Grubbe's Play Helps Red Deer Beat Swift Current

Jayden Grubbe (Red Deer Rebels)

Thanks to all the Covid postponements, Tuesday night was actually a busier than normal night for the New York Rangers prospects. Seven were scheduled but only six played and the player who stood out was  Jayden Grubbe of the Red Deer Rebels.

Grubbe has had a rough season so far, struggling to score but Tuesday might have been his best overall effort this season. Red Deer was facing the Swift Current Broncos and this was a nasty affair with plenty of after-the whistle scrums to go along with some questionable hits by both teams.

What stood out about Grubbe was his competitive level, Grubbe was a player on a mission as there wasn't a Bronco he would not hit. From regular shifts to penalty kills to time on the power play, Grubbe was out there working hard and taking the game to the Broncos.

On faceoffs, Grubbe was 11-4 as he was tasked with taking just about all of the defensive zone draws for the Rebels. Grubbe was 1-0-1 on one shot with a +2 and a double-minor for checking from behind.

The captain of the Rebels ends an eight-game goalless streak with his seventh goal of the season to improve to 7-11-18.

Talyn Boyko (Kelowna Rockets)

So many times we hear about how goalies keep their teams in games long enough for their offense to win it. For Talyn Boyko and his Kelowna Rockets on the road against the Victoria Royals, the opposite was true on Tuesday night. 

Boyko playing for the first time in 10 days struggled over the first two periods surrendering three goals on just 13 shots leaving his team down two goals in the third period. Then the Kelowna offense came to life scoring twice to force the game into first overtime then into the shootout. 

In the shootout, it was Boyko's turn as he stopped all three Victoria attempts while his team scored just once to give the Rockets a 4-3 win. It wasn't Boyko at his very best but it was enough to steal a win.

Boyko stopped 18 out of 21 shots that he faced to earn his 14th win on the season and give himself a three-game winning streak. The Ranger's 2021 fourth round pick improved to 14-11-1-1 on the season with a goals against of 3.22 and a save percentage of  0.906.

Those are not earth-shattering numbers but they are good enough to have the Rockets in fifth place in the WHL's Western Conference, six points behind fourth-place Seattle but with three games in hand thanks to Covid.

Evan Vierling (Barrie Colts)

Evan Vierling had a three-point night as his Barrie Colts just destroyed the Sudbury Wolves 9-1. To be fair Sudbury fielded a lineup that had eight rookies and was no match for Barrie.

Vierling broke an eight-game goalless streak with his ninth goal of the season which also was Barrie's ninth goal of the game. The Barrie center also had two primary assists (first Barrie goal and fifth Barrie goal) to give him a three-point night for the second time this season.

Vierling was also a very nice 12-4 on his faceoffs as he was 1-2-3 on four shots and a +1 for the night. Overall Vierling improved his season totals to 9-16-25.

Ryder Korczak must have made an enemy of the Edmonton Oil Kings official scorer as once his Moose Jaw Warriors finished spanking the Oil Kings 8-1, they changed the game's scoresheet. Korczak went from 1-2-3 to 0-3-3 to 0-2-2 by the time this was written. 

The Warriors used a four-goal outburst in the third period to blow open a somewhat closer game. Korczak wound up with two secondary assists for the game, the first was on the Warriors' second goal which became the game-winning goal. 

The other was on the Warriors' fifth goal which started the third-period run that blew the game open. It really wasn't a special game by Korczak, more average than anything. He went 13-12 on his faceoffs which could be seen as a bad game for him considering his season win average of 59.1 %.

For the season Korczak improved to 14-34-48 after 41 games. He is 12th in WHL scoring, fourth in assists, and first in faceoff wins at 58.9%.

Freshman goalie Hugo Ollas played well for the first two periods but allowed three goals over 1:45 during the third period as his Merrimack Warriors lost to UConn 3-2. The loss ended a five-game winning streak for Merrimack and a four-game winning streak for Ollas.

Ollas stopped 21 shots over the first two periods but only stopped five of eight shots in the third in the loss. Ollas falls to 6-4 with a goals-against of 2.34 and a 0.913 save percentage.

Simon Kjellberg and his Rensselaer Engineers broke a two-game losing streak with a 2-0 shutout win over the Harvard Crimson. Kjellberg was scoreless on one shot with a +1.

Did Not Play

Matthew Rempe was not in the Seattle Thunderbird lineup when his team hosted the Spokane Chiefs. Seattle has been hit hard by Covid as they dressed only 16 skaters so hoping Rempe hasn't been hit with the Covid.