Wheat Kings end stout road trip with win

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This article was published 27/11/2023 (715 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jayden Wiens scored twice as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the host Prince Albert Raiders 3-1 to end their four-game road trip at .500 in Western Hockey League action at Art Hauser Centre on Sunday.

Brandon (11-11-4-1) received its other goal from Dominik Petr, with Niall Crocker replying for Prince Albert (13-12-0-2) in front of a crowd of 2,094.

In the other games on the five-day trip, Brandon beat the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-3 on Wednesday lost 2-0 to the Red Deer Rebels on Friday and fell 6-1 to the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was a nice effort under trying circumstances.

“I saw a real high-character win out of our group,” Murray said. “It was obviously a gruelling trip. When this game came on the schedule mid-summer, it was one of those ones when you go ‘Oh boy, how is this going to work out?’

“Our guys showed a lot of grit and a lot of character and I thought played a real solid 60-minute game tonight.”

After a scoreless first period — the closest the teams came to a goal was when Charlie Elick swept the puck away from the goal-line after it glanced off the pad of Brandon goalie Ethan Eskit — Wiens scored twice in the middle frame.

The Wheat Kings dominated the territorial play early in the second period and were soon rewarded. Just over three minutes into the period, Prince Albert goalie Chase Coward made a pad save on a shot by Charlie Elick but the puck bounced out to Nolan Flamand. The Brandon forward looked like he had the shot but instead sent a back-door pass to Wiens, who had an empty net for his seventh goal of the season.

Brandon extended the lead 16:36 into the period on their first man advantage. Brandon’s second power-play unit moved the puck around and Wiens, who was camped out in front of the net, knocked home a rebound off a shot by Flamand to give the pair two points each on the night.

Prince Albert’s stout forecheck finally put them on the scoreboard 6:50 into the third period. When Brandon failed to clear its zone, Rapid City’s Sloan Stanick created a give-and-go play between Crocker and Hayden Pakkala that made it 2-1.

But just 79 seconds later, Matteo Michels took a hard shot off the rush that bounced out to Petr in the slot, who found the mesh for his ninth goal of the season.

“This is a hard rink to play in, everything happens fast,” Murray said. “It has fast ice and it seems smaller than other rinks. You have nowhere to hide really, and you have to get to the dirty areas. I thought out guys did a pretty good job of that throughout the game.

“Our goals were well-executed — there were a couple of nice passing plays — but you have to get to the dirty areas like Jayden Wiens to get rewarded, which was great to see. The third one was a great response after they made it 2-1. I think it was two shifts later and we drive down the wall and take a hard shot at the net, and we’re driving the net and get rewarded with a nice rebound on our stick.”

After the Raiders pulled their goalie, Brandon nearly padded its lead on a long dump shot by Luke Shipley that hit the post, but it resulted in a faceoff in the Prince Albert zone with 40 seconds left. The hosts never seriously threatened again.

Eskit made 25 saves for the Wheat Kings after starter Carson Bjarnason came down with flu-like symptoms in the afternoon, with Coward stopping 28 shots for the Raiders.

“Eskit actually suffered a little bit of an ankle twist in warmup today before the game and we were going ‘Oh boy. Do we have a goalie to play tonight?’” Murray said. “I’m really happy for Ethan. He’s given us a chance to win here in his last few starts and we just haven’t had the run support. We’re able to get him some goals, and it was nice to see him get rewarded for his play.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without healthy scratches D Tre Fouquette, F Hayden Wheddon and F Evan Groening … Caleb Hadland led the Wheat Kings with four shots on net … The game took a lightning-fast two hours, nine minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 30-21 … Brandon went 1-for-2 on the power play, with Prince Albert unsuccessful in three chances … Brandon skates again on home ice next Friday when the Regina Pats visit Westoba Place.

MEDICINE HAT 6, BRANDON 1

On Saturday, Andrew Basha had four goals and an assist as the Medicine Hat Tigers beat the visiting Wheat Kings 6-1 in at Co-op Place.

Rhett Parsons and Dru Krebs also scored for Medicine Hat (16-6-2-0), with Brandon receiving its goal from Nate Danielson in front of a crowd of 3,402.

Murray said his team simply didn’t play its best one night after a hard-fought 2-0 loss to the Rebels.

“I think the execution between the two teams was evident, and their ability to put opportunities away,” said Murray, whose team made the 408-km trip to Medicine Hat after Friday’s game. “Special teams again was the story, they had three power-play goals. It was just our execution and speed.

“It was tough, tough travel for us last night and they were sitting at home waiting, which wasn’t ideal for the matchup, but that’s life in junior hockey. They’re a good team. They’re at the top for a reason.”

