Temple’s late goal sinks Wheat Kings

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This article was published 18/01/2025 (243 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Everett Silvertips scored three goals in the final six minutes as they rallied to beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-3 in Western Hockey League action at Angel of the Winds Arena on Friday.

Carter Bear scored twice for Everett (31-5-3-3), with Shea Busch, Cole Temple and Dominik Rymon also sniping in front of a crowd of 4,967: Brandon (20-14-3-2) received two goals from Quinn Mantei and one from Matteo Michels.

With the loss, Brandon remains in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of the eighth-place Swift Current Broncos and nine points up on the ninth-place Red Deer Rebels. At the same time, they’re just five points out of fourth place and home-ice advantage in the playoffs.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his team played well, other than some costly late mistakes.

“Overall it was a pretty good effort,” Murray said. “We were six minutes away from getting out here with a win against the best team in the league but a few brain cramps and I thought we were light on the wall in some key situations and it ended up hurting us.”

The Silvertips proved to be quick starters in each period, a lesson Brandon learned quickly.

It took the Wheat Kings more than a minute to get the puck out of their own zone to start the game, which wasn’t a good sign against the league’s top team, but they soon settled into the game and matched the hosts chance for chance in the goal-less first period.

Brandon killed two penalties and kept it even on an especially good defensive play by overage forward Nolan Flamand when he tied up Temple just as the former Regina Pat would have had a chance at an empty net.

In the second period, the Silvertips had seven shots in the first four minutes as they ratcheted up the tempo again but Brandon goalie Carson Bjarnason was square to the puck and holding it for whistles to prevent further chances.

Brandon went to its first power play four minutes in and moved the puck around smartly for 89 seconds, culminating in a shot by Mantei from near the blue-line through traffic that eluded Everett goalie Jesse Sanche.

The goal came five minutes 48 seconds into the middle frame.

After all that hard work, the game was tied just 25 seconds later. Brandonite Nolan Chastko carried the puck into the Wheat Kings zone and dropped it back to Busch, who fired a rocket past Bjarnason. Busch, who is committed to Penn State University, left the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers to join Everett in December.

Dominik Petr was certain he had restored the Wheat Kings lead 15:45 into the period when he slid the puck along the ice at Sanche. The play went to a video review, and was judged to be no goal.

Michels actually restored the Brandon lead with 1:55 remaining after he deflected a shot by Carter Klippenstein. The entire play was made possible after a pass back from Shipley, who somehow maintained possession of the puck against a multitude of determined Everett checkers as he skated deep into the zone.

The Silvertips came out hard again in the third period, firing five shots on net in the first two-plus minutes.

“That’s the pedigree of a first-place team,” Murray said of Everett’s quick starts. “That’s how they play. I thought in the first two periods they came out and then we weathered the storm and pushed back a little bit, but in the third we didn’t push back as much.”

Brandon forward Marcus Nguyen had a glorious chance to extend the lead on a breakaway but just missed the net, and a few minutes later Bear tied the game as he outmuscled a defender on the end boards, walked out front and beat Bjarnason under his arm on the short side.

Just 19 seconds later, Mantei jumped into the rush, received the puck in the high slot, skated in a few steps. outwaited a shot blocker and fired it home into the top corner.

Everett continued to press, and 11 minutes in held an 11-3 advantage in shots. At that point, what came next almost seemed inevitable.

The Silvertips tied the game for a third time 15:46 into the third period after Brandon won a faceoff all the back into their own end and couldn’t get the puck out. A failed clearing attempt was stopped at the blue-line by exceptional status defenceman Landon DuPont, whose shot was tipped by Bear for his second goal of the period.

The dagger came for Everett with 3:03 remaining when the Brandonite Temple came flying off the bench, picked up the puck, skated between a pair of Brandon defenders, made a terrific move in front and sent a shot over a sprawling Bjarnason to give the hosts their first lead. It was his 10th goal of the season.

The big goalie was pulled with 2:07 remaining and a faceoff in the Everett zone, but after several terrific chances that failed to convert, the puck ended up in the Brandon net when Rymon sent the puck down the length of the ice into the open cage with 16.4 seconds remaining.

Bjarnason made 32 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Sanche stopping 24 shots for the Silvertips.

Brandon went 1-for-2 on the power play, with Everett unsuccessful in two chances.

ICINGS: Brandon once again skated without injured forwards Roger McQueen and Easton Odut, and newly acquired D Merrek Arpin, who had to leave the team to attend to an urgent family matter. Nick Johnson returned to the Brandon lineup after suffering a minor injury in a loss to Calgary on Sunday … Everett won the previous matchup between the teams this season 4-1 on Oct. 8 … Mantei led the Wheat Kings with seven shots on net … The game took two hours, 22 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 32-21 … The trip continues when the Wheat Kings face the Vancouver Giants on Sunday at 4 p.m., the Kelowna Rockets on Tuesday at 9:05 p.m., the Kamloops Blazers on Wednesday at 9 p.m., and the Prince George Cougars on Friday at 9 p.m.

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Silvertips 5, Wheat Kings 3

First Period

No Scoring.

Penalties — Jacobson Bdn (slashing) 3:29, Boehm Bdn (interference) 12:28.

Second Period

1. Brandon, Mantei 3 (Flamand, Petr) 5:48 (pp).

2. Everett, Busch 5 (Chastko) 6:13.

3. Brandon, Michels 14 (Klippenstein, Shipley) 18:05.

Penalties — Shantz Evt (hooking) 4:19, Smith Evt (hooking) 8:23.

Third Period

4. Everett, Bear 28 (Temple, Kaplan) 7:22.

5. Brandon, Mantei 4 (Flamand, Johnson) 7:41

6. Everett, Bear 29 (DuPont) 15:46.

7. Everett, Temple 10 (MacKenzie, Bear) 16:57.

8. Everett, Rymon 20 (unassisted) 19:43 (en).

Penalties — Baumuller Bdn (roughing) 2:42, Hammell Evt (roughing) 2:42.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 6 12 9 — 27

Everett 8 12 17 — 37

Goal — Brandon: Bjarnason (L, 8-9-2-0). Everett: Sanche (W, 16-3-2-0).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 1-2; Everett: 0-2.

Referees — Connor McCracken, Jake Podann. Linesmen — Brayden Cameron, Mitchell Gibbs.

Attendance — 4,967 in Everett.