Bedard ends Wheat Kings winning streak

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This article was published 09/04/2021 (1853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Connor Bedard scored his second goal of the game in overtime as the Regina Pats snapped the Brandon Wheat Kings’ eight-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory in Western Hockey League action at Brandt Centre in Regina on Friday.

Brandon (11-2-2-0) received its goal from Jake Chiasson as it lost to Regina (6-6-2-1) for the first time in the East Division hub.

On a night the Wheat Kings hit at least seven goal posts, Brandon head coach Don MacGillivray said his team actually played pretty well.

“The puck just wasn’t going for us (Friday),” MacGillivray said. “I thought we had good effort from our guys and I think we did a lot of good things. We got a little bit loose at times in our defensive zone coverage but for the most part we played a pretty solid game. Give Regina credit, their goalie (Roddy Ross) played good and their young star (Bedard) got the job done. Full credit to them, they got the win.”

Brandon put the puck in the Regina net late in the first period, but it appeared to hit Wheat Kings forward Rylan Roersma’s glove and drop behind Ross into the net. It was immediately waved off by referees, a ruling backed by a lengthy video review.

It didn’t take long for the Pats to take the lead in the second period. The play went into the Brandon zone off the opening faceoff, and after a good chance seconds into the period, the puck ended up on Bedard’s stick in the slot.

He took a couple of strides and sent the puck by Brandon goalie Connor Ungar for the 11th goal of his 15-year-old season.

Brandon hit five goal posts in the next 15 minutes and outshot Regina 27-13 through 40 minutes but couldn’t find the mesh.

“It’s obviously really tough to hit the post that many times,” Brandon centre Nolan Ritchie said. “In the second period, we kept on having good shift after each other so it was easy to keep the momentum up. We kept getting chances but couldn’t bear down.”

The breakthrough finally came 80 seconds into the third period on a power play when Chiasson got the puck near the faceoff dot and kept his shot on the ice, firing it along the ice through the legs of Ross.

After a pair of coincidental minors seven minutes into the period, the teams set a furious pace, trading chances as the game moved from end to end.

Regina had an opportunity to break the deadlock late in the third period with their second power play of the night, but Ungar made a couple of fine saves to help kill the penalty. Just as the first penalty ended, however, the Wheat Kings took another minor that put the Pats on the man advantage for 90 seconds in overtime.

With the teams playing 4-on-3, Bedard got the puck in the high slot and sent a rocket through traffic over Ungar’s shoulder to seal the victory 49 seconds into extra time.

Brandon Wheat Kings captain Braden Schneider was on the ice killing the penalty when Bedard scored.

“He’s very good at playing off the players he’s with,” Schneider said. “He kind of hangs out up top and you’re battling those guys down low and then the puck finds him out in the high slot and there’s not much you can do. He’s putting it away. It’s tough in a sense because he’s hard to hit. When he has the puck on his stick, he’s a good player.”

It was a storybook ending for Bedard, the first player granted exceptional status in WHL history. He is leaving to join the under-18 Team Canada, so it was his final game in the hub, and it came three days after his 73-year-old grandfather Garth Bedard was killed in a traffic accident on Tuesday on Highway 1, seven kilometres east of Sicamous, B.C.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Schneider said of Bedard’s success. “He’s a high-end player and you can see what he’s been able to do. He’s been pretty good.”

Ungar made 23 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Ross stopping 33 shots for the Pats.

Brandon went 1-for-4 on the power play, with Regina scoring once in three chances.

“We’re playing pretty sound and we’re playing hard,” MacGillivray said of the eight-game winning streak. “For the most part, we’re getting everybody going. We’re not going to win every game. This is the reality of it. 

“It’s tough when you’re on a winning streak sometimes because bad habits creep in but I liked our practice (Thursday) and I thought we had a real good start to the game (Friday). The first 10 minutes was real good, and the second period, I thought we dominated but the puck didn’t go for us.”

Regina head coach Dave Struch was delighted with the effort from his players.

“They played a great game,” Pats head coach Dave Struch told the Regina Leader Post’s Greg Harder. “We played against a really good team. We needed our goaltender in the first period a lot. We speak about these games against these top teams that we’re going to be without the puck a lot. We have to do a lot of really good things to get the puck back and, when we do, take advantage of our chances. 

“We didn’t have many early but when we did we capitalized on them in regards to creating offence. It’s hard for us to do but when we play the right way defensively and we get opportunities whenever they may come, it was good to see us get rewarded.”

ICINGS: Wheat Kings forward Jaxon Dube has left the Regina hub for personal reasons … Brandon scratched D Logen Hammett, D Jacob Hoffrogge and F Lynden McCallum. McCallum is expected to be in the lineup on Sunday … Regina won the battle of the face-off dot 33-26. Pats captain Logan Nijhoff alone won 15 draws … In its next action, Brandon meets the Saskatoon Blades on Sunday at 9 p.m., and the Moose Jaw Warriors on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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