Wheat Kings rally to beat Raiders 5-2

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This article was published 19/02/2025 (290 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings scored four times in the third period as they came back to beat the visiting Prince Albert Raiders 5-2 at Westoba Place on Tuesday to vault past them in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference playoff race action.

The Wheat Kings received their goals from Jordan Gavin, Nolan Flamand, Dominik Petr, Carter Klippenstein and Quinn Mantei, with Dayce Derkatch and Lukas Dragicevic replying for the Raiders in front of a crowd of 2,216.

With the win, Brandon (30-16-4-3) now sits one point ahead of Prince Albert (31-19-3-1) with one game in hand. It was the final game in the season series, which was won by the Wheat Kings.

Since the two division leaders earn the top two spots in the conference playoffs, Brandon slid into second place with the win behind the Central Division’s Medicine Hat Tigers (37-16-3-1).

“That’s a really big thing for us,” Petr said of taking the East Division lead. “It’s our goal and now it’s in our hands. Now we have to handle it but we’re going to enjoy it tonight and get back to work tomorrow.”

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his team, which is 8-0-1-1 in its last 10 games, has been terrific despite facing some real challenges on the injury front.

“Hats off to the kids,” Murray said. “They’re playing extremely hard, and there’s that next-man-up mentality. We’ve had guys get out of their usual roles and really excel. It’s fun to see. We’ve had contributions up and down the lineup. One of the strengths of our team is having depth. It’s not like it’s one line carrying us, it’s a group effort.”

Brandon, which has won five games in a row, remains 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) and Easton Odut (upper body, indefinite).

With Caleb Hadland’s return to the lineup, however, the Wheat Kings dressed 11 forwards and six defencemen with call-up blue-liner Cameron Allard again in the lineup.

“When you have injuries and stuff happens, you have to step up a bit more in your role,” Flamand said. “I think our team has accepted that incredibly. We all knew these were big points for us in the standings and we had four in a row (in five nights) and we knew this was a big one, and they had a four-in-five coming into this as well.

“Obviously we were hungry and everybody bought in and that’s what we needed.”

In the only game of the evening in the WHL, neither team was able to find the back of the net in a tight-checking period that saw second chances entirely eliminated. Both teams did hit cross bars but the pucks stayed out.

The best chance of the game came two minutes five seconds into the second period with Brandon on the power play. The puck bounced high in the air at the Prince Albert blue-line, and as two Wheat Kings unsuccessfully jumped to hold it in, Raiders forward Aiden Oiring zoomed around them on a long breakaway.

Brandon forward Caleb Hadland caught up to him enough to get a hook on him, and it was quickly determined to be a penalty shot.

Oiring skated in on Bjarnason’s glove hand, came across the crease and missed the net with the shot, and Brandon went back to the power play for 1:40.

The Raiders struck two minutes later on an odd play. Derkatch’s shot was stopped by Bjarnason and bounced behind the net. As the big goalie looked for the puck, Derkatch came around the net for the wrap-around goal to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

The puck went up and down the ice, with dangerous-looking chances being stopped or missing the net until Dragicevic wristed a shot over Bjarnason’s shoulder from the faceoff dot 14:34 into the period to give the Raiders a 2-0 lead.

Just 48 seconds later, Brandon came up the ice on a two-on-one and Matteo Michels made an outstanding feed to the net front, where Gavin outmuscled defender Tyrone Sobry for a tip behind Prince Albert goalie Max Hildebrand.

Brandon went to a third power play 71 seconds later and hit two posts, and then carried the momentum for the rest of the period as they had their best sustained pressure of the game.

“Getting down 2-0, I thought we got that goal in the second period to give us a life — I thought we were a little dead there — and we had some real good opportunities after that,” Murray said. “That gave us some life going into the third period.”

The Wheat Kings had another power play a minute into the third period and hit yet another crossbar

As the power play progressed, Brandon broke through when Flamand sent a pass into the slot, where it hit the skate of Prince Albert defenceman Linden Burrett and bounced into the net.

“To be honest with you, I wasn’t even trying to shoot to score that one,” Flamand said. “I saw Johnny (Nick Johnson) back door and I thought if I get this through the first stick that it will probably be going in because no one had him covered but luckily enough, we had the opposite team’s foot direct it into the net so that was pretty awesome. Honestly, it was probably the biggest goal of the game and turned things around for us so it was pretty big.”

The goal was Flamand’s 20th of the season, tying both the game and his season high he set a year ago.

Prince Albert hit a little iron of their own three minutes later when Rilen Kovacevic sent a shot off the post that flew over the glass.

