Blades outlast short-staffed Wheat Kings

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This article was published 19/02/2024 (577 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Alexander Suzdalev scored twice in the third period as the Saskatoon Blades skated away with a 5-2 victory against the short staffed Brandon Wheat Kings in Western Hockey League action at Westoba Place on Monday afternoon.

Saskatoon (42-9-2-3) received singles from Egor Sidorov, Brandon Lisowsky and Fraser Minten, with callups Brady Turko and Jaxon Jacobson replying for Brandon (27-22-5-1) in front of a crowd of 3,740.

“I thought we didn’t have the best start, but we battled back in the first and were only down one,” Turko said of the game. “In the second, the penalties kind of got out of hand and we were killing for most of it and a little bit of four-on-four, and in the third period, it just didn’t go our way. That’s hockey and how it goes.”

The Wheat Kings were without Carter Klippenstein due to a one-game suspension, plus injured forwards Roger McQueen, Nick Johnson, Joby Baumuller and Hayden Wheddon. For a second game in a row, Brandon called up the 15-year-old Brandonite Jacobson and the 16-year-old McCreary product Turko to boost their numbers to 10 forwards.

Overage forward Brett Hyland, who had an assist on Monday afternoon, skated with the two youngsters like he did against Calgary on Friday, and said it certainly wasn’t a chore.

“Needless to say, they’re good players,” Hyland said of his young linemates. “They have good chemistry and it showed today. It was easy to find open pockets and receive the puck from them so it was nice.”

Overall, Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray was satisfied with muchof his team’s game against the Canadian Hockey League’s top-rated club.

“I thought we battled pretty hard for the most part against a real good team,” Murray said. “We had eight regular forwards and two affiliates and I think we pushed pretty hard and had some looks. We got on our heels a little bit out of the gate and I thought we came around and played a pretty solid game.

“The only thing I’m disappointed in is our discipline again. We had five minors and a major going into the third period. That’s way too much. Some of it is officiating and some of it is we need to be smarter.”

It took the Blades just 49 seconds to find the back of the net behind Brandon goalie Carson Bjarnason. Tanner Molendyk carried the puck into the Brandon zone, outwaited sliding Wheat Kings defenceman Quinn Mantei and put the puck in front for Sidorov, who outraced a pair of Brandon defenders for the tap-in goal.

The visitors extended the lead on the power play five minutes later when they moved the puck around and Lisowsky’s one-timer beat Bjarnason on the short side as they capitalized on a dominant start to the game.

The Wheat Kings took 11 minutes to put their first shot on net, but it was the second one that paid off. Jacobson set up Turko in front of the net and the puck bounced in off his skate behind Saskatoon goalie Evan Gardner for his first WHL goal in just his third game.

“I kicked it out to Jaxon and went to the net and the puck just hit me and went in,” Turko said. “It wasn’t the prettiest but a goal is a goal and I’ll take anything that comes my way.”

“That feels really good,” he added. “It’s great to get that out of the way and now I can just play.”

The second period certainly had its fair share of fireworks.

Matt Henry took a cross-checking minor 6:15 into the period and snapped, grabbing Sidorov by the helmet. That earned him an extra two minutes for roughing.

That seemed to flip a switch on what had been a highly skilled, fast-paced game to that point.

Soon after, Saskatoon captain Trevor Wong had to trip his former teammate Jayden Wiens to stop a shorthanded breakaway and also went to the box. On the ensuing four-on-four, Jacobson snapped a shot from high in the zone that surprised Elliott for his fourth goal in six WHL games.

“It was the end of a shift and we were dominating them the whole four-on-four and not getting too many shots on net,” Jacobson said. “I just figured I would throw one at the net and I ended up getting it through the screen and going in, so it worked out.”

The game didn’t stay tied from long.

Just 44 seconds later, with Saskatoon back on the power play to finish up Henry’s second minor, Minten ripped a shot in off the crossbar to restore the Saskatoon lead.

On the next shift, Ben Saunderson of Carberry left the game favouring his left leg after an open-ice hit in the neutral zone that earned Brandon’s Charlie Elick a kneeing major and game misconduct. Saunderson didn’t return.

The Blades returned the favour 15:59 into the period on a dangerous hit by Blades forward Vaughn Watterodt that left Mantei down on the ice. The Brandon rearguard was helped off the ice — he was back for the third period — and Watterodt earned a checking to the head major and game misconduct.

“They’re more of a finesse team so you don’t really predict getting into a game like that with them,” Murray said of the 16 penalties assessed in the middle frame. “For us, just being so short staffed, we didn’t want guys in the box. That’s hockey, and sometimes things go off the rails a little bit like they did in the second.”

The spell seemed to break after 40 minutes, with neither team taking a penalty until the final minute of the third period. The back breaker for Brandon came at the 10:43 mark on a sensational effort by the Russian forward Suzdalev. He forced a turnover in his own zone and outbattled players all the way up the ice, eventually creating a partial breakaway for himself and depositing the puck in the top corner to extend the Saskatoon lead to 4-2.

Brandon pulled Bjarnason for an extra attacker with 93 seconds remaining, and with 43.6 seconds left, Suzdalev found the back of the net with a backhand from his own zone to salt the victory away.

“Five on five, I think we did a pretty solid job,” Hyland said. “We got into trouble with the penalties and guys don’t get on the ice with special teams so it hurt us a bit. I think the effort was there though.”

Bjarnason made 24 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Gardner stopping 23 shots for the Blades. Brandon went 0-for-3 on the power play, with Saskatoon scoring twice in six chances.

Saskatoon head coach Brennan Sonne said it was a strong effort as his club won its fourth consecutive road game.

“I thought it was our best start of this road trip we had,” Sonne said. “We kind of derailed ourselves when the shots were 6-0. Special teams came into play in the second, and I thought we regained emotional control going into the third. I thought we kind of traded chances a little bit, and Suzdalev made an individual effort for that 4-2 goal, which was important because the Wheat Kings were really pushing.”

The bright spot for Brandon had to be the play of Turko and Jacobson, who were on a personal stretch of four games in four days. They had the WHL game on Friday, and U18 AAA games with the Wheat Kings on Saturday and Sunday. In 8-1 and 8-2 victories over the Eastman Selects, Jacobson had two goals and five assists and Turko had four goals and four assists.

They sit atop the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League scoring race, with Jacobson earning 95 points in 32 games and Turko putting up 87 points in 40 outings.

“We sign up for this,” Jacobson said. “It’s definitely a grind this weekend but all in all, the body didn’t feel too bad today but I’m definitely going to be feeling it tomorrow. I’ll get a rest day and then back at her in U18 on Wednesday.”

“When you’re a hockey player, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before,” Turko added.

ICINGS: Brandon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja theme jerseys were raffled off after the game, with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to the Children’s Miracle Network … Saskatoon defenceman Charlie Wright earned the 100th point of his WHL career with his assist and team captain Trevor Wong grabbed the puck for him … With the teams playing four-on-four, Bjarnason made a terrific save on his fellow Carberry product Ben Saunderson when he went in all alone … Defenceman Rhett Ravndahl and Hyland led the Wheat Kings with four shots each on net … The game took two hours, 28 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 32-29 … The Wheat Kings have an unusual road trip coming up, with games against the Prince Albert Raiders on Thursday and Saturday, and a game against Saskatoon sandwiched in the middle on Friday.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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