Hitmen rally to sweep Wheat Kings

VIRDEN — The Calgary Hitmen advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals on Thursday at Tundra Oil and Gas Place, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 4-2 in Game 4 to sweep their Western Hockey League quarterfinal series.

Calgary received its goals from Kale Dach, Harrison Lodewyk, Ethan Moore and Julien Maze, with Grayson Burzynski and Chase Surkan replying for Brandon in front of a crowd of 1,216.

Calgary won twice in overtime at home, 1-0 in Game 1 and 6-5 in Game 2, and in Virden on Tuesday, earned a 3-1 victory with an empty-net goal.

“I don’t think anyone thought we would get swept in this series,” Wheat Kings captain Caleb Hadland said. “It’s disappointing but it what it is.”

Ruzicka, who was emotional after the loss, could only think of the goodbyes that lay ahead.

“It’s bad,” Ruzicka said. “We have a great group in our room and it’s over. Some guys are going to play on other teams so it’s hard.”

Brandon is the third team to be eliminated from the playoffs, after the Everett Silvertips swept the Portland Winterhawks and the Kelowna Rockets won four in a row against the Kamloops Blazers.

Two more series could end on Friday.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his club certainly started well, but lost the thread as the game went on.

“I thought the first probably 10, 12 minutes were some of our best hockey of the year,” Murray said. “We came out flying and our execution was really good. I think we took a couple of minors in the first that maybe took the momentum away. It was a back-and-forth game going into the third and they get one right at the end of the power play as it expired and one off the rush and that’s the difference.

“It was the story of the series, we had trouble putting the puck in the net and it’s a tough time to go dry.”

Brandon got the start it wanted for the first time in the series after Jordan Gavin rushed the puck into the Calgary zone. He threw a pass out front that Jimmy Egan fanned on but the puck landed on the stick of Burzynski, who fired it past goalie Eric Tu two minutes 27 seconds into the game.

Brandon widened the lead 11 minutes later with its first power-play goal when Burzynski found Joby Baumuller in the slot and he made a no-look backhand pass to Surkan that the rookie fired home to put the Wheat Kings up 2-0.

The key to scoring against a red-hot goalie is to capitalize on second and third chances, and the Hitmen put that into practice 5:06 into the middle frame when Dach found a second rebound and shovelled it past Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka to put his team on the board.

The game grew increasingly physical in the second period, with heavy hits on both sides. But it was inadvertent contact that nearly had a huge impact when Brandon’s Nick Johnson took a double minor for an accidental high stick that drew blood.

The Wheat Kings, who have struggled against the Hitmen’s outstanding power play, managed to kill it off without allowing much, drawing a warm ovation from an attentive crowd in Virden.

“In the game where you need a big push, they did and we maybe got on our heels a little bit,” Murray said. “That’s what playoff hockey is all about, is get momentum back and get ready for your next shift. I thought after we killed the four-minute penalty that the guys out there did a heckuva job and I thought the guys who were sitting around for four minutes came out a little flat after that.

“To me, with how big the kill was, the response after the kill wasn’t great.”

The next penalty kill wouldn’t go as well. With Brett Wilson in the box for hooking 7:12 into the third period, the Hitmen kept pressing after a good effort by the Wheat Kings and Lodewyk tied the game one second after the penalty ended on a rebound off his original shot from just outside the crease.

The winner came off a pass into the middle in the Calgary zone that was intercepted. The Hitmen came back up the ice and Moore launched a missile over the shoulder of Ruzicka to give his team its first lead.

It was also his fourth winning goal in the four-game series.

“It was super awesome,” Moore said. “It was a tight series all along, a one-goal game each game. Just to be able to get those game winners was pretty awesome.”

Just over three minutes later, Hitmen forward Landon Amrhein landed a hit from behind on Johnson in front of the Brandon bench that sent his helmet flying as he crashed face first to the ice, sending the Wheat Kings to the power play. The Wheat Kings, who went 1-for-10 on the power play in the series, didn’t put a shot on net.

Brandon pulled Ruzicka with 1:57 remaining, but were unable to create any great scoring chances before Maze found the empty net 41 seconds later to put the game, and the series, away.

“They’re a solid team,” Moore said. “We just needed to stick to our structure. They play a hard game and we were able to capitalize on our chances.”

Hadland thought his club, which was outscored 14-8 — a deceptively wide margin because of two empty netters by Calgary — was right there all series.

“Every game was a one-goal game up until the end,” Hadland said. “It was a helluva series but I thought we deserved a little better.”

Ruzicka made 25 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Tu stopping 28 shots for the Hitmen.

Brandon went 1-for-3 on the power play, with Calgary unsuccessful in five chances.

Calgary head coach Dustin Friesen said his club weathered the early storm and fought its way back.

“We just got better and better throughout the game,” Friesen said. “We knew they were going to come really hard but we just kind of stuck with it for the first and got better in the second and won that period, which is big, and then I think we played a really good third period.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin, F Easton Odut and F Carter Klippenstein plus healthy scratches F Gunnar Gleasman, F Ahmad Fayad, D Cam Allard, D Cruz Jim and D Daniil Skvortsov … Brett Wilson and Luke Mistelbacher led the Wheat Kings with five shots each on net … The game took two hours, 24 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Calgary won 33-30.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com