Agra Risk Wheatland Kings 3, Red Deer Vipers 2 — Final
The Agra Risk Wheatland Kings held off a late push from the Red Deer Vipers to win 3-2 on Saturday night at Servus Arena, getting goals from three different players and a 23-save performance from Evan McNair.
Charlie Goll opened the scoring for Wheatland at 9:25 of the first, assisted by Brayden Thurlow, and Thurlow struck himself just 45 seconds into the second to make it 2-0. Red Deer stayed quiet until the third, when the game turned frantic in the final minutes: Lenny Beddoes scored on the power play at 8:16 to get the Vipers on the board, but Wheatland’s Tripp McArthur restored the two-goal cushion with a power-play goal at 17:51. Red Deer’s Mason Hastings answered just 33 seconds later to cut it to 3-2, but Wheatland held on from there.
Red Deer pulled goaltender Brock Lott in the final minute for an extra attacker, with Lott going back in and out of the net twice in the closing seconds, but the Vipers couldn’t complete the comeback. Evan McNair made 23 saves on 25 shots for the win; Lott stopped 26 of 29 in the loss.