Surkan, Mistelbacher fill hats in win

Chase Surkan and Luke Mistelbacher each had hat tricks as the Brandon Wheat Kings earned a measure of revenge for a pair of earlier defeats to the Moose Jaw Warriors, handing the visitors an 8-4 defeat in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Sunday.

Brandon (4-6-1-0) received its other goals from Grayson Burzynski and Dylan Ronald, with Mathieu Lajoie scoring twice and Jan Trefny and Connor Schmidt also sniping for Moose Jaw (7-6-1-0) in front of a crowd of 1,930.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his power play, which went 5-for-7 with four goals from the top unit, was a sight to behold.

“It’s a difference maker for sure,” Murray said. “You have five guys out there — two units, but the one unit did most of the damage — and the guys have his IQs and read off each other so well and can make plays. When they’re dialled in, it’s a recipe for success. There were some fun goals they scored, they move the puck around really well.”

The power play is now clicking at a ridiculous 45.2 per cent this season, with 19 goals in 42 opportunities. At the other end of the league, the Spokane Chiefs have three power-play goals in 43 chances to put them at 7.0 per cent, and nine clubs are under 20 per cent.

“We just move the puck really well,” Mistelbacher said. “On the first unit, we have threats everywhere. They don’t know who to cover.”

“We don’t really have any set plays,” Surkan added. “We just kind of react to what they bring at us and it’s been working so far. We have the best power play on the league percentage-wise so we’ll have to keep it rolling.”

Brandon had the best chance in the first 10 minutes when a funny bounce behind the net put the puck out front, and Moose Jaw goalie Matthew Hutchinson made a pair of tremendous saves.

The Wheat Kings opened the scoring on the game’s first power play when Mistelbacher fired a low shot that somehow found its way through Hutchinson. The goal, which came 14 minutes 34 seconds into the contest, was the second game in a row Brandon opened the scoring after handing those honours to their opponents in their first nine contests.

“I think we started on time again,” Mistelbacher said. “That’s going to be a focus for us. We’re 2-0 getting the first goal so it definitely works.”

The Wheat Kings gave the visitors a 60-second five-on-three early in the second period, but managed to limit the opportunities and killed them off. A couple of minutes later, Mistelbacher received a pass in the slot and blasted it by Hutchinson to put the hosts up 2-0.

It took just over two minutes for the Warriors to respond, with the Czech forward Trefny scoring his first WHL goal when the puck unexpectedly popped out into the slot and he fired a quick shot by Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka.

Brandon went to its second power play on the next shift, and Surkan was sent in all alone, where the rookie sniper deked around Hutchinson for his 10th goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later, Brandon’s fourth line created a goal when a loose puck bounced out front to Burzynski, who fired it over Hutchinson’s shoulder.

That spelled the end of the evening for the veteran goalkeeper, with Kyle Jones taking over.

The newcomer promptly ended up defending against another Brandon power play, and Surkan re-directed a pass by him to make it 5-1. The Wheat Kings were then a perfect 3-for-3 with the extra man.

Moose Jaw had some good looks early in the final frame but just couldn’t hit the net, and Brandon scored its fourth power-play goal soon after on an incredible crease-front feed by Jordan Gavin to the rookie Surkan for his first WHL hat trick.

“It’s crazy,” Mistelbacher said of Surkan. “He’s just such a good player. He’s always open.”

“He’s just really smart. He’s always finding open ice and has a great finish.”

The Warriors ended up with another first when Lynden Lakovic jumped on a turnover and made a nice pass to Lajoie to make it 6-2, but Brandon responded 57 seconds later when Mistelbacher got his hat trick goal.

By that time, the pond hockey was well underway, and Moose Jaw got its first power-play goal when Schmidt scored midway through the period, and a second by Lajoie with 5:11 remaining to make it 7-4.

Ronald then closed out the scoring with yet another power-play goal with 30 seconds remaining.

“For the first period, I thought we were just OK and then I thought we had a real strong second period overall,” Murray said. “In the third period, we didn’t dwell on it after the game but we’ll talk about it this week. I thought we were a little loose. The one thing big thing for was I thought Ruzicka played really well and we let a couple in late, which is unfortunate because I thought he deserved better than that.”

Ruzicka made 39 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Hutchinson and Jones combining to stop 40 shots for the Warriors.

Moose Jaw scoring twice in three power-play chances.

Moose Jaw head coach Mark O’Leary said his team simply took too many penalties, and that was a massive difference maker.

“We were undisciplined, and when you do that against a really good power play, that sets you up for failure right off the bat,” O’Leary said. “I just thought we were uncompetitive around 50-50 pucks, and I thought Brandon wanted pucks a little more than we did. We were in good spots and available to do the job, we just didn’t get the job done.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin and Adam Hlinsky, plus healthy scratches F Gunnar Gleasman and F Ryan Boyce … Caleb Hadland blew up Warriors defenceman Cohen Williams with a massive hit on the forecheck early in the first in a preview of the game ahead … Jaxon Jacobson had four assists and is tied for the league lead with 18 … Surkan has 10 of his 12 goals on the power play … Gavin had three assists and Burzynski had two for Brandon… Hadland earned his 100th WHL point with an assist on Mistelbacher’s hat trick goal … Surkan led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 28 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Moose Jaw won 46-36 … The Wheat Kings return to action when they visit the Regina Pats at Brandt Centre on Wednesday at 8 p.m. (CDT).

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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