Brandon took its first lead 8:38 into the third period when Petr grabbed control of the puck in the neutral zone and broke in on a quick two-on-one with Klippenstein. Petr showed pass but fired a low shot past Hildebrand for his 15th goal of the season.

“I think Turks (Brady Turko) did a great job on the wall and we somehow got a two-on-one,” Petr said. “In the past couple of games I’ve had two-on-ones and it didn’t really work, so I chose the simple way and shot on net. I’m happy it ended up in the back of the net.”

Brandon has swooned at times this season playing with the lead in the back half of the third period, and Prince Albert subsequently had some good chances. But Murray said his team has learned from past struggles.

“Over the course of this last 10 games, it’s having belief and being able to play in a close game,” Murray said. “That’s part of the maturing and understanding what junior hockey is about, being able to play in those pressure situations. I think our guys are getting it and I think there is just that confidence and swagger that we’re going to get it done.”

Brandon took a two-goal lead with 3:24 remaining when Turko stripped a Prince Albert defender and got the puck over to Klippenstein, who fired a shot past Hildebrand to salt away the win with 3:24 left.

“He had a great forecheck and put some pressure on the D-man,” Klippenstein said of Turko. “He stripped it and hit me in the slot and I had to bury it for him. That was a great play by him.”

Prince Albert pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker with 2:35 remaining in regulation, and Brandon did a good job of not letting the Raiders even into their zone by loading up the blue-line.

Brandon finally put the game away for good when Mantei found the open net with 76 seconds, sparking a wild melee in the corner.

“We really just came together knowing we’re shorthanded,” Klippenstein said of the win. “We’re pulling the rope and every guy is contributing in multiple ways. They’re playing their roles and I fell that’s the key to our success.”

Bjarnason made 27 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Hildebrand stopping 32 shots for the Raiders.

Brandon went 1-for-4 on the power play, with Prince Albert unsuccessful in one chance.

Prince Albert head coach Jeff Truitt said his team simply didn’t do enough to win.

“It was kind of a sleepy start I thought by both teams,” Truitt said. “There really wasn’t much going on. We got to 2-0 and we knew the push was going to be on, and they got to 2-1 and we knew we were going to be in a dog fight after two periods.

“We knew the push was going to be on by them because there was a lot on the line but I just didn’t think we played with enough emotion and passion to seal the deal. We didn’t play hard enough and this time of the season, you need your best players to be your best players and you need performances at key times, and we didn’t get enough of them tonight.”

ICINGS: Nolan Flamand and Bjarnson took part in a sash ceremony before the game with the Manitoba Métis Federation … Turko had two assists … Mantei led the Wheat Kings with five shots on net … The game took two hours, 25 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Prince Albert won 34-28 … After playing four games in five days, Brandon next hits the ice on Friday when the Calgary Hitmen visit. The Wheat Kings head back to the InnovationPlex to meet the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday evening to round out their weekend.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson

 

Wheat Kings 5, Raiders 2
First Period
No Scoring.
Penalties — Allard Bdn (tripping) 8:59, Bench minor PA (too many men) 10:46.
Second Period
1. Prince Albert, Derkatch 3 (Smith, Chenier) 5:14.
2. Prince Albert, Dragicevic 14 (Meunier, Boychuk) 14:34.
3. Brandon, Gavin 19 (Michels, Mantei) 15:22.
Penalty shot: PA, Oiring: Miss.
Penalties — Kovacevic PA (slashing) 1:44, Oiring PA (goaltender interference) 16:33.
Third Period
4. Brandon, Flamand 20 (Nguyen, Johnson) 2:47 (pp).
5. Brandon, Petr 15 (unassisted) 8:38.
6. Brandon, Klippenstein 13 (Turko) 16:36.
7. Brandon, Mantei 7 (Turko) 18:46 (en).
Penalties — Crocker PA (slashing) 1:00, Pantelas Bdn (10-minute misconduct) 18:44, Mantei Bdn (10-minute misconduct) 18:44, Mrsic PA (10-minute misconduct) 18:44, Dragicevic PA (10-minute misconduct) 18:44.
Shots on goal by
Brandon     9     14    15     —     38
Prince Albert     8     8     13     —     29
Goal — Brandon: Bjarnason (W, 15-11-3-0). Prince Albert: Hildebrand (L, 26-13-3-0).
Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 1-4; Prince Albert: 0-1.
Referees — Taylor Burzminski, Simon Desbiens.
Linesmen — Nick Grenier, Josh Miko.
Attendance — 2,216 in Brandon.