Ice still perfect at home

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This article was published 04/11/2021 (1612 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Ice had a flawless record on home ice this season. That didn’t change Thursday night.

Sparked by Mikey Milne’s 10th goal of the season, the Winnipeggers posted their seventh consecutive win at Wayne Fleming Arena, a 4-1 decision over the Red Deer Rebels, to improve to 13-1-0-0 overall.

Milne’s power-play marker was a major turning point, breaking a 1-1 tie in the second period and coming moments after forward Jayden Grubbe nearly gave the Rebels a lead on a short-handed breakaway.

Ice goaltender Daniel Hauser denied Grubbe on the play, one of 31 saves, to improve his record to 8-0-0-0. The seemingly unflappable 17-year-old now has a career record of 15-0-1-0 since joining the Ice in the Regina hub last spring.

The 5-11, 160-pounder also lowered goals-against average to 1.63 and increased his save percentage to .935. He appeared unfazed by Rebels’ attempts to rattle him with their net-crashing tactics and kept a level head.

“I think that’s one of the big strengths of my game,” said Hauser, named the game’s first star. “I think I’m a pretty calm guy in general and I like to kind of translate that onto the ice. I think that helps me to focus and not getting too amped up or too low as well.”

Ice head coach James Patrick is getting familiar with this movie.

“I keep having to talk about him,” said Patrick. “He is the quietest, most modest, soft-spoken, extremely hard-working and talented young goalie. His stature is what it is, but his feet are so good. His skating ability and his quickness is really good and I think he’s been able to read the play so well.”

However, Thursday’s victory came at a cost.

Two-thirds of the club’s top line was lost to injury. Left-winger Owen Pederson left the game favouring his right shoulder in the first period and right-winger Connor McClennon exited with a lower-body ailment in the middle frame.

The injury had ominous overtones for McClennon, who scored his league-leading 11th goal midway through the first period. His 2019-20 season was cut short by a fractured collarbone suffered on check from behind in the same southeast corner of the ice at Wayne Fleming Arena.

On Thursday, McClennon left the game after being kneed by Red Deer’s Kalan Lind. Lind was assessed a major and game misconduct. Patrick did not have a status report on either player following the game.

Red Deer’s physical approach, he said, looked much like the games on Winnipeg’s recent road trip through Alberta.

“I think teams are gonna be physical — I mean, they’re gonna try and run us out of the rink,” said Patrick. “We played Lethbridge (on Oct. 30) and Lethbridge’s game plan was, ‘We’re gonna run these guys out of the rink and try and bully them.’ We have to deal with it. We have to use our speed and then we’re gonna have to battle as well.”

Defenceman Carson Lambos, with his fourth, and right-winger Chase Bertholet, with his sixth, potted third-period goals for the winners.

Sixteen-year-old left-winger Zach Benson returned to the lineup after missing five games due to injury and promptly chipped in with two assists.

Through 14 regular-season games, the Ice are on pace to score 369 goals over a 68-game schedule, an average of 5.43 goals per game. You have to go back to the 1993-94 Portland Winterhawks to find a more explosive WHL offence.

That Winterhawks squad scored 392 goals (5.44 goals per game) in 72 games.

“The way our team’s playing and the way the guys have kind of gelled together it’s really no surprise to me that we’re having the success we’re having so far,” said Hauser.

Blake Stevenson had the lone goal for the Rebels, who are 8-5-1-0 and second in the Central Division. Goaltender Chase Coward made 30 saves.

The teams will meet again Sunday at 2 p.m. Red Deer will head to Brandon to play the Wheat Kings Friday before returning to Winnipeg.

BLUE-LINES: Winnipeg went 1-for-6 on the power play. The Rebels were scoreless in three chances… Three stars: 1. Daniel Hauser, Winnipeg; 2. Chase Bertholet, Winnipeg; 3. Carson Lambos, Winnipeg.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14