Cozens leads Hurricanes past Wheaties in shootout

Luke Cozens had two goals and five assists as the Lethbridge Hurricanes beat the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings 8-7 in a wild Western Hockey League shootout at VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Friday.

Lethbridge (5-13-0-1), which sits last in the Eastern Conference, also received two goals from Logan Wormald and Owen Berge and singles from Shane Smith and Tomas Malinek, while Dylan Ronald and Luke Mistelbacher scored twice for Brandon (7-8-1-0) and Caleb Hadland, Brady Turko and Nick Johnson sniped once in front of a crowd of 3,497.

Brandon general manager and head coach Marty Murray said it was a hard game to watch.

“I don’t know where to begin,” Murray said. “I know there are some things I’m going to get in trouble for saying. Obviously seven kills definitely hurt us and the five-on-threes. We have to stay disciplined and find ways to keep the puck out of the net, make saves and we need penalty kills to get it done.”

Brandon raced out to a 2-0 lead, with Ronald scoring one minute 41 seconds into the game, and Turko putting a rebound behind Lethbridge goalie Koen Cleaver 18 seconds later on Brandon’s second shot.

Shockingly, the Hurricanes led 5-2 nine minutes later as Brandon utterly imploded.

Smith ripped a shot past Brandon goalie Jayden Kraus on a power play 3:40 into the game on Lethbridge’s first shot, and Cozens was found in the slot and wired a one-timer past Kraus on their second shot. After Wormald gave the Hurricanes their first lead, the Wheat Kings sent the hosts to back-to-back five-on-threes, and paid a heavy price when Berge scored a pair of power-play goals 56 seconds apart.

That ended the night for Kraus, who allowed five goals on nine shots and was replaced by Filip Ruzicka. The Hurricanes were 3-for-3 on the power play at that point.

Incredibly, the game was still tied up after 20 minutes.

Ronald scored his second when he sent a shot through Cleaver’s five-hole, with Jordan Gavin earning an assist and his 200th point in his 223-game WHL career.

Brandon’s quick-strike offence then struck twice in 40 seconds late in the period. Mistelbacher sniped with the teams playing 4-on-4 when he was set up by Jaxon Jacobson and sent the puck between Cleaver’s legs, where it hit his pad and bounced in, and Hadland scored his eighth of the season before the period ended.

After a slower start in the middle frame, the hosts retook the lead at the 10:18 mark when Malinek blasted a shot over the glove of Ruzicka 10:18 for his first WHL goal, but Mistelbacher scored his second off a Lethbridge turnover in the neutral zone when Jacobson found the overage sniper 37 seconds later.

Just 13 seconds after that, Cozens scored again to make 7-6 for Lethbridge, but 46 seconds later, Mistelbacher outbattled a Lethbridge defender behind the net and sent a pass out from to his fellow overager Johnson, who tied the game again.

That spelled the end of the night for Cleaver, who was replaced by newcomer Brody Rotar, who stopped all 17 shots he faced.

The Hurricanes scored the winner 3:38 into the third period when Wormald put the puck between Ruzicka’s legs off the rush.

Brandon lost Burzynski and Mistelbacher with 3:20 remaining — Mistelbacher fought after his linemate Jacobson was slammed into the boards following a whistle and was shaken up — and then the Wheat Kings took another penalty with 1:04 left.

The visitors pulled Ruzicka with a minute left to make it 5-on-5 but neither team scored.

Kraus and Ruzicka made 20 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Cleaver and Rotar stopping 30 shots for the Hurricanes. Brandon went 0-for-2 on the power play, with Lethbridge scoring three goals in seven chances.

If any highlights could be found in an ugly, ugly night of hockey, two Wheat Kings made their WHL debuts on Friday, including 16-year-old forward Carson Ralph and Russian defenceman Daniil Skvortsov, who Brandon claimed off waivers on Thursday. Murray actually drove to Calgary to pick Skvortsov up earlier in the day.

“I thought they were fine,” Murray said. “Obviously with Daniil getting thrown right into it, I thought he got better as the game went on. With Ralph, you’re excited in your first game. I thought he brought some good energy. It was a good experience for him.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Adam Hlinsky, D Merrek Arpin, F Easton Odut and F Ryan Boyce, plus Chase Surkan is away the U17 World Challenge … Nigel Boehm was a healthy scratch … Mistelbacher led the Wheat Kings with 10 shots on net … The game took an interminable two hours, 48 minutes to play, which is unheard of in a game that didn’t go to a shootout or have a significant delay … In the faceoff circle, both teams won 34 draws … The Wheat Kings meet the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday at 8 p.m. (CST).

» pbergson@brandonsun.com