Blades edge Wheaties to end busy weekend

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This article was published 05/02/2024 (591 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Egor Sidorov scored twice as the Saskatoon Blades edged the Brandon Wheat Kings 3-1 in Western Hockey League action at SaskTel Centre on Sunday afternoon.

Vaughn Watterodt scored the other goal into an empty net for first-place Saskatoon (36-9-2-3), while Luke Shipley sniped for Brandon (24-19-5-1) in front of a crowd of 5,388.

Brandon general manager and head coach Marty Murray was pleased with his group’s work despite the outcome.

“It was a really good effort,” Murray said. “I thought that was easily our best game of the weekend and best game in a while. Especially given the circumstances, we played a real strong game. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t score.”

Brandon beat the visiting Red Deer Rebels 4-1 on Friday and then scored in overtime to top the host Swift Current Broncos 5-4 on Saturday in the team’s second three-in-three weekend in the last 10 days.

Saskatoon buzzed off the opening faceoff and 76 seconds into the game, Sidorov knocked down a clearing attempt and backhanded it by Brandon goalie Carson Bjarnason. Brandon’s starters were never able to leave the ice after getting hemmed in.

Brandon tied the game 12 minutes 16 seconds into the period off a power move by Caleb Hadland. The second-year forward cut towards the net against two Blades and as he was hauled down, Shipley jumped into the rush and popped the loose puck past Saskatoon goalie Evan Gardner to tie the game.

Saskatoon restored the lead 6:29 into the second period after Rylen Roersma earned a double minor in a scrum at the Blades net. Sidorov scored his second goal 10 seconds into the ensuing first power play when he one-timed a shot that Bjarnason got a piece of but found its way into the net.

Brandon had a brief five-on-three in the second period, but their inability to win face-offs hurt them as they struggled to create any kind of sustained pressure. Even so, Brandon fired 21 shots at Gardner in the middle frame without beating him.

Murray said there were a couple of reasons for their inability to score. “It was execution and missing net a lot too,” Murray said. “We had a lot of really good looks where we missed the net. Their goalie played well and it’s one of those nights when you stick with it. We did everything we wanted to accomplish and had a lot of chances and just couldn’t come up with a goal. It’s disappointing.”

Both teams had good chances in the first 18 minutes of the third period but neither was able to find the mesh. The Wheat Kings pulled Bjarnason for an extra attacker with 80 seconds remaining: Their best chance came off a shot by Andrei Maliavan that got through to the net with a pair of Wheat Kings looking for the rebound, but Gardner was able to corral the puck. With 12.9 seconds remaining, Watterodt capitalized on a Saskatoon three-on-one to score into the empty net to put the game away for the hosts.

“I think if you would have asked me last week if we would get four out of six against three really tough opponents and be right there to the buzzer to get five or six, I think we would have taken it,” Murray said. “We don’t like losing but it would have been easy — you almost have a built-in excuse with the schedule and travel on back-to-back weekends with three-in-threes — but I thought our guys showed a tremendous amount of character tonight.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without D Quinn Mantei (lower body, day to day) and F Matt Henry (healthy scratch) … Brandon forward Nick Johnson slid hard into the side boards in the first period and didn’t return … Saskatoon defenceman John Babcock took a rare form of delay-of-game penalty by firing the puck over the far glass from his own end … Bjarnason made 32 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Gardner stopping 33 shots for the Blades … Brandon went 0-for-2 on the power play, with Saskatoon scoring once in two chances … Brett Hyland led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took a speedy two hours, 13 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Saskatoon won 25-19 … Brandon next sees action when the Edmonton Oil Kings visit Westoba Place on Wednesday.

BRANDON 5 SWIFT CURRENT 4 (OT)

Nolan Flamand scored his second goal of the game two minutes into overtime as the visiting Wheat Kings earned a 5-4 victory over the Swift Current Broncos at InnovationPlex on Saturday.

