Wheat Kings double up on Wild 6-3

Joby Baumuller scored a pair of goals as the Brandon Wheat Kings earned their first-ever victory in Wenatchee, beating the Wild 6-3 in Western Hockey League action at Town Toyota Center on Wednesday.

Brandon (27-19-1-0) received its other goals from Luke Mistelbacher, Gunnar Gleasman, Brady Turko and Jordan Gavin, although Gavin’s goal may yet be changed back to Mistelbacher. Aiden Grossklaus scored twice for Wenatchee (17-26-2-2) with one goal coming from Grady Wedman in front of a crowd of 2,279.

In their previous meetings after the former Winnipeg Ice moved to Washington state, Brandon beat Wenatchee 5-2 at home on Feb. 5, 2025, and fell 4-3 in a shootout on the road on Oct. 21, 2023. Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it wasn’t a Picasso but it was good enough for two points.

“I thought we were resilient,” Murray said. “We got down one early and scored a couple to get us back in the game. It wasn’t perfect by any means but this road trip is tough. We played last night and travelled to get here at 3 in the morning for a 6 o’clock game while they’re waiting for us.

“I thought it was a big character win for the guys.”

Brandon had a good start with five shots in the first three minutes but a mistake proved costly. They turned the puck over high in their own zone and a shot by Mathias Silaban hit Wedman, who picked it up and found Grossklaus in front of Brandon goalie Jayden Kraus for the opening goal three minutes 30 seconds into the game.

Two minutes later, Kraus had to be sharp to deny another chance on a two-on-one low when he caught a shot by Nolan Caffey as the hosts continued to push.

Brandon tied the game at the 12:21 mark when Baumuller got his stick on a shot by Max Lavoie, and the puck found its way off Wenatchee defender Josh Toll and past goalie Tobias Tvrznik. It was the 18-year-old forward’s league-leading 34th goal.

The Wheat Kings took their first lead when a pass by callup forward Levi Ellingsen bounced through the legs of Wild defenceman Brandon Osborne and onto the stick of Gleasman, who fired a shot past Tvrznik. The assist was Ellingsen’s first WHL point.

The Wild tied the game at the 4:21 mark of the second period when Brandon made multiple mistakes down low in their end and Grossklaus was left by himself to put the puck in over the shoulder of Kraus.

But just 15 seconds later, Mistelbacher fired a shot inside the far post to restore the lead.

When Wenatchee immediately took a penalty, Brandon had an opportunity to take control of the game, but instead allowed a two-on-one that resulted in Wedman scoring shorthanded, the second night in a row they’ve allowed a shortie.

Brandon responded again on the power play 3:07 later, with Mistelbacher firing a wicked shot into the top corner past a screen by Gavin. Mistelbacher led the flyby and the goal was originally credited to him, but despite going cleanly into the net, the goal was later changed to Gavin to the puzzlement of the Wheat Kings.

Regardless of who scored it, it was the second time Brandon had responded promptly to a Wenatchee goal.

“That was big,” Murray said. “They tied it and we got it right back. Any time you can take the life and deflate them is a big thing for us. That happened twice in the game with big goals.”

The visitors put the game away early in the third period.

Brandon went to its fourth power play, and Nick Johnson made a nice pass over to Turko in the slot for a quick shot into the top of the net as the Wheat Kings took their first two-goal lead at 5-3.

They made several dangerous turnovers in the final 10 minutes, but each time, Kraus was there to erase the mistake.

Wenatchee pulled Tvrznik for the extra attacker with 2:13 remaining, and 27 seconds later, Baumuller sent a firm shot down the ice into the middle of the net.

Kraus made 30 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Tvrznik stopping 27 shots for the Wild. Brandon went 2-for-6 on the power play, with Wenatchee unsuccessful in four chances.

So far on the trip, the Wheat Kings beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-4 on Jan. 21 en route to the U.S. Division, fell 4-1 to the Everett Silvertips last Friday, beat the Portland Winterhawks 3-2 in overtime on Saturday and lost 7-3 to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday.

The Wheat Kings finish up the trip with games against the Tri-City Americans on Friday and Spokane Chiefs on Saturday.

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin, D Dylan Ronald, F Easton Odut, F Chase Surkan and F Carter Klippenstein, plus healthy scratches D Ethan Young and F Ryan Boyce … Wild captain Josh Fluker of Boissevain is out for the season with a lower-body injury … Brandon is 21-1-1-0 when leading after two periods … Mistelbacher led the Wheat Kings with five shots on net … The game took two hours, 20 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 36-27.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com