BRANDON 3 VICTORIA 2
It’s unfortunate a Western Hockey League matchup as good as this one took place on a wet Tuesday night with a lot else happening on TV. A seriously talented Brandon Wheat Kings team ended Victoria’s four-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory before an announced crowd of 3,221 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The pace was swift and the execution sharp. As you would expect from a Wheaties team that is 11-3-1 and led by first-round New Jersey Devils draft pick John Quenneville, a candidate for Canada’s team at the 2015 world junior championship.
The Royals (8-7-1), however, gave the Wheat Kings all they could handle. Maybe the only thing Victoria could be faulted on is allowing defenceman Ryan Pilon to slide down from the point to score the winner with a wrist shot from the right side at 11:34 of the third period.
“[Pilon] is a good player, who is going to go high in the [2015] NHL draft, and can find the quiet areas [of the ice],” said Royals defenceman Travis Brown.
New York Rangers prospect Richard Nejezchleb was just sent back to the Wheat Kings from a pro stay with Harftford of the American Hockey League and celebrated his return with a goal. Defenceman Eric Roy is another Wheaties player who went to pro camp and turned heads with the Calgary Flames. Brandon forward Jesse Gabrielle and blue-liners Pilon and Ivan Provorov are ranked as second- or third-rounders for the 2015 NHL draft by Central Scouting.
“It was good to play close against these guys. It shows we’re a good team, but it would have been better with the win,” said Axel Blomqvist, the Winnipeg Jets-signed forward, who had a goal and assist for Victoria.
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The game featured the highest-scoring team in the WHL — Brandon has 78 goals in 15 games — against a Victoria team that had allowed only five goals in its previous four games. It was a matter of what would give.
“We had chances and they had chances, and both goalies [Victoria’s Coleman Vollrath and Brandon’s Jordan Papimy] played great. It was a game that could have gone either way,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
“Our guys played hard. But they [Wheat Kings] are an opportunistic team that waits for mistakes. And that’s what happened.”
Brown’s laser from the point to the top corner on the power play put Victoria ahead at 12:29 of the first period. But then Brown drew a hooking penalty, allowing Nejezchleb to score on the power play and tie it at 14:50. The Wheaties took the 2-1 lead with a Duncan Campbell shot to the far side at 14:03 of the second period. The six-foot-six Blomqvist used his ample reach to put home the puck to tie matters at 16:55 of the second.
ICE CHIPS: Victoria forward Tyler Soy, injured in Saturday’s victory over the Vancouver Giants, did not play . . . The Royals host the Tri-City Americans (8-7) in a two-game set Saturday night and Sunday in a matinée at the Memorial Centre.
