For the first time in the 2016 Western Hockey League championship series, the final score was not 3-2 and it did not come via an overtime decision.
The Brandon Wheat Kings had to put their plans for a championship on hold for now as the Seattle Thunderbirds defeated them in game four in a rout, 6-1. The game took place at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington.
Seattle got two goals from Ryan Gropp, two from Alexander True and one from Donovan Neuls. Ethan Bear had a pair of assists, as did Cavin Leth, Keegan Kolesar, Mathew Barzal and Scott Eansor. True also had an assist on Neuls’ goal, which also came on the power play. Bear also had a power play goal late in the third to help ice the game.
John Quenneville of the Wheat Kings was a minus-1 in the game. He was on the ice for True’s first goal at 7:37 of the second period.
The Wheat Kings would erase the shutout with a power play goal from Jayce Hawryluk (assists to Tyler Coulter and Ivan Provorov) with just over two minutes left in the game.
Brandon goaltender Jordan Papirny saw 27 shots from the T-Birds and made 21 saves. Seattle’s Landon Bow was near perfect, going 30-for-31.
Game five is also at Seattle on Friday. Quenneville and the Wheat Kings will get another shot to try to punch their ticket to the Memorial Cup then.