Photo by Brandi Crowe
Swift Current, SK (CKLQ) – Luka Burzan, Cole Reinhardt and Stelio Mattheos combined for six points as the Brandon Wheat Kings snapped a three-game losing skid with a 5-1 win over the Swift Current Broncos Wednesday night.
It didn’t take the Wheat Kings long to open the scoring as Luka Burzan lit the red light with his 14th of the season off a goalmouth scramble.
The Broncos would tie it late in the frame though as Andrew Fyten sent a nifty spinarama pass to Yorkton native Alex Zawatsky who beat Jiri Patera for his team-leading 8th goal of the season.
In the 2nd period, Cole Reinhardt finally got the monkey off his back, scoring for the first time in 18 games (Oct 6th vs Regina) as he took a great feed from Schael Higson, went to his backhand and beat Joel Hofer for his 3rd of the season.
Before the period would end, Caden Daley came sliding across the slot to block a point shot from Matthew Stanley, who had an open net. The puck left the zone off Daley’s shinpads, and the Winnipeg native ended up on a mini-breakaway from the bottom of the circles. Despite the attempt, his deke rolled off his stick and right to Ridly Greig who popped home his 5th of the season to give Brandon the 3-1 lead.
Zach Wytinck and Burzan would add two more in the third period to seal the game and send Brandon home on a happy bus.
Jiri Patera bounced back from being pulled last Friday with a 30 save performance while Joel Hofer stopped 33 shots for the Broncos.
2017 bantam draft pick Nolan Ritchie made his WHL debut for his hometown Wheat Kings, following in the footsteps of his father Darren. Ritchie wore #10 and finished the night with five shots and was 5/14 in the faceoff dot.
Brandon and Swift Current will meet again on Saturday back in Speedy Creek, but not before Brandon welcomes the Regina Pats to Westoba Place on Friday night. (7:30 on QCountry Radio).
SCORING SUMMARY
1st PERIOD
BWK – Luka Burzan (14) (Reinhardt, Hartje) 3:16
SC – Alec Zawatsky (8) (Fyten, B.King) 17:56
Shots: 14-10 Brandon
2nd PERIOD
BWK – Cole Reinhardt (3) (Higson) 7:57
BWK – Ridly Greig (5) (Daley, McCartney) 18:57
Shots: 13-10 Brandon
3rd PERIOD
BWK – Zach Wytinck (2) (Burzan) 9:01
BWK – Luka Burzan (15) (Nychuk, Mattheos) 12:22
Final Shots: 38-31 Brandon