Brandon tops Moose Jaw again

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This article was published 16/02/2025 (293 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings connected for three power-play goals as they earned points for the eighth consecutive game with a 6-2 victory over the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors in Western Hockey League action at Westoba Place on Saturday.

Brandon (28-16-4-3) received two goals from Nick Johnson and Joby Baumuller and singles from Dominik Petr and Carter Klippenstein, with Nolan Paquette and Russell’s Aiden Ziprick replying for Moose Jaw (11-37-4-2) in front of a crowd of 3,753.

The Wheat Kings are 7-1-1-1 in their last 10 games, and haven’t lost in regulation since they fell 3-2 to the Prince George Cougars on Jan. 24.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it’s been a remarkable stretch for his team, which beat the Swift Current Broncos 7-4 on Tuesday and Moose Jaw 6-3 on Friday despite playing with a battered lineup that has allowed them to dress just 10 forwards and six defencemen with the addition of call-up defenceman Cameron Allard.

“Credit to the guys,” Murray said. “They’re out working and we’re getting contributions from a lot of different guys. We’ve played the last three games with 10 forwards and I think we scored 19 goals, so that’s pretty impressive if you take a step back and consider what they’re going through.

“It’s fun to see them having fun and everybody being involved.”

Brandon played without defencemen Luke Shipley (upper body, week-to-week) and Merrek Arpin (upper body, week-to-week) plus forwards Roger McQueen (upper body, week-to-week) Jaxon Jacobson (lower body, week-to-week), Easton Odut (upper body, indefinite) and Caleb Hadland (lower body, day-to-day).

Johnson said his team simply keeps finding a way.

“It’s been a long week for sure,” Johnson said. “Especially that day trip to Swift, that was a gritty win for sure. I think that translated into the next two games. Finding wins in small things is really helping our team to continue rolling. It’s what we need to do.”

It took one minute nine seconds for Brandon to hit the scoreboard. After a Moose Jaw turnover, Brandon attacked four-on-one and Petr tipped a perfect pass by Brady Turko behind Moose Jaw goalie Josh Banini.

Brandon doubled the lead 15 seconds into their second power play when Petr’s shot hit the skate of the big forward Johnson, who was camped out front, and the puck deflected past Banini to make it 2-0 seven minutes into the game.

“It was kind of funny,” Johnson said. “We always have a couple of set plays and I knew where I needed to be. I didn’t necessarily see the puck on that and got a little lucky for sure but hey, I’ll take it.”

“At first I felt it hit off my skate but I didn’t know it went into the net until I think it was Flam (Nolan Flamand) came and hugged me,” Johnson added with a chuckle.

Brandon had the first four power plays of the game, and on the fourth one the second unit struck when Klippenstein found Baumuller out front and the winger slapped it between between Banini’s legs to make it 3-0.

“Me and Klipper were moving it down low back and forth and then I moved it to him and I saw the D man turn his back towards me,” Baumuller said. “That opened up the lane and honestly I tried to get it up top but it went five-hole and went in.”

Moose Jaw began mounting its first sustained pressure late in the second period and they broke through when Paquette jumped into the play and beat Brandon goalie Ethan Eskit with a wicked shot into the top corner 16:47 into the middle frame to bring the visitors back to within two goals.

A game that had been fairly peaceful to that point erupted, with six minor penalties assessed in the final four minutes, including a double minor to Banini after Klippenstein crashed into him on a partial breakaway and the goaltender erupted.

Brandon went to its sixth power play early in the third period and Matteo Michels sent the puck out front to Klippenstein, who put it between Banini’s legs, but it was quickly waved off on the ice. Brandon celebrated anyway and the play went to a video review, where it was judged to be a good goal.

The Warriors produced a power-play goal of their own four minutes later when Lynden Lakovic set up Ziprick in the slot for a quick shot that beat Eskit to make it 4-2.

Moose Jaw pulled Banini with 3:48 remaining in regulation and Baumuller scored 24 seconds later on an unselfish feed by Jordan Gavin.

Baumuller was in his second game back after missing a pair of games due to a minor injury suffered in practice, and is now up to 12 goals in 43 games.

“It’s pretty nice,” Baumuller said of his two-goal outing. “It’s a confidence booster and something that I needed. I just have to keep playing my game.”

Brandon scored its sixth goal 70 seconds later on a broken zone entry when Flamand created a turnover, Adam Belusko skated the puck towards the net but got tangled up with some Moose Jaw defenders and Johnson picked it up and tucked it into the net between Banini’s skate and the post.

