Mistelbacher’s hat trick tames Tigers

Luke Mistelbacher had a hat trick and Brady Turko scored twice as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 7-4 in Western Hockey League action at Co-op Place on Saturday.

Brandon (8-8-1-0) also received goals from Grayson Burzynski and Jordan Gavin, with Jonas Woo also posting a hat trick and Bryce Pickford also scoring for Medicine Hat (10-6-2-1) in front of a crowd of 3,601.

The seventh-place Wheat Kings have had a world of trouble at Co-op Place recently, last beating the fourth-place Tigers there on Dec. 4, 2021.

Brandon general manager and head coach Marty Murray said it was a relief to finally get a victory in Medicine Hat, and a nice rebound after an ugly 8-7 loss to the Lethbridge Hurricanes a night earlier.

“It feels good, especially because we were a little deflated and disappointed after last night,” Murray said. “To come back here and follow it up with a pretty strong effort against a good team, I’m proud of the guys. I thought they started well and worked hard tonight.”

As so often happens with Brandon this season, their opponent struck first when Woo had a breakaway and snuck a shot between Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka and the post seven minutes 50 seconds into the game.

Early in the second period, the Wheat Kings took the lead during a 54-second stretch when Mistelbacher scored twice.

On the first goal, Caleb Hadland outbattled some Medicine Hat defenders for the puck and got it out to Mistelbacher, who perfectly placed a shot over the shoulder of Medicine Hat goalie Carter Casey. On the second goal, he skated the puck into the Tigers zone and ripped a shot that snuck through Casey and trickled over the goal line.

Three minutes later, the Wheat Kings sent the Tigers to their third power play and they tied it when a clearing attempt failed to get the puck out and Bryce Pickford fed Woo for his second goal of the game.

But two minutes later, the Wheat Kings replied with a power-play goal of their own off the break-in when Jacobson fed Turko for his fifth of the season.

The parade to the penalty box continued less than two minutes later, with a Wheat Kings offensive zone penalty allowing the Tigers to tie it 3-3 when Pickford tucked the puck inside the post on the near side as big Kadon McCann provided a screen.

Medicine Hat buzzed for the go-ahead goal late in the second period and early in the third period, but Brandon responded next.

The fourth line created multiple turnovers in the Medicine Hat zone and the rookie callup Carson Ralph fed the overage defenceman Burzynski for a quick shot into the top of the net at the 3:27 mark as Gunnar Gleasman provided a screen. It was the 16-year-old Ralph’s second WHL game and first point.

Brandon made it a two-goal lead 6:33 in when Jimmy Egan put a shot on net that bounced into the air and was batted in by Turko. The McCreary product nearly got his hat-trick goal on a scrambled rush when his attempted pass to Egan at the net front instead slid through Casey’s legs, but the puck hit the post behind the American netminder and stayed out.

With 5:29 remaining and down 5-3, Medicine Hat pulled its goaltender for the extra attacker, and 15 seconds later, Mistelbacher hit the empty net from just inside his own blue-line to salt the game away.

But with this edition of the Wheat Kings, the scoring wasn’t done at either end.

Gavin cut hard to the net 35 seconds later on the next shift and made it a 7-3 game, and since Brandon never fails to give up a late goal in garbage time when they’re winning big, Woo blasted a slapshot past Ruzicka with 2:32 remaining.

“I think we stuck with it,” Murray said. “There were times when it wasn’t pretty, but I thought we had contributions from everybody. The obvious ones are on the scoresheet but I thought the (Prabh) Bhathal line (with Gunnar Gleasman and Ralph) gave us some real good shifts, drew a couple of penalties and I think we scored on one of them, and they scored a big goal in the third.

“It’s fun when everybody is involved and contributing. That’s what winning hockey is all about.”

Ruzicka made 36 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Casey stopping 20 shots for the Tigers. Brandon went 1-for-3 on the power play, with Medicine Hat scoring twice in four chances.

The Wheat Kings, who next see action when the Red Deer Rebels visit on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., continue to be an offensive juggernaut, with 86 goals in 17 games for an average of more than five per game. The only WHL team with more goals is Edmonton with 80, but they’ve played three more games.

“We can score, no question about it,” Murray said. “They can make some plays. We have a lot of high-end hockey IQ and we can put the puck in the net. We talk about the defensive side of it a lot, but I think if you take away last night, we’ve made some strides in that area too. It’s a big bounce back tonight.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin, D Adam Hlinsky, F Easton Odut and F Ryan Boyce, plus Chase Surkan, who won a gold medal at the U17 Hockey Challenge, and healthy scratch D Cam Allard … The Tigers held their Remembrance Day ceremony before the game, so the puck dropped at 8:10 (CST) … Mistelbacher led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 26 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Medicine Hat dominated 49-26.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson