Greig Happy to be Back in Wheat City
Brandon, MB – The Brandon Wheat Kings only had 11 skaters and two goalies on the ice on Monday, but one of them was Ridly Greig.
The Ottawa Senators sent the 19-year-old forward back to Brandon on Sunday, and the Lethbridge product was pleased to return to the only Western Hockey League club he’s known.
“I’m happy to be back,” Greig said. “I’m happy to kind of get things going, even a weekend late. That’s OK, it’s a huge weekend with a three-in-three so I’m looking forward to it.”
Brandon hosts the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday and the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday — both games begin at 7 p.m. — then visits the Regina Pats on Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock.
The squad will be looking to rebound from a pair of drubbings by the Winnipeg Ice in the opening weekend. Greig kept an eye on the 10-2 and 7-1 losses.
“I just didn’t even want to look at the score anymore,” Greig said. “It is what it is and we’re going to move on and learn from it, watch some video and go from there.”
Head coach Don MacGillivray, who was understandably relieved to have his top forward back, said the smaller practice was a result of injuries and players getting some rest after their busy weekend, which saw them dress just nine forwards and six defencemen on Saturday.
“After back-to-back games with a short lineup, we felt the rest was going to be important for those guys today,” MacGillivray said. “We wanted to get some work in with the D today and we did that. We had a good work day with the guys who are here. I still think we got lots accomplished.”
Along with Greig, forwards Nolan Ritchie, Jesiah Bennett and Nate Danielson practised. On the back end, Vincent Iorio, Chad Nychuk, Quinn Mantei, Logen Hammett, Jacob Hoffrogge, Zach Turner and Owen Harris were on the ice.
ICINGS: The Spokane Chiefs lost a pair of players to suspension on the weekend. Timafay Kovgoreniya received four games, while Cordel Larson will sit for two after incurring major penalties and game misconducts against the Tri-City Americans … Jaxsen Wiebe of the Edmonton Oil Kings also earned a one-game suspension for a check-to-the-head major he took against the Red Deer Rebels on Friday … Ice forward Owen Pederson of Stony Plain, Alta., was named WHL player of the week after putting up six points against the Wheat Kings over the weekend. Swift Current Broncos netminder Isaac Poulter of Winnipeg was named goaltender of the week after posting a 2-0-0-0 record with a 1.00 goals-against average and 0.961 save percentage in two games against the Medicine Hat Tigers.
» Twitter: @PerryBergson
