Allard leads Wheaties past Broncos

Cameron Allard scored his first two Western Hockey League goals and Joby Baumuller and Jaxon Jacobson also sniped twice as the Brandon Wheat Kings spanked the visiting Swift Current Broncos 9-4 at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Wednesday.

Brandon (7-7-1-0) received its other goals from Carter Klippenstein, Nick Johnson and Jimmy Egan, with Jace McFaul, Stepan Kuryachenkov, Marek Ročák and Caleb Potter replying for Swift Current (6-8-1-0) in front of a crowd of 1,775.

“Obviously we have some offensive talent coming from everywhere, and even me now,” Allard said. “We have things to work on in the D-zone, but when we have that extra pillow to rely on, even if we give up four, we just scored nine. It’s obviously not a great thing but it helps sometimes.”

The game was played in the wake of news released Wednesday evening that Broncos head coach Dean DeSilva has been suspended as the WHL investigates an on-ice incident at a team practice.

Broncos assistant coach Regan Darby assumed the head coaching duties in the absence of DeSilva, a former Everett Silvertips assistant coach who was hired by Swift Current in July.

The Broncos had similar issues two years ago when Devan Praught violated the league’s standards of conduct at a practice and never returned to the job.

On the ice, Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his team’s offensive ability solved some problems on Wednesday.

“We can put the puck in the net,” Murray said. “We got down again 2-1 in the first eight minutes and then I thought we settled in. After we gave up two (goals), I thought we played pretty solid. It was unfortunate we gave that one up at the end of one but it was a pretty solid second period.”

When the goals started to come on Wednesday, they simply didn’t stop.

The Broncos struck seven minutes four seconds into the opening frame when Parker Rondeau found Jace McFaul in the slot for a quick one-timer past Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka.

The Wheat Kings answered on the next shift, with Allard wristing a shot from near the blue-line that found its way through net-front traffic and past Swift Current goalie Joey Rocha.It was the first of his WHL career.

“It was awesome,” Allard said. “There have been a couple of close calls so far and to finally see one go in was awesome. That was the ideal shot I think, it was what I pictured in my head. It was great.”

Brandon has often been a generous host this season, and on the next shift, Kuryachenkov was found all alone and the Russian forward blasted a shot into the net to restore the one-goal lead.

The three goals came in just 48 seconds.

Then, just 63 seconds later, the top line produced a tic-tac-toe goal with Jacobson converting on a pass by Caleb Hadland and the game was 2-2.

As it turned out, the Wheat Kings were only getting started.

Defenceman Grayson Burzynski located Klippenstein in the slot for a quick shot into the top of the net and Brandon had its first lead, and four minutes later, Baumuller was stymied on the breakaway but kept hold of the puck, skated into the slot and surprised Rocha with a shot into the corner.

The Broncos showed signs of life before the period ended, however. On the power play, Ročák put a rebound in with 14.7 seconds left in the period, and the Wheat Kings led 4-3 after 20 minutes.

Brandon scored its fifth goal 6:53 into the middle frame when the puck bounced into the slot after a strong forecheck behind the net and Johnson batted it out of the air past Rocha. Just 39 seconds later, Allard scored again on another long wrister.

That spelled the end of the night for Rocha, who was replaced by Aiden Eskit, the younger brother of former Brandon goalie Ethan Eskit.

Not much changed, however, with Baumuller tipping a net-front pass by him 20 seconds later on the rookie goalie’s first shot.

At the other end — they did skate in the Brandon zone sometimes too — Ruzicka made a terrific pad save to deny the shifty Kuryachenkov when he came in all alone on a short breakaway.

With 1:57 left in the period, Egan backhanded a shot past Eskit on a rebound for his first WHL goal and Brandon had an 8-3 lead.

Swift Current responded four minutes into the third period on a weird one.

Potter dumped the puck into the Brandon zone from the far side of the blue-line and it ricocheted strangely off the back wall, hit Ruzicka and bounced into the net to bring the visitors back within four.

Swift Current had some momentum, and then a power play as well, but Brandon killed it off, came back up the ice and Hadland once again found Jacobson at the side of the net to make it 9-3 with 13:23 left and put the game to bed.

With five minutes left, Mistelbacher broke in down the wing and sent a wicked backhand shot over Eskit’s shoulder that hit the post and bounced out. The game carried on even after the goal horn sounded, with the play ending with a fight between Klippenstein and Hudson Darby.

A video review showed the puck stayed out but enough damage had already been done.

“They’re fun to watch,” Murray said of his team’s offensive ability. “You see a little bit of everything. We have a lot of depth and a number of guys who can produce and a lot of IQ on our team. When guys are clicking, they can execute pretty nice plays. Some of those were pretty nice tonight.”

Ruzicka made 27 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Rocha and Eskit combining to stop 30 shots for the Broncos.

Both power plays went 1-for-3.

Swift Current assistant coach Roshen Jaswal said his team simple wasn’t good enough for long enough.

“I think we started out pretty good, and we talked about having consistency in our play throughout games, and I think our consistency lacked today,” Jaswal said. “They obviously have some high-octane players who took advantage of that.”

After playing 12 of their first 15 games at home, Brandon heads out on the road to meet the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday at 8 p.m. (CT) and the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday at 8 p.m.

“We’ll get on the bus happy with 10 hours to Lethbridge (today),” Allard said. “It will be fun. Now we’re looking at the next chapter and the next 15. It’s one at time every single day, and we’ll try to start another streak here.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured players D Merrek Arpin, D Adam Hlinsky, F Ryan Boyce and Easton Odut, plus Chase Surkan, who is away at the U17 Hockey Challenge … Former Wheat Kings forward Tony Wilson was a scratch for Swift Current due to injury … Wheat Kings defenceman Max Lavoie scored his first goal on Saturday and nearly had his second on Wednesday but rang a shot off the crossbar … Baumuller led the Wheat Kings with eight shots on net … The game took two hours, 20 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, the Wheat Kings won 37-19.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com