Winterhawks double up Wheat Kings 6-3

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/01/2025 (250 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings head out on the road for the next two weeks after dropping their fourth game in a row at Westoba Place, a 6-3 loss to the visiting Portland Winterhawks in Western Hockey League action on Friday.

Alex Weiermair sniped twice, with Ryder Thompson of Russell, Reed Brown, Jordan Duguay and Ryan Miller also scoring for Portland (22-14-2-1), Brandon (19-12-3-2) received its goals from Nolan Flamand, Dylan Ronald and Jaxon Jacobson in front of a crowd of 3,522.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his team simply needs to be better.

“I thought we started off the game well and they pushed,” Murray said. “They skate and work from top to bottom, from 16 to 20, they go and they’re relentless. They have a commitment to doing all the little details right and it’s something we need to do better.

“We need to look ourselves in the mirror and we as coaches have to show them film. It was disappointing because they pushed and we allowed some hope in their game and they went and got it.”

The Wheat Kings had a quick start, pinning the Winterhawks in their own zone and getting three shots in the first 67 seconds.

The teams soon set a feverish pace, with the Winterhawks taking the lead eight minutes four seconds into the period on a sensational play. Duguay fed the puck down low to Kyle Chyzowski, who instantly sent the puck back across the crease to Weiermair for a tap-in goal behind Brandon goalie Carson Bjarnason.

“Marty said in the room that you can’t stop moving your feet for one second or take a breath because they’re a pretty good transition team and they showed that tonight,” Flamand said. “I wish we could get them again because I feel like we owe it to them, but we’ll get things going on the road trip.”

The big goaltender from Carberry was called upon three minutes later when defenceman Tyson Jugnauth found forward Diego Buttazzoni with a stretch pass up the middle and he denied the forward on both the breakaway and a rebound.

Brandon had been outshot 13-3 since its quick start but managed to tie the game at the 13:07 mark when Carter Klippenstein passed across the zone off the rush and the overage forward Flamand sent it over sprawling Portland goalie Ondrej Štěbeták for his 13th goal of the season.

“Klip wanted to go to Mikey (Matteo Michels) but he put it way behind him and put it perfectly in my wheelhouse and I was able to put it low glove,” Flamand said.

Three minutes later, the defenceman Ronald sent a shot from the point through a maze of bodies, and the puck squeezed past Štěbeták and just over the line to give the hosts their first lead.

Defenceman Merrek Arpin, who was making his Wheat Kings debut after being acquired from the Tri-City Americans on Tuesday in the Charlie Elick deal, drew an assist on the play.

Portland nearly squared the game 3:40 into the middle period off a two-on-one when David Hoy’s shot cleanly beat Bjarnason but hit the post and stayed out.

The Winterhawks had their first power play soon after and had zone time for nearly the entire two minutes, doing everything but scoring as they poured on the pressure.

It seemed inevitable the game would be tied soon and it happened 11:23 into the second period when Thompson jumped in from the point and tipped a pass by Ryan McDonough over the shoulder of Bjarnason, and Portland regained the lead when their fourth line’s forecheck pressured Brandon’s young defence and the puck came out to Brown, with the former Wheat Kings prospect sneaking a backhanded shot inside the post.

Thompson said the win was a nice way to kick off the trip and finish his WHL career in Manitoba.

“It was good,” Thompson said. “I remember two years ago we didn’t get the result we wanted, so obviously it’s a fresh group with younger guys this year. It was my last time at home (in Manitoba) and I had lots of family here so it was good all around.”

Before the period ended, however, Brandon got a clutch goal from the rookie Jacobson, who pounced on the rebound of Luke Shipley’s shot off Štěbeták’s mask and scored with 43.5 seconds remaining to make it 3-3.

The Winterhawks took the lead for the third time 2:22 into the final frame, when Chyzowski set up Weiermair for a second opportunity after he missed the first one, and he made no mistake from the slot for his eighth goal in just 13 games since 19-year-old forward left the University of Denver to join Portland in early December.

The visitors went up a pair three minutes later on a fortunate bounce when Duguay’s shot bounced off the shoulder of Ronald and deflected past Bjarnason to give the 16-year-old rookie a three-point night.

Bjarnason made a tremendous pad save on Duguay a few minutes later on what had essentially had become a two-on-one to keep the game within reach, and then Štěbeták matched him with an outstanding blocker save two minutes later.

The game was put of reach when Portland scored its league-leading 12th shorthanded goal of the season and the first Brandon gave up this season after Miller’s shot deflected off of Petr’s stick into the net with 4:17 remaining.

“We gave up six goals tonight and you can’t fault Carson,” Murray said. “I thought he made some big saves and a couple in the third period got deflected up and over him. Those are tough ones. We have to better around him. I think we have a lot of talent up front but we have to have commitment to get the puck back in our own end so we can play offence. That’s something we have to be a lot better at.”

Bjarnason made 37 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Štěbeták stopping 29 shots for the Winterhawks.

Both teams went 0-for-3 on the power play.

Portland head coach Kyle Gustafson was pleased with his group.

“I thought it was a good team effort,” Gustafson said. “We were able to get contributions out of four lines and I thought our D was good. Štěbeták had a key save there in the third period when I thought Brandon was pushing. You never know what to expect when you play these out-of-conference teams. I thought our guys did a good trying to set the tone early in the game, which was something we wanted to do, not so much feel it out.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without F Roger McQueen (upper body, indefinite), F Easton Odut (upper body, indefinite) and F Joby Baumuller (upper body, day to day) … In his Wheat Kings debut, forward Jordan Gavin skated with Dominik Petr and Marcus Nguyen … All 22 WHL teams were in action on Friday … Wheat Kings defenceman Nigel Boehm lost a skate blade in the corner in his own zone and had to slowly make his way back to the bench by pushing on the ice with his bladeless skate and gliding as the play went on around him … Brandon captain Quinn Mantei lost his stick at one point and was quickly handed a new twig by another left-handed shot, Klippenstein. When Klippenstein grabbed Mantel’s stick off the ice, they played the rest of the shift with each other’s sticks … Brown and Marcus Nguyen were traded for each other, and both wear No. 72 this season … Jacobson, Nick Johnson and Ronald led the Wheat Kings with four shots each on net … The game took two hours, 32 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 38-25 … The Wheat Kings visit the Calgary Hitmen on Sunday at 3 p.m., as they head out for their annual Western Conference trip.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson