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Wheat Kings snap losing streak

By: Rob Henderson

Saturday, Mar. 2, 2013 at 10:03 PM | Comments: 0

One of the Brandon Wheat Kings' veterans got them started on Saturday night before a pair of youngsters pushed them across the finish line.

Third-period goals by rookies Tim McGauley and Jayce Hawryluk lifted the Wheat Kings to a 4-2 Western Hockey League win over the Prince Albert Raiders, ending Brandon's six-game losing streak. Overager Nick Buonassisi scored the first two goals of the game as the Wheat Kings (22-38-4-2) improved to 1-1 on their weekend road trip, which wraps up on Sunday against the Regina Pats.

"The guys stayed the course here," said Wheat Kings assistant coach David Anning, whose team squandered a two-goal lead before McGauley netted the winner. "We gave up the (tying) goal early in the third but we stuck with it, we battled though, we did some real good things in terms of managing the game and managing the puck and obviously we got the result we were looking for."

It was the Wheat Kings' first win in five tries against the Raiders (35-24-2-4), who led the East Division for much of the season before a recent slump dropped them behind the surging Saskatoon Blades.

After Buonassisi scored twice in the first period, Anthony Bardaro replied for Prince Albert in the second period on a shot that went in off of a Brandon player. Former Wheat King Dakota Conroy tied the game 3:21 into the third, but Brandon netminder Curtis Honey shut the door from that point forward on his way to a 36-save night.

"Curtis was real strong for us," Anning said. "He was quick, he was athletic, he made the saves he should have and then he also made the saves that he probably shouldn't have. He was good throughout the game, he was a difference-maker for sure and he was somebody that deserves a lot of recognition in the win."

Less than three minutes after he tied the game, Conroy had a great chance to give the Raiders their first lead, but Honey stopped him at point-blank range and the Wheat Kings quickly turned the puck up the ice, with Mark Kalus springing McGauley and Richard Nejezchleb on a 2-on-1. Nejezchleb fed the puck to McGauley and the 17-year-old converted his 16th goal of the season. McGauley and Nejezchleb also figured in the insurance marker, setting up Hawryluk for the 16-year-old's team-best 17th goal.

"In a tight game on the road our young guys stepped up and (made) a couple nice plays," Anning said.

ONE-TIMERS: Nejezchleb, Kalus and C Jason Swyripa each had two assists … Brandon was 0-for-4 with the man advantage and killed off Prince Albert's only power play … The Wheat Kings scratched C Tyrel Seaman (concussion), LW Taylor Cooper and D Kord Pankewicz … Raiders C Carson Perreaux, a Brandonite, had his point-scoring streak snapped at five games (two goals, six assists) … Sunday's game in Regina starts at 6 p.m., with the CKLQ pre-game show at 5:35.

» rhenders@brandonsun.com

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