“It was a good play by Flam to turn the puck over,” Johnson said. “Bel made a power move and took both guys with him and I happened to be there and took the puck and made the same move I made on my partial breakaway and it worked out the second time. It was good.”

Murray said it was another nice outing offensively but it was by no means a perfect game.

“In the first period I thought we really moved the puck well and executed a lot of high-skill plays,” Murray said. “You have a chance to put a team to bed and we let them hang around. We had some power plays there that are opportunities to close the game out and we let them hang around and finally closed it out. I would rather not give up 40 shots.

“We did a lot of good things offensively but we don’t need to play that track-meet game where we’re back and forth.”

Johnson said it was disappointing that his club gave up 22 shots in the third period after allowing just 20 through 40 minutes.

“We’ve been talking in the room about closing out games,” Johnson said. “The post-season is coming up and that’s probably the most crucial thing. You have a one-goal lead or two-goal lead and can’t be giving up that amount of shots, especially in the third period when you’re trying to close a team out. That’s a thing we have to work on and keep talking about for sure.”

Eskit made 39 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Banini stopping 46 shots for the Warriors.

Brandon went 3-for-7 on the power play, with Moose Jaw scoring once in six chances.

“Our power play has been pretty good, probably since Christmas, especially on the road,” Murray said. “It’s nice to come home and get some power-play goals. Special teams is a difference maker and when you have opportunities on the power play, you have to take advantage of it.”

Moose Jaw head coach Mark O’Leary said his team’s mistakes were costly on a night they needed to be better defensively.

“I thought we did some really good things, similar to last night,” O’Leary said. “We have those big blunders that end up in the back of your net. We did get some big saves but we gave up way too much in terms of opportunities. What I took from this game is I just thought it was too loose both ways. We generated some looks offensively, but to do that, we did it the wrong way, cheating for offence a little bit and not going all in to check.

“Overall I just thought it was a real loose game.”

ICINGS: Gavin and Klippenstein both had a pair of assists for Brandon … Kasen Mateychuk made his WHL debut for the Warriors. The 18-year-old defenceman from Dominion City is the younger product of former Moose Jaw captain Denton … Moose Jaw defenceman Riley Thorpe slid into referee Wyatt Rapsky and while it clearly stung the official, they gave each other a tap after skating it off … Brady Turko led the Wheat Kings with eight shots on net … The game took a lengthy two hours, 36 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Moose Jaw won 42-40 … Brandon has Sunday off and meets the Saskatoon Blades on Monday afternoon at 4 o’clock and then hosts the Prince Albert Raiders on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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SATURDAY
Wheat Kings 6, Warriors 2
First Period
1. Brandon, Petr 12 (Turko, Klippenstein) 1:09.
2. Brandon, Johnson 12 (Petr, Mantei) 6:55 (pp).
Penalties — Ward MJ (slashing) 3:34, Macias MJ (elbowing) 6:39.
Second Period
3. Brandon, Baumuller 11 (Klippenstein, Ronald) 7:08 (pp).
4. Moose Jaw, Paquette 3 (Semeniuk, Lakovic) 16:47.
Penalties — Ness MJ (checking to the head) 0:59, Schmidt MJ (holding) 5:24, Baumuller Bdn (goaltender interference) 11:30, Flamand Bdn (cross checking) 16:55, Klippenstein Bdn (roughing) 17:59, Banini MJ (roughing, double minor, served by McFadden) 17:59, Ronald Bdn (hooking) 18:41, Paquette MJ (tripping) 19:59.
Third Period
5. Brandon, Klippenstein 12 (Michels, Gavin) 4:49 (pp).
6. Moose Jaw, Ziprick 11 (Lakovic, McKenzie) 8:46 (pp).
7. Brandon, Baumuller 12 (Gavin) 16:36 (en).
8. Brandon, Johnson 13 (Belusko, Flamand) 17:46.
Penalties — Ellis MJ (roughing) 3:04, Boehm Bdn (holding) 8:05, Klippenstein Bdn (high sticking) 12:41, Binder Nord Bdn (boarding) 18:10.
Shots on goal by
Brandon     14     20     18     —     52
Moose Jaw    11     9     21     —     41
Goal — Brandon: Eskit (W, 11-3-1-3). Moose Jaw: Banini (L, 3-12-0-1).
Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 3-7; Moose Jaw: 1-6.
Referees — Karlin Krieger, Wyatt Rapsky.
Linesmen — Josh Blondeau, Logan Young.
Attendance — 3,753 in Brandon.