Wheaties reel in win with three shorties

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This article was published 02/12/2023 (1059 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brett Hyland scored his first Western Hockey League hat trick and the Brandon Wheat Kings had three short-handed goals as they beat the Regina Pats 7-1 at Westoba Place on Friday.

Brandon (12-11-4-1), which adopted the moniker Wheat City Walleye for the week and wore special jerseys, received two shorthanded goals from Rylen Roersma and singles from Roger McQueen and Matteo Michels. Borya Vallis replied for Regina (10-15-1-1) in front of a crowd of 2,764.

Hyland was asked after the game if the three shorthanded goals or his first hat trick was the neater achievement. He didn’t hesitate answering.

“The three shorties has to be more impressive,” Hyland said. “It feels good to score three goals, but it feels better when the team is playing really well to our structure.”

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said he liked his team’s energy and execution. but one fact of their game was especially good.

“I thought special teams were the difference in the game,” Murray said. “We were one-for-two on the power play, but the big story is the penalty kill, not only killing six but getting three shorthanded goals as well.”

The action started early, as Brandon took a penalty 19 seconds into the game when defenceman Luke Shipley was forced to take down Regina rearguard Parker Berge as he nearly split the defence and went in all alone on Brandon goalie Carson Bjarnason.

As the Wheat Kings killed the penalty, Roersma picked the puck up in the neutral zone, went in one-on-one on Berge and managed to fire a backhander along the ice at the far post which eluded Regina goalie Ewan Huet. It was Brandon’s second shorthanded goal of the season, and also its second in three games.

The Pats took a penalty 34 seconds after the goal and following the ensuing four-on-four play, McQueen tipped in Dominik Petr’s slap pass for a power-play goal to put the hosts up 2-0 just 3:29 into the game.

Brandon nearly made it three 12 minutes into the game, but Huet came across the crease to deny a backdoor chance with his right pad. Not to be outdone, Bjarnason made a right pad save of his own on a shot through traffic.

It was an important moment, because soon after, Hyland wristed a shot from the high slot through Huet’s legs to give Brandon a 3-0 lead.

The Wheat Kings nearly had a second shorthanded goal with a minute left in the opening frame when Nate Danielson was sprung on a shorthanded breakaway, but Huet was able to deny the attempt to tuck the puck between his legs.

The Swiss netminder, who is the son of former National Hockey League goalie Cristobal Huet, was replaced in the second period by Kelton Pyne, and the backup immediately had his crossbar to thank for denying a shot by his former teammate Michels.

Brandon increased the lead with its second shorthanded goal of the game 3:35 into the middle frame. Hyland broke into the Regina zone near the boards, passed over to Danielson and went hard to the net, where the Wheat Kings captain found him with a pass that he banged in to make it 4-0.

Regina came on in the back half of the second period, and Bjarnason continued to play well when he was pressed into service, including on a two-man breakaway 12 minutes into the period when he turned aside an opportunity by Sam Oremba.

The Regina pressure finally paid off when the Pats pinned the Wheat Kings deep in their zone, and on a broken play, Valis put the puck into the wide-open net.

Before the period ended, Brandon regained the four-goal lead when Hyland, who was camped out in the slot, scored on a rebound for his third of the night and 14th goal of the season. For the third time, Danielson earned an assist on his linemate’s tally.

“That kind of surprises me that’s his first one,” Murray said. “Brett is one of those guys you lean on night in and night out. You root for those kids who work so hard to get rewarded and it’s nice to see him get the hat trick tonight.”

The hosts widened the lead 2:19 into the third period on an odd play when a two-man breakaway unexpectedly developed. Michels and Roersma went in together, with Roersma making one extra pass to give the former Pat his first goal as a Wheat King.

Brandon scored its third shorthanded goal when Roersma came out of the box with the teams playing 4-on-3. Caleb Hadland worked hard to chip the puck to him and the fleet Alberta winger raced down the ice and fired the puck past Pyne.

Roersma, who last scored two shorthanded goals in under-15 hockey in Lethbridge, said it was a nice breakthrough for the team on the penalty kill.

“It always feels goods when you get a shorthanded goal, never mind three,” Roersma said. “It just means special teams are clicking. You never want to give up goals on the power play so it’s always good to give it back to them.”

Bjarnason made 32 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Huet and Pyne combining to stop 31 shots for the Pats.

“I thought we played a full 60 minutes, which is something we’ve kind of been struggling with through the first quarter of the season,” Roersma said. “I thought all four lines were rolling and everybody put in a good effort.”

Brandon has won two games in a row three times this season but has never managed the third consecutive victory. Hyland said this would be a great time for it as the team kicks off an eight-game home stand. They return to action Tuesday when the Red Deer Rebels visit.

”We’ve talked about it,” Hyland said. “We have a home stretch now and this is big in the standings., If we can get the next one and get on a little roll, that would be awesome. It would be huge for our team. We’ve never won that third one so we’ll work for it.”

ICINGS: Jackson DeSouza was all set to make his debut for the Wheat Kings one day after he was acquired from the Kelowna Rockets for Kayden Sadhra-Kang in a one-for-one exchange of overage defencemen. Instead, his flight was delayed in Calgary and he never made it Brandon. He will wear No. 43. The Wheat Kings also skated without healthy scratches F Hayden Wheddon and F Evan Groening … Hyland led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 21 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 33-31 … Matt Henry apparently said some of the magic words to one of the referees because he was assessed a game misconduct while he was sitting on the bench in the second period … The Swift Current Broncos were also in on the renaming fun, branding themselves the Lake Diefenbaker Slough Sharks all week.

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