Sivertson hat trick sinks Wheat Kings

Jonah Sivertson had a hat trick as the Prince Albert Raiders snapped the Brandon Wheat Kings’ three-game winning streak on Saturday, handing the visitors a 6-2 defeat in Western Hockey League action at Art Hauser Centre.

Prince Albert (9-8-1-2) also received goals from Kyle Obobaifo, Maddix McCagherty and Athens Shingoose, with Kris Muissu replying twice for Brandon (14-7-0-1) in front of a crowd of 2,614.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his club, which was playing its third game in four nights after a 6-1 victory over the Wenatchee Wild on Friday, the Black and Gold gala on Thursday and a 6-2 win over the Portland Winterhawks on Wednesday, simply didn’t have a good effort.

“It was kind of a waste of a day,” Murray said. “It was a tough turnaround from last night but it was a waste to get up here early and give ourselves a chance and then it seemed over early. It was disappointing.”

The Wheat Kings had to weather an immediate storm off the opening faceoff, including a glorious opportunity by Raiders star defenceman Brock Cripps as the hosts put two shots on net in the first 45 seconds.

The Raiders opened the scoring seven minutes 40 seconds into the opening frame on a fortunate hometown bounce. A shot by Darius Hordal hit a body in front and fell at the feet of Obobaifo, who sent a quick shot past Brandon goalie Ryley Budd.

The hosts made it 2-0 five minutes later when Cripps took advantage of a Brandon line change to find McCagherty up the ice, and he made a nice move before snapping a shot over Budd’s blocker.

The back breaker later in the period came in odd circumstances.

Wheat Kings Gunnar Gleasman knocked the wind out of himself when he hit a Raiders defenceman during a play in which Prince Albert iced the puck. Instead of getting him to the bench, Brandon was penalized in a situation Murray said he had never seen before.

“They iced it and the faceoff is in their end and we have the ability to keep a line out there or change it,” Murray said. “I wanted to keep that line out there and give them some with an O-zone faceoff but Gleasman came over to the bench and said he couldn’t go. He was winded, he couldn’t talk, he couldn’t breathe. He knocked the wind out of himself.

“I tried to pull him off and send Joby (Baumuller) out there for him for some relief and the referee said ‘No, you can’t do that change.’ I said to Gunnar ‘Can you go?’ And he said no, so I said ‘Just stand beside the bench and when the puck is dropped, you come off and Joby jump on.’

“The referee didn’t like that and rang us up with a delay of game. That’s the first time in my career … when a player is injured, he should be able to come off. I’m going to get some clarity from the league myself on why that was a penalty.”

Regardless of its legitimacy, the call immediately led to a power-play goal by Sivertson when he was set up in the slot. The only good news for Brandon was that Gleasman returned in the second period after heading to the dressing room following the play.

The Raiders made it 4-0 early in the second period when the Waywayseecappo product Shingoose curled into the high slot and fired a shot that beat Budd on the glove side for his second goal of the season.

Brandon finally put some pressure on midway through the game when they went to back-to-back power plays and had some good chances but couldn’t find the back of the net.

Late in the period, Jaxon Jacobson went in on a breakaway and Bass looked to make the save, but it was hard to tell where the puck was so it went to a video review and was quickly judged to be no goal.

Brandon’s momentum carried over into the third period.

The Wheat Kings finally broke through 11 seconds into their third power play when Muissu sent a seeing-eye shot into the far corner of the net as Brady Turko furnished a screen in front of Prince Albert goalie Steele Bass at the 3:56 mark.

They got back within two goals five minutes later, again on the power play, when Jaxon Jacobson found Muissu for a backdoor shot into the empty net.

Just 48 seconds later, however, an ill-advised Brandon pass up the middle led to a turnover in the slot and Sivertson restored the three-goal lead off a pass by Obobaifo.

“We had some looks and it was good to get a couple,” Murray said. “I thought for a minute there when it got to 4-2 that there was a chance of coming back, but they made it 5-2 right after that.”

Brandon pulled Budd with more than three minutes remaining and Sivertson found the empty net with 2:32 remaining to salt the game away.

Both Budd and Steele made 26 saves.

Brandon went 2-for-4 on the power play, with Prince Albert scoring once in two chances.

In their previous meetings, the Wheat Kings won 5-4 in overtime at home on Oct. 18, and the Raiders earned a 4-2 decision at home on Oct. 28.

The teams next meet when the Raiders visit on Dec. 16, with the Wheat Kings heading back to Saskatchewan on Jan. 16. The six-game season series ends in Brandon on Feb. 15.

The Wheat Kings next see action when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors at home on Friday.

“It’s been a busy week,” Murray said. “I think we’ve played the most games in the league. It’s been a grind and we’ve been leaning on a lot of guys heavily. I know guys are tired and we’ll take some time hopefully to get recharged.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without D Nigel Boehm (second game of two-game suspension), plus four injured players, D Josh McGregor, F Levi Ellingsen, F Jimmy Egan and F Aidan Foster … F Prabh Bhathal returned from a two-game suspension … Muissu led the Wheat Kings with eight shots on net … The game took two hours, 31 minutes to play. It started at 8:09 (CT) due to billet appreciation night … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 37-30.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com