Shortstaffed Wheaties gut out win over Raiders

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This article was published 04/01/2025 (353 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Caleb Hadland scored twice as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Prince Albert Raiders 5-3 in Western Hockey League action at Art Hauser Centre on Saturday, extending their winning streak on the road to five games.

Brandon (19-11-3-2) received its other goals from prospect Prabh Bhathal, Marcus Nguyen and Jaxon Jacobson, with Niall Crocker, Aiden Oiring and Justice Christensen replying for Prince Albert (19-13-3-0) in front of a crowd of 2,473.

With just one game remaining between the teams, Brandon has taken the season series, which could be important in the ultra-tight Eastern Conference. The win also allowed Brandon to vault past Prince Albert into fourth place.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was a nice victory, especially when the team had only 10 forwards after Joby Baumuller left the game in the first period and didn’t return. “It was a real gritty effort,” Murray said. “We were shorthanded and then Joby went down in the first, which was hard because Joby has been playing some good hockey. To lose him, we had 10 forwards the rest of the night and I thought we played a real solid game. The only hiccups were the penalties at the end where they got a bunch of shots but overall it was a pretty good weekend of hockey when we were so shorthanded.”

The Wheat Kings beat the Saskatoon Blades 6-2 on Friday.

In Saturday’s game, Brandon capitalized on some early giveaways by Prince Albert, taking five of the first six shots, including a partial breakaway by Matteo Michels 68 seconds into the game that was stopped by Prince Albert goalie Max Hildebrand.

The Wheat Kings took the lead three minutes three seconds in on the first WHL goal by the 15-year-old callup Bhathal. The puck bounced around high in the Prince Albert zone and when the Winnipegger got control of it, he ripped a shot over Hildebrand’s shoulder.

“I thought he has been playing with a lot more confidence,” Murray said. “The first time he was up with us, he played with a lot of confidence and then got injured, and the next time he came up, he was a little hesitant, which is totally natural, he’s a 15-year-old kid playing in the Western Hockey League. I thought he looked much more comfortable and looked like the old Prabh here this weekend. Last night he had a real good chance to score and just missed, so it was nice to see him get one early in the game and get us off on the right foot.”

Prince Albert hadn’t generated much in the first half off the period, but Brandon handed them some help when Luke Shipley took a roughing penalty in front of his own net after the play ended. It took the Raiders’ league-leading power play just 22 seconds to connect when Crocker deflected a shot by Lukas Dragicevic past Brandon goalie Alex Garrett to tie the score.

With 37.9 seconds remaining in the period, and just after Hildebrand made the 3,000th save of his WHL career, the puck popped out to Hadland, who snuck it between the goalie and his post to restore the Brandon lead.

It took 1:24 into the second period for the hosts to tie. The Roblin product Brayden Dube outbattled Charlie Elick for the puck behind the net and made a pass out front, where Oiring fired it into the top of the net.

Brandon’s goalie helped himself in an unusual way midway through the period. The puck was dumped into the Brandon zone and since Dube was nearest to it and closing on it rapidly, Garrett came out of his net and played it to Shipley, who made a quick stretch pass up the middle to a streaking Nguyen. The overage forward sent a shot past Hildebrand for his team-leading 20th goal of the season and a 3-2 Brandon lead.

The visitors made it a two-goal lead 11:15 into the middle frame on their first power play. The puck bounced around in front of Hildebrand and ended up on the stick of Jacobson near the side of the net and he ended an 11-game scoring drought.

“It’s a hard league to score in and he’s an offensive player,” Murray said. “We felt as a staff that he’s been coming and creating some chances. We look at it as creating chances but as a player you get frustrated when they don’t go in so it was nice to see him get that one. It was a big goal.”

Soon after, Garrett did his part by denying Ben Harvey on a breakaway.

Prince Albert got back within a goal with 46.3 seconds left off a stout Raiders forecheck. Elick tried ringing the puck around the boards to get it out but Christensen knocked it down and sent a shot at the net through traffic to make it 4-3.

Brandon had a glorious chance to widen the lead shorthanded seven minutes into the third period when the puck drifted into the Prince Albert zone with Nguyen in hot pursuit, but Hildebrand charged out of his net into the slot and narrowly pushed the puck away.

The Raiders went to their fourth power play with 5:27 remaining in the game and the Wheat Kings clinging to their one-goal lead., Brandon had some key shot blocks, however, as the hosts moved the puck around and had some tremendous opportunities.

Prince Albert took a timeout with 2:18 remaining and pulled Hildebrand for the extra attacker with 1:45 left. Brandon got a faceoff in the Prince Albert zone with 31.7 seconds left, and after taking a timeout, the puck came back into their end. Hadland picked it up in the middle near his own blue-line, however, and put a shot into the empty Raiders net to seal the game away with 14.3 seconds left.

The visitors were outshot 14-6 in the final frame — although they also had to kill two penalties and had no man advantages of their own — but Murray appreciated how they found a way to gut it out.

“Those tripping penalties are hard,” Murray said. “You tell the guys stick on puck, and when you do that, sometimes the stick gets in the feet and that was the case with both of those power plays they had late. We had a bend but not break (mentality) … Their power play is tops in the league so you don’t want to give them those opportunities. The guys held in and had some key blocked shots and got it done. There were parts of the third when you want to keep your foot on the gas and play in the O-zone, but at the end of the day, it’s a win and we’ll take it for sure.”

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

Hildebrand stopped 29 shots for the Raiders, while Garrett made 30 saves for the Wheat Kings for his fourth win in five games since a trade from the Everett Silvertips. Garrett has a 2.40 goals-against average and .917 save percentage in Brandon.

“He’s a veteran, he’s 19 years old, and I think he does a real good job of managing the game,” Murray said. “People might not realize it but those ones he catches or deflects up into the netting at times when we’re maybe on our heels a little bit, those are big plays. He’s been calm and composed and played great again tonight and even chipped in with an assist.”

ICINGS: Brandon’s decimated lineup was once again without its two world junior players, goalie Carson Bjarnason (Canada) and forward Dominik Petr (Czechia), plus their injured corps of goalie Ethan Eskit (upper body, undetermined), forwards Roger McQueen (upper body, indefinite), Ben Binder Nord (upper body, week to week) and Easton Odut (upper body, week to week), and D Rhett Ravndahl (upper body, undetermined) … Adam Belusko rushed over to grab the puck after Bhathal scored his milestone goal … … Nolan Flamand had his six-game point streak snapped … Four of the five penalties were for tripping, perhaps signalling a new era in the sometimes ugly rivalry between the teams … Matteo Michels led the Wheat Kings with five shots on net … The game took two hours, 22 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Prince Albert won 37-24 … The Wheat Kings next see action when the Portland Winterhawks visit Westoba Place on Friday, one day after the WHL trade deadline.

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