RECAP: Americans (4) @ Wheat Kings (1) – November 22
Brandon, MB – Lukas Matecha twirled a 33-save performance as the Tri-City Americans (16-5-1-0) shut down the Brandon Wheat Kings (10-6-3-1) 4-1 Friday night, giving Tri-City their third straight victory.
Jake Sloan gave the Americans the lead 6:08 into the game. Max Curran gained the Brandon line and stopped near the top of the right faceoff circle, looking for someone to pass to.
Sloan skated into the left dot and took the pass from Curran before firing a shot past the blocker of Carson Bjarnason for his ninth of the year to open the scoring.
Despite multiple high-quality scoring chances during the remainder of the period, the Americans took just a 1-0 lead into the intermission due to plenty of strong saves by Bjarnason.
Early in the second period Carter MacAdams added to the Tri-City lead. A hard shot off the rush was blockered away by Bjarnason, but he thought the rebound went high into the air when it went directly into the slot.
Gavin Garland picked it up and fired a low shot on net that was stopped by Bjarnason, but MacAdams slammed the rebound into the net for his seventh of the season 4:55 into the period.
Tri-City controlled play for the vast majority of the second period, outshooting Brandon 17-5. That included multiple power plays for the Americans that they couldn’t cash in on as they took their 2-0 advantage into the third period.
Caleb Hadland cut into the Tri-City lead early in the third period, sneaking a shot through the five hole of Matecha to make it 2-1.
The Americans then went to their sixth power play of the game just 30 seconds later and restored their two-goal lead. Cruz Pavao threw the puck to the net from the left circle and it deflected off the skate of Bjarnason and in, giving Tri-City a 3-1 lead just 1:04 after Brandon had scored.
The Wheat Kings pushed hard for the remainder of the third period, outshooting the Americans 17-13 over the final 20 minutes. Matecha stood his ground, especially on two strong saves in the final six minutes, to keep Tri-City in the lead.
Brandon then pulled Bjarnason for the extra attacker and held the puck in the Tri-City zone for over a minute before Curran got ahold of it and fired it into the empty net from his own zone, sealing the 4-1 victory.
Tri-City now wraps up their East Division trip with a stop against the defending WHL champion Moose Jaw Warriors (5-13-3-1) Saturday night.
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