Bukarts is on a six-game point-scoring streak (four goals, 10 assists), while Quenneville has points in five straight contests (three goals, six assists) … With five goals and seven assists in 11 games, Provorov leads WHL rookies in scoring … The Wheat Kings scratched LW Richard Nejezchleb (recovering from an injury with Hartford, AHL), C John Quenneville (upper body), LW Ty Lewis (arm), D Mark Taraschuk and D Mark Matsuba.

» rhenders@brandonsun.com