Brandon picks up one point in Alberta

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This article was published 29/01/2024 (599 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Roan Woodward scored in overtime for the Edmonton Oil Kings as the Brandon Wheat Kings blew a three-goal lead to fall 5-4 in Western Hockey League action at Rogers Place on Sunday.

Marshall Finnie scored twice for Edmonton (16-26-1-1), with the other Oil Kings goals coming from Adam Jecho and Eastyn Mannix in front of a crowd of 6,561.

Brandon (22-18-5-1) received two goals from Jayden Wiens and singles from Matteo Michels and Roger McQueen as they ended their three-in-three road trip with a single point.

Brandon general manager and head coach Marty Murray said it was a tough way to lose.

“We’re all disappointed to not come out of here with two points,” Murray said. “It was in our lap, so we’ll rest, regroup and watch some video and see how the injury bay is looking and reassess things when we get back to Brandon.”

The Wheat Kings took the lead 12 minutes 13 seconds into the game off the rush. Nolan Flamand flipped the puck into a spot where only the speedy Michels could find it and he ripped the puck into the top corner over the glove of Edmonton goalie Kolby Hay.

They increased the lead almost exactly three minutes later on their first power play when the rangy McQueen went wide around a pair of Edmonton defenders, cut hard to the net and deposited the puck into the far corner to give his team a 2-0 lead. After 20 minutes, Brandon led 15-5 on the shot clock.

“We had a really solid first period,” Murray said. “We did everything really well. We played a textbook first period.”

Edmonton narrowed the lead moments after the end of a power play that straddled the periods when the draft eligible Jecho received a pass up high and fired a shot past Eskit 92 seconds into the period.

A pair of power-play goals by Wiens put Brandon up 4-1 by the 12-minute mark.

The first goal came when the puck was trapped in a scrum along the side boards when Nick Johnson knocked it over to Dominik Petr, who made a quick pass to Wiens for a one-timer to make it 3-1.

His next goal came on a rebound of a shot by Luke Shipley with incredible traffic in front of the net.

“It gave us some looks,” Murray said of the power play. “Especially early on, I thought there were times when we kind of fumbled around a little bit but when you get three power-play goals, that’s big.”

The Oil Kings scored twice before the period, however, on a pair of self-inflicted wounds by the Wheat Kings.

After Brett Hyland took an undisciplined penalty in the offensive zone, the Oil Kings back within a pair when Cole Miller found Finnie all alone in the slot for the third power-play goal of the period.

“We took a couple in scrums and a couple retaliatory ones,” Murray said of the team’s penalties. “That turned the momentum a little bit.”

And then, with 30 seconds remaining in the period, Brandon had control of the puck, and with multiple chances to get their puck out of the zone, they failed and turned it over. Former Wheat King Mannix leaned into a slapshot with 20.8 seconds remaining and beat Eskit between the legs to score his first WHL goal.

Brandon, which was playing its third game in three days, was outplayed for long stretches of the third period, and Edmonton tied it with 3:09 left when Finnie’s shot bounced off a body and into the net.

They were outshot 12-4 in the third period.

The game ended 2:17 into extra time when Woodward skated into the Brandon end, cut across the top of the zone and beat Eskit blocker side.

“You could see it,” Murray said. “When your legs get fatigued, that affects your brain and your decisions. You could see us just slowly wearing down. That’s life in junior hockey, you’re going to have those situations. It’s just a matter of really bearing down and focusing on every single part of the game.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without G Carson Bjarnason (lower body, week to week), D Quinn Mantei (lower body, day to day) and F Matt Henry (sixth game of eight-game suspension) … Nick Johnson led the Wheat Kings with four shots on net … Eskit made 31 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Hay stopping 27 shots for the Oil Kings … Brandon went 3-for-5 on the power play, with Edmonton scoring once in five chances … The game took two hours, 34 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Edmonton won 38-32 … Newcomer Rhett Ravndahl and Eskit both earned their first assists with the Wheat Kings … Brandon returns to action when the Red Deer Rebels visit Westoba Place on Friday at 7 p.m.

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