Raiders pluck two points from weary Wheaties

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This article was published 24/02/2024 (571 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sloan Stanick of Rapid City had a power-play hat trick as the Prince Albert Raiders beat the badly understaffed Brandon Wheat Kings 5-2 in Western Hockey League action at Art Hauser Centre on Saturday.

Aiden Oiring and Turner McMillen also scored for seventh-place Prince Albert (27-26-1-3), while sixth-place Brandon (29-23-5-1) received two goals from Dominik Petr in front of a crowd of 2,626.

In the first two games of the road trip, the Wheat Kings beat the Raiders 3-2 on Thursday and the Saskatoon Blades 4-1 on Friday.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said with just nine forwards and six defencemen — and playing their third game in three days — the result was sadly predictable.

“It was kind of what I expected,” Murray said. “We were pretty mentally and physically tired and you could see our execution was off,” Murray said. “You’re tired as a coaching staff, so I can’t imagine what the players felt, especially playing with nine forwards in a short period of time. It was a lot to ask. I thought the effort was pretty good but you could just see we were mentally drained.”

The Wheat Kings dressed nine forwards and six defencemen, three skaters shy of the limit of 18. That number included 16-year-old affiliate player Brady Turko.

Brandon was without injured forwards Roger McQueen, Nick Johnson, Joby Baumuller and Hayden Wheddon, plus leading scorer Rylen Roersma, who earned a suspension for a checking-from-behind major he took in Saskatoon on Friday. The league hasn’t decided how many games he’ll sit yet.

They also lost Russian defenceman Andrei Maliavan to a lower-body injury off a shot block, but Charlie Elick returned from a suspension and then the flu. In addition, with Ethan Eskit still nursing a lower-body injury, 15-year-old Dylan McFadyen served as backup.

“Hopefully we get some reinforcements,” Murray said of the week ahead. “I don’t know what sick bay looks like, but hopefully we get some bodies back.”

The early signs weren’t good for Brandon on Saturday.

The Wheat Kings scored in the first minute during the last two games in Prince Albert, but this time they took a penalty 11 seconds in. On the ensuing power play, Rhett Ravndahl’s clearing attempt hit a referee in the elbow and the Raiders had a good scoring chance but were unsuccessful.

Brandon had terrific zone time in its first power play but the puck mostly stayed on the outside until it was cleared. Off the rush on the way back into the Prince Albert zone, Matteo Michels got the puck to Turko, who sent a pass to Petr at the side of the net. The Czech forward got just enough of the puck to squeak it past Prince Albert goalie Max Hildebrand 16 minutes five seconds into the opening frame.

The hosts took less than two minutes to respond. On their second power play, Oiring won the draw cleanly back to defenceman Justice Christensen and went to the front of the net, where he tipped a shot past Brandon goalie Carson Bjarnason. The goal took just three seconds of power-play time.

It was essentially all Prince Albert for the rest of the game.

A Brandon club desperate to stay out of the penalty box simply couldn’t — Matt Henry’s cross check in the second period could have been spotted from outer space — and Prince Albert capitalized on a dominant fourth power play when Stanick found a spot just inside the post.

The fatigue began to show more clearly as the period went on, with Prince Albert holding the zone for virtually their entire fifth power play, which came three minutes later. The Wheat Kings had just four shots on net all period despite having a power play.

In the third period, just after Michels was sent in all alone and denied, the puck came back up the ice on a three-on-two and Ryder Ritchie found the trailer McMillan, who put the puck through a screen for a 3-1 lead.

Brandon promptly handed Prince Albert a five-on-three man advantage for 1:57, and Stanick saved the puck from going out of the zone, skated into the middle and fired a shot past a screen to put the hosts up 4-1. Michels took a game misconduct after the goal, further diminishing Brandon’s bench.

The Wheat Kings took control of the puck during their eighth penalty kill, and Petr fired a bullet over Hildebrand’s shoulder for the team’s 11th shorthanded goal of the season. But just 25 seconds later, Stanick scored his third power-play goal of the game to salt the game away.

It could have been a lot worse.

Bjarnason made a save-of-the year candidate on Brayden Dube’s one-timer, coming across the crease to knock the puck out of the air with the paddle of his stick. He later denied McMillan on a long breakaway as he made 29 saves.

“He was exceptional,” Murray said of his goaltender on the trip. “He was probably the first star in our two wins and he gave us a chance tonight,” Murray said. “He was exceptional. You talk about players playing there in three, I think it’s on a whole different level when you talk about a goalie playing three on three.”

Hildebrand stopped 15 shots for the Raiders.

Brandon went 1-for-5 on the power play, with Prince Albert scoring four goals in nine chances.

“Obviously the big story was the penalties,” Murray said. “We took too many penalties. We were a little undisciplined and a few I really question, but that was probably the difference in the game.”

Still, Brandon earned four out of possible six points on a difficult road trip, and Murray was content.

“I think if you would have told me going into this weekend — having 10 forwards, one of them being an affiliate, and then tonight just nine — that we would have taken four out of six, we would have certainly taken it,” Murray said. “It’s hard when you get the first two. You want to try to get the last one, especially when it’s 2-1 going into the third. You need somebody to make a play, but unfortunately they get a couple there and put the game out of the reach.”

ICINGS: Former Wheat Kings defenceman Jacob Hoffrogge was out of the Raiders lineup on Saturday … Quinn Mantei led the Wheat Kings with four shots on net … The game took two hours, 28 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Prince Albert won 39-28 … Michels and Petr both had five points on the road trip … Brandon next sees action at Westoba Place when the Raiders visit on Friday … Wheat Kings prospect Jaxon Jacobson became the first player in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League to put up 100 points in a season since the 2008-09 campaign when he had a goal and two assists in a 5-1 victory over the Winnipeg Bruins on Saturday. Jacobson, who didn’t turn 15 until Dec. 11, missed part of the season due to an injury he suffered in the WHL pre-season.

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