Photo by Donovon McGowan
The Portland Winterhawks returned home for the first time since September 22nd, and put on a show for their fans, beating the Brandon Wheat Kings 4-1.
Seth Jarvis had a goal and an assist for the Hawks who got singles from Lane Gillis, Simon Knak and Souris native Tyson Kozak on route to the victory.
“Portland started quick tonight,” said Head Coach Dave Lowry. “They always start quick in this building. They play on top of you, they have a lot of speed, they have a game plan and they stick to it.”
Portland scored 1:49 into the hockey game and never looked back, outshooting the Wheat Kings 42-23, including a 14-2 run in the third period.
“We got into a bit of a track meet with them tonight, something we didn’t want to do,” added Lowry. “We knew they were going to attack with four or five guys. When you have to defend speed in numbers you’re going to spend a lot of time in your own zone.”
Ethan Kruger made 19 saves before exiting the game with an injury, Connor Ungar made his first appearance of the regular season, stopping 19 shots in just under thirty minutes of action.
Ben McCartney scored the lone goal for Brandon on the powerplay.
Brandon will now hit the highway to Kennewick, Washington where they will set up shop for the next few days before taking on the Tri-City Americans on Tuesday night. (9:05 MB time on QCountry Radio).
“This is a hard trip and you have to manage your days off. You have to make sure your guys are rested. Monday will be a workday and we will get back to our preparations for Tri-City.”
The Wheat Kings scratched Jiri Patera (3 Weeks), Jack Zayat (Healthy), Caiden Daley (Healthy) and Riley Ginnell (Healthy). Attendance at the VMC was 5,437.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st PERIOD
POR – Seth Jarvis (4) (Dureau, Cicek) 1:49
POR – Simon Knak (4) (Newkirk, Jarvis) 17:53
Shots: 14-7 Portland
2nd PERIOD
POR – Tyson Kozak (3) (Cicek, O’Brien) 11:01
Shots: 14-14
3rd PERIOD
BWK – Ben McCartney (4) (Greig, Schnieder) 1:19 PPG
POR – Lane Gillis (3) (Quigley, Mannek) 13:27 PPG
Final Shots: 42-23 Portland