Series: 2-1 Tigers
Links
The Parkland Welcomes the Wheat Kings - Westman Journal
Wheat Kings Battle Back - MH News
WHL GameSheet
Pre-Game Notes
Bobby Fox is back for tonight's game.
Brandon changed their lines up for this game
Injuries
Brandon's overage goaltender Logan Thompson was an injured scratch.
Brandon called up 16yr old Ethan Kruger to backup
Macpherson
Last update: Was listed as likely out for the playoffs. Supposed to have visited the doctor on Monday, but awaiting an MRI for official results
Mason Shaw
Super Curious about him. He was supposed to be in Minnesota on Monday. Eagerly awaiting his results.
Baron Thompson
Baron Thompson serving his 2nd of his 3 game suspension.
Brandon Line Combo Change
(Number)(Age)
(14)Ty Lewis(19) (12)Stelio Mattheos(18) (27)Luka Burzan(17)
(23)Cole Reinhardt(17)
(22)Ben McCartney(16) (18) Marcus Sekundiak(17) (17)Gunnar Wegleitner(18)
First Period
This game started out very much like Game 2. Tigers with a strong couple shifts, followed by Brandon pressure. The Tigers puck luck would initially continue in the first period.
Wheat King Schael Higson would blow up his stick up from a point shot and skated to the Brandon Bench. There seemed to be some confusion at the bench and a short moment later, the Tigers were coming down the ice on a 2 on 1.
Mark Rassell kept the puck and fired a high shot, blocker side past Dylan Myskiw 1-0 Tigers
After that Brandon had periods of pressure.
Kristians Rubins had just broken up the play and sent a quick pass up to Chyzowski. The puck would go through his legs and right onto Ty Lewis' stick. With 8 seconds left in the period, Ty Lewis' made a little off-wing spin-o-rama move at the faceoff circle and managed to beat Jordan Hollett low stick side 1-1 TIE
Notes
Prime chances were about even, but Brandon looked to have more zone time. That 8-second goal was a bit of a back-breaker. Brandon was largely playing 3 lines, with spot duty to the 4th, while the Tigers rolled all 4 lines.
2nd Period
Right off the faceoff Brandon would continue the pressure and get a breakaway chance.
The Wheaties would take their first lead of the series off a set play. Off the blueline, Schael Higson would pass the puck to Linden McCorister who was stationary at center ice. McCorister then made a quick pass over to Connor Gutenberg who was sneakily sweeping behind the net, and received the puck at the faceoff dots. Gutenberg was able to fire a quick shot that beat Hollett low glove.
2-1 Brandon
After that goal, the Tigers would wake up a little bit. The play would go back and forth with the refs needing to go upstairs to review a Tigers chance, while Brandon would fire one off the post.
Shortly after David Quenneville took an interference penalty the Tigers would swing the momentum their way. Off a broken play, Cole Clayton would curl a wrist shot into the slot. The puck bounced around and while Haden was skating backwards, he flicked the puck on net past a surprised Dylan Myskiw. 2-2 TIE
The rest of the period was a very scrambly affair with a ton of whistles and stoppages in play. Brandon would pressure the Tigers late, but nothing would come of it.
Notes:
Starting to see some scrums after the whistle. At this point in the game, I give Brandon the edge. They are outworking the Tigers and have had an edge in zone time. It feels like the Tigers are skating through mud. Brandon is doing a much better job with their defenceman taking away the Tigers space. Their forwards have been much more accountable in coming back into the defensive zone and have been playing with a lot of jump.
3rd period
Early in the period, the Tigers would lose their 3rd defenceman of the series. Trevor Longo took a hit from behind from Rylan Bettens and would crumple to the ice. After the play stopped he was in quite some discomfort holding his wrist and left the game. There was no penalty on the play. After that play the Tigers shortened their Defensive group to their top 4.
5 Minutes into the 3rd the Tigers would take the lead on the powerplay. Jaeger white would fan on a shot, but quickly recover, and shoot again. 3-2 Tigers
The Wheaties would respond immediately scoring 2 quick goals 18 seconds apart.
Dalton Gally would blow a tire at center ice and 16yr old Ben McCartney would fly around the outside of the rink past outstretched Tiger defenders. McCartney would jaunt behind the net and slam in a lightning-quick wrap-around that caught Hollett by surprise. 3-3 TIE
Dauphin Manitoba would start rocking. Off the rush, the Tigers defense would be caught flat-footed. Linden McCorister would fire a pass towards the front of the net and Evan Weinger had a step on David Quenneville racing to the front of the net. . Weinger layed out a slap at the puck and somehow the puck squeaked through Hollett. 4-3 Brandon
Despite the Tigers being down a goal, they were largely holding on for dear life.
Brandon kept coming and the Tigers were unable to pull the goalie or get any sustained pressure in the offensive zone.
Luka Burzan managed to get a step on Dalton Gally going wide. Perhaps a rookie Mistake but Elijah Brown left his man down the middle in favor of trying to help out Dalton Gally. Burzan recognized this and fed Ty Lewis streaking down the middle. Lewis would fire quick shot top shelf off Hollett who was deep in the net protecting against a possible wrap-around attempt
5-3 Brandon
Thoughts
Brandon was able to slow the Tigers down by playing solid defensively and holding their forwards accountable for getting back in time to defend.
Brandon's defenceman was pinching in and closing space when needed (but this time largely at center ice) instead of the blueline to halt the Tigers speed.
Their forwards were making solid body contact and slowing down that 2nd forward. Their line combo changes also seemed to help.
I thought the Tigers struggled with their in-tight passes and usually, that's where they generate a lot of their speed through the neutral zone.
One big part of the Tigers game is keeping the puck away from Brandon. The past few games the Tigers would ring the puck around the boards or put it into places where there weren't any Brandon players. Tonight they didn't seem to be doing that as much.
Tough Luck as when Trevor Longo went down it looked bad. 3 Games and 3 defenceman lost.
If Nassen isn't ready to play wednesday Dan Baker might be drawing in.
Next Up
Wednesday 28th 6:30 MTN in Dauphin.
4 comments:
Little bit sloppy at times tonight and I agree with the in tight passes being off. That's a huge part of their game.
I like Quennevile offensively and he's made great strides but I think he has become a little to confident. I understand good defensemen have that swagger but he needs to pick it up. He relies on other dmen to get the puck first and when he gets the puck in his own end it looks like he's skating through quicksand.
He has great talent but he needs to find some urgency. I like how calm he is but he needs to understand where the line is. He had become a little to complacent in my opinion.
Complacent or tired. Quenneville along with Rubins are playing huge minutes with the injuries to Nassen and Macpherson. Galley and especially Clayton are also playing a lot more than they have in the regular season and I thought in the third period fatigue was a factor in a couple of the Brandon goals. #19 is an average defender at the best of times and having him out there tired isn't helping. With the injuries, the longer this series goes the more the edge goes to the Wheaties to win.
What happened to Luongo??? Any word??
I said it after game 2 and people said I was being negative but look now. Sloppy play in te defensive end and just some poor defence overall. Weigleitner made everyone look stupid on the one goal. Quennevile got caught standing still. He really hasn't been great and I know he's playing a lot of minutes but I've seen great things from him in the past and he's been struggling.
It's tough when you are missing two of your top 4 dmen so i understand the struggles.
Brown gets hurt and doesn't return. That's not good. White is not a first line centre and I'll keep it at that.
I know I'm being negative right now but I'm just a little frustrated. At the same time I understand we have injuries and we are a young team.
Craven got crushed up high at the end of the game and I never like when a player retaliates in poor way but craven went after him and in glad he did. Show them he's not going to take that.
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