Jordan Topping leads Americans to 5-2 win over Wheat Kings
Jordan Topping had a natural hat trick, and Morgan Geekie handed out four assists playing an hour from his hometown as the Tri-City Americans rallied for a 5-2 road win over the Brandon Wheat Kings.
The Americans (26-17-3-0, 55 points) improved to 4-0 on their East Division road swing, which continues Friday at Regina. The Pats are the top-ranked team in this week’s CHL poll.
Tri-City, which has won five in a row at Westman Place in Brandon, Manitoba, trailed 2-0 early in the second period before the Americans got on track.
Parker Wotherspoon got Tri-City on the board at 4:25, followed by a short-handed goal by Parker AuCoin. Topping scored the first of his three goals to finish off the period.
Topping then scored twice in the third to complete his first career hat trick.
A Reid Duke major kneeing penalty on Valdislav Lukin at 2:41 of the third gave the Americans a 5-minute power play, which they parlayed into Topping’s second goal of the night at 5:17 for a 4-2 lead.
Brandon pulled goalie Logan Thompson with under 2 minutes to play for an extra attacker, but Rylan Parenteau and the Americans shut the Wheat Kings down. Parenteau finished with 29 saves.
Americans 5, Wheat Kings 2
Tri-City | 0 | 3 | 2 | — | 5 |
Brandon | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 2 |
First — 1, Bdn, Lewis 22 (Duke, Jensen), 1:43. Penalties — Osipov, Bdn (interference), 4:26; Osipov, Bdn (hooking), 8:25; Brandon bench (too many men, served by Reinhardt), 14:48; Focht, TC (interference), 17:50; Yorke, TC (kneeing), 18:35.
Second — 2, Bdn, Thompson 2 (Gutenberg, Coulter), :38. 3, TC, Wotherspoon 7 (Lukin, Geekie), 4:25. 4, TC, Parker AuCoin 15, 9:21 (sh). 5, TC, Topping 7 (Sandhu, Geekie), 12:22. Penalties — Sandhu, TC (slashing), 8:44; Duke, Bdn (roughing), 15:38.
Third — 6, TC, Topping 8 (Geekie, Sandhu), 5:17 (pp). 7, TC, Topping 9 (Geekie, Sandhu), 19:44 (en). Penalties — Duke, Bdn, major (kneeing, game misconduct), 2:41; Yorke, TC (slashing), 12:27; James, TC (roughing), 16:21.
Shots — TC 9-14-11 — 34. Bdn 9-11-11 — 31. Power plays — TC 1-5. Bdn 0-5. Goalies — TC, Parenteau 16-8-1-0 (31 shots-29 saves). Bdn, Thompson 7-6-3-0 (33-29). Referees — Adam Bloski and Mike Campbell. A — 3,233.
This story was originally published January 11, 2017 at 8:09 PM with the headline "Jordan Topping leads Americans to 5-2 win over Wheat Kings."