“Overall you don’t like losing games, but I thought our guys played a real hard, real smart game.” Said Head Coach Dave Lowry, “You’re disappointed that you lost, but we did a lot of things right tonight.”
The Wheat Kings (11-3-1-0, 23pts) who are ranked 6th in the CHL Top 10, moved into a tie for first in the Eastern Conference with Medicine Hat. Victoria (8-7-1-0, 17pts) remains 4th in the West, 2 points back of Kamloops and Everett.
“Our guys played hard…we made a couple mistakes, made them at critical times and when you’re playing a team with the amount of skill they have usually you end up pulling pucks out of our net.” said Lowry about facing the highest scoring team in the league.
“I thought we had chances, they had chances, both goalies were good and it’s a game that could’ve gone either way.”
Axel Blomqvist had a goal and assist for the home team, while Coleman Vollrath was 2nd star with 29 saves. His counter part Jordan Papirny made 23 stops.
“Against a good team like that you can’t turn pucks over like that,” said Blomqvist, “Overall we battled well, I’m proud of the guys…”
Brandon defenseman Pilon was named first star with a goal and assist, while Ivan Provorov added a pair of helpers.
The game was tied at 1 after 1, and 2-2 after 40 minutes.
Travis Brown opened the scoring on the power play in the first.
“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot a bit there in the third…we’re going to learn from it and be a stronger team in the games to come.” Said Brown
Responding in the opening frame was forward Richard Nejezchleb in his first game since being returned from the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, also with the man advantage.
The Wheat Kings took their first lead of the game in the middle frame on a shot by Duncan Campbell, before Blomqvist tied the game with his 5th of the season.
The Royals pulled their goaltender late, but to ultimately fell short.
“We’re still going to have to get better through the neutral zone, we turned the puck over a couple times and it’s in our net. That’s the difference in this league when you’re playing good teams between winning and losing.” Said Lowry
The shots after 20 minutes were 19-15 for the visitors, but things calmed down in the final two frames.
Victoria was 1 for 3 on the power play, while Brandon went 1 for 5.
Blomqvist extended his point streak to 5 games with 8 points (4g 4a), while Austin Carroll pushed his to 4 games and 6 points (2g 4a). Brandon Magee had points in all 4 games since returning from suspension with 6 (1g 5a).
Brandon’s leading scorer Rihards Bukarts (23pts) was scratched with Nejezchlebs’ addition.
The Royals are 2-1 on their 5 game home stand which concludes this Saturday and Sunday with a visit from the Tri City Americans.
- Marlon Martens
Brandon Wheat Kings 3 at Victoria Royals 2 - Status: Final
Tuesday, October 28, 2014 - Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena - Victoria, BC
Brandon 1 1 1 - 3
Victoria 1 1 0 - 2
1st Period-
1, Victoria, Brown 5 (Hicketts, Blomqvist), 12:29 (PP).
2, Brandon, Nejezchleb 1 (Provorov, Pilon), 14:50 (PP).
Penalties-Carroll Vic (slashing), 1:35; Crunk Vic (inter. on goaltender), 1:48; Quenneville Bdn (high sticking), 7:07; Roy Bdn (roughing), 7:43; Blomqvist Vic (roughing), 7:43; Duke Bdn (inter. on goaltender), 12:01; Brown Vic (hooking), 13:06; Waltz Bdn (roughing), 18:32.
2nd Period-
3, Brandon, Campbell 4 (Coulter, Erkamps), 14:03.
4, Victoria, Blomqvist 5 (Magee, Carroll), 16:55.
Penalties-No Penalties
3rd Period-
5, Brandon, Pilon 3 (Provorov), 11:34.
Penalties-Carroll Vic (tripping), 3:28; Crunk Vic (delay of game), 13:41.
Shots on Goal-
Brandon 19-5-8-32.
Victoria 15-4-6-25.
Power Play Opportunities-
Brandon 1 / 5;
Victoria 1 / 3.
Goalies-
Brandon, Papirny 9-3-1-0 (25 shots-23 saves).
Victoria, Vollrath 7-6-1-0 (32 shots-29 saves); Sittler 0-0-0-0 (0 shots-0 saves).
A-3,221
Referees-Brett Iverson (24), Sean Raphael (28).
Linesmen-Riley Friesen (76), Kirk Van Helvoirt (107).
