Lamb stands tall for Chiefs

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This article was published 21/12/2015 (3761 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Backed by Riley Lamb’s 29-save shutout performance Sunday, the Yellowhead Chiefs enter the holiday break as winners of six of their last seven Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League games.

Blake Mervyn scored his first goal of the season and Dayton Heino potted a pair for the Chiefs as they defeated the Brandon Wheat Kings 3-0 at the Sportsplex.

“Riley Lamb stood tall,” said Chiefs head coach Craig Geekie. “Brandon had a lot of traffic. They did a good job of taking away his eyes and Riley seemed to find the puck coming through traffic.”

The shutout was Lamb’s league-leading fourth of the season. His 1.49 goals-against average and .950 save percentage both rank second.

Just past the seven-minute mark of second period and his team up 1-0, Lamb tried to clear the puck from behind his goal-line. It was intercepted by Brandon’s Caley Barscello, but his blast from the top of the right circle was blocked by Chiefs captain Adam Robidoux.

On the ensuing rush, Heino beat Brandon netminder Josh Petersen for his first of the game.

Two minutes later, Chipper Osiname responded for the Wheat Kings, but the goal was waved off because the net had come off its moorings before the puck crossed the line.

“I think it should have counted because their goalie knocked it off, but I guess you can’t change the call,” he said.

If the goal counted it would have been the fourth straight game in which the 17-year-old forward would have scored.

The Wheat Kings (13-12-0-1) continued pressing, but couldn’t solve Lamb.

“We put a lot of pucks in his glove, I thought, and that’s obviously a strength of his,” said Wheat Kings head coach Tyson Ramsey. “I didn’t think we made him work as hard as we needed to today, but we’ve been struggling to put the puck in the back of the net with the exception of (Saturday’s) game.”

On Saturday, Lynden McCallum’s goal with just over five minutes left in the third period held up as the winner as Brandon squeaked past the Central Plains Capitals 4-3.

Sunday, the Wheat Kings couldn’t get anything going even when they were up a man. They failed to capitalize on all seven of their power-play chances and the Chiefs (19-5-0-3) fed off the momentum of their penalty killing.

“I think for us it really generated any kind of flow and positive momentum getting back into five-on-five hockey,” said Geekie. “The kids did well. They adapted to a few things that Brandon was doing and shut them down.”

Meanwhile, Foxwarren’s Dawson Barteaux returned to the lineup for the Chiefs. The 15-year-old defenceman missed Friday’s game against the Eastman Selects after he was called up by the Regina Pats and made his Western Hockey League debut versus the Saskatoon Blades.

“I was really shocked and didn’t think I was going up this early, but I got up there and think I played pretty good,” he said. “It was just amazing to get that first regular-season game under my belt.”

Both teams enter the break in a playoff position: Yellowhead third and Brandon sixth. League play resumes with four games on Jan. 2.

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