Brandon received its other goals from Nick Johnson, Jayden Wiens and Brett Hyland, with Rylan Gould sniping twice and Clarke Caswell and Josh Filmon also replying for Swift Current in front of a crowd of 1,987

Murray said it was an up and down night that ended well.

“I thought in the first period it was nice to get a couple early and get our feet wet in the game,” Murray said. “It was kind of back and forth and sawed off after one. In the second period, we kind of held on by a thread. I didn’t think we were great and in turn ended up taking quite a few penalties and with their firepower, you’re playing with fire but our PK did a real good job killing penalties and kind of got through that hump in the game. “I thought we were really good in the last five minutes of the second and it carried on a little bit into the third. I thought the shots were at one point were 21-8 but in the last 25 minutes we played better and gave ourselves a chance.”

The first 10 minutes featured plenty of scoring.

Brandon needed just 36 seconds to take the lead. Johnson scored his first goal as a Wheat King, ripping a shot from the high slot that beat Swift Current goalie Joey Rocha low on the glove side.

Caswell tied it against his hometown club three minutes later when he found some space, beat a Brandon forward to the net and put the puck over the blocker of Brandon goalie Ethan Eskit four minutes 48 seconds into the game.

The teams traded goals in the next three minutes.

Brandon went to its second power play four seconds after the tying goal, and made the hosts pay when they moved the puck back and forth at the blue-line and Andrei Maliavan’s shot was deflected by Flamand. But less than two minutes later, Eskit stopped the initial shot off the rush by Strathclair’s Conor Geekie, but Mathew Ward pounced on the rebound and made a pass across the crease to Filmon, who had an open net to make it 2-2.

Just after a Swift Current man advantage that straddled the periods ended, Brandon’s penalty killers broke the puck out of the zone but after a careless turnover, the Broncos raced back in on a three-on-one and Gould capitalized to give the hosts their first lead.

Swift Current enjoyed a massive surge of momentum, and with three power plays — and five in a row in the game — had the first 10 shots in the middle frame as it took Brandon 13:41 just to put a puck on net.

The tide turned in the final few minutes, and Brandon tied the game after some hard work in the Swift Current zone. Caleb Hadland forced a turnover and the puck ended up on the stick of the overage forward Wiens, who skated a few steps toward the face-off dot and wired a shot inside the far post to make it 3-3.

“It was a big goal by Wiens to tie it up,” Murray said. “That helped with the feel going into the locker room after 2.”

Roger McQueen earned his third assist 1:07 into the third period when he skated through the neutral zone with the puck after a shot block by Charlie Elick, backhanded a pass to Hyland, and the overage forward snuck a shot past Reid Dyck — who replaced Rocha after the second period — to give the Wheat Kings the lead.

But the game was tied up for the fourth time just after a four-on-four situation ended. Swift Current broke into the Brandon zone on a three-on-one and Gould ended up all alone in the slot and put a shot over Eskit’s shoulder.

In overtime, Brandon had the puck for the first 1:44. After a draw in the Swift Current zone, the puck came back down the ice, and then Flamand broke right back up the middle. After Elick and Ward had a minor collision near the blue-line, Flamand cut through the Swift Current defenders and backhanded a shot over Dyck’s glove for the victory. Swift Current never had puck possession in exactly two minutes of extra time.

“He’s one of those guys with sneaky skill,” Murray said of Flamand. “He did a good job. I thought somebody made a real subtle pick — I thought it was Elick — but it opened up some space in the middle and he saw a lane. Those backhand shots are tricky. The thing I liked about it was he shot it in stride, and it’s hard to read where it’s coming off the stick. He caught the goalie off guard a little bit, and I thought it was a really good shot, not hard, but the way he got it off with his feet moving was probably the difference in getting it into the net.”

Eskit made 26 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Rocha and Duck combining to stop 19 shots for the Broncos in the battle of the backups.

Brandon went 1-for-3 on the power play, with Swift Current unsuccessful in six chances.

ICINGS: Elick had two assists … McQueen and Flamand led the Wheat Kings with three shots each on net … The game took two hours, 27 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, the Broncos won 38-23.

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