The Wheat Kings had textbook penalty killing for the first 91 seconds of Medicine Hat’s opening man advantage early in the game but a bad break cost them. The puck was knocked off a Medicine Hat stick deep in the Brandon end and landed on the tape of Cayden Lindstrom, who made a quick pass to Basha in the low slot for a one-timer past Brandon goalie Carson Bjarnason.

The goal, which was the 18th time in 24 games the Tigers have opened the scoring this season, came six minutes 33 seconds into the opening frame.

Brandon took another penalty in the offensive zone five minutes after the first one, and the Tigers didn’t have to work nearly as hard to score the second time. Seven seconds after the faceoff, Basha’s redirection from the slot trickled through Bjarnason’s legs.

Jayden Wiens tried to shovel the puck away from the goal-line but was a moment too late. Still, he made it close enough that the play went to video review but was judged to be a good goal.

Brandon caught its first break just after Medicine Hat went to its third power play late in the opening frame.

Defenceman Charlie Elick skated out of the Brandon zone and sent a pass to Brett Hyland, who got the puck over to Danielson. As Hyland joined the two-on-one as a decoy, Danielson rifled a shot over the blocker of Medicine Hat goalie Zach Zahara for Brandon’s first shorthanded goal of the season.

Medicine Hat quickly re-established its dominance in the second period.

The Tigers restored the two-goal lead 3:08 into the second period when a shot by Parsons found its way through traffic. Just 66 seconds later, Brandon took its third penalty in the offensive zone and paid for it when Krebs was taken down in the slot off the rush but deflected the puck from his belly for his team’s third power-play goal of the evening.

After Brandon had some terrific chances midway through the second period but failed to convert, the puck came back down the ice and Basha batted a pass out of air to put his team up 5-1. With the Wheat Kings playing again on Sunday in Prince Albert against the Raiders, that spelled the end of the evening for Bjarnason, with rookie Ethan Eskit taking over between the pipes.

The youngster was terrific in relief, stopping seven of the eight shots he faced before finally surrendering a goal to Basha on a breakaway with 4:50 remaining.

Brandon was better in the third period but didn’t have much to show for it, with Zahara making seven of his 23 saves in the final frame.

Bjarnason and Eskit combined to make 22 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Murray saying they certainly couldn’t be blamed for the outcome.

“We didn’t give up a ton of shots, it was the shots we gave up,” Murray said. “We removed Barney from the game but due to no fault of his own. We had guys left open and power-play, tic-tac-toe goals. Regardless of who was in net, I don’t think they would have stopped them.”

RED DEER 2, BRANDON 0

Late Friday, Ollie Josephson scored the opening goal of the game with 19.4 seconds remaining and Kai Uchacz added an empty netter eight seconds later as the Red Deer Rebels beat the visiting Wheat Kings 2-0 at Peavey Mart Centrium.

Red Deer, which received 25 saves from Rhett Stoesser for the shutout, improved to 9-9-0-3 while Brandon fell to 10-10-4-1 in front of a crowd of 3,645.

Murray said it was a heartbreaking finish to a well-played game.

“It kind of had a playoff feel to it, I guess,” Murray said. “It felt like the first goal was going to be the difference from start to finish and that’s what it was. It’s real disappointing because overall it was a solid road game. We have to close it out in the last 20 seconds and send it to overtime, and take our chances.”

It was the first meeting of the season for the two clubs, who face each other again in Brandon on Dec. 5.

After a scoreless first period in which Brandon held an 8-1 edge in shots in the opening 14 minutes, the Wheat Kings took back-to back penalties early in the middle frame.

While the Rebels couldn’t convert, the momentum took a decided change in direction, with Red Deer taking a 16-15 lead in shots.

The best chance of the game came on a two-on-one by Red Deer 16 minutes into the second period but Carson Latimer’s shot went wide past Brandon goalie Ethan Eskit. Matt Henry took an interference minor later in the play, and the Rebels had a couple of glorious opportunities but the teams went to the dressing rooms tied 0-0 after 40 minutes.

In the last six minutes of the third period, Eskit made another outstanding save on Uchacz on a one-timer from down low to keep the game knotted 0-0. Red Deer went to their fourth power play with 3:05 remaining when defenceman Luke Shipley mistakenly sent the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty, but Brandon’s penalty killers kept them at bay.

The dagger came late in the third period when Uchacz picked up the puck, circled deep in the Brandon zone and fired a shot. Eskit made the save, but Josephson was able to find the puck off the rebound and scored.

Murray elected to pull the young goalie off the ensuing faceoff. The puck went to the sideboards off the draw, where the Rebels were able to push it toward the Wheat Kings zone. Uchacz picked it up, skated in along the boards and a backhanded a shot that found the mesh with 11.6 seconds remaining.

Eskit, who was named first star, made 29 saves for the Wheat Kings.

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