Hitmen dominate Wheat Kings in 8-0 thrashing

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This article was published 26/01/2024 (601 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings started their three-game weekend road trip on Friday with a dud, falling 8-0 to the Calgary Hitmen in Western Hockey League action at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Calgary rookie goalie Alex Garrett made 30 saves to earn his first WHL shutout, Ben Kindel and Maxim Muranov both scored twice, and Tyson Greenway, Ethan Moore, Oliver Tulk and Carson Wetsch also had goals for Calgary (19-18-5-1) in front of a crowd of 3,017.
Brandon general manager and head coach Marty Murray said his club, which fell to 22-17-4-1 and remains in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings, simply didn’t show up.
“It was garbage from start to finish,” Murray said. “Our first shift, we turned the puck over three times and took a penalty 25 seconds in. That kind of summed the night up. They outworked us from start to finish. It was rather embarrassing.”
After killing the early penalty, Wheat Kings forward Nolan Flamand hit a post on a two-on-one on his team’s best chance of the night, and Calgary quickly jumped into an 8-1 lead in shots.
The heavy pressure finally paid off for the hosts six minutes seven seconds into the game when Kindel was set up in the slot for a one-timer past Brandon goalie Ethan Eskit. They made it 2-0 on a remarkably similar goal three minutes later when Greenway was also found in the low slot.
Brandon didn’t have much of a pushback and the hosts went up by three 13:27 into the period when a shot by Muranov hit Eskit and trickled behind him, and while Wheat Kings defender Seth Tansem was there to shovel it off the line, Moore knocked it in to push his point streak to 14 games.
The Wheat Kings finally had some offensive zone time but were unable to score, and the Hitmen took a 4-0 lead off the rush when Muranov came in looking for a pass and then ripped a shot into the top of the net.
Little changed in the second period. Brandon took a double minor and 47 seconds later took another penalty to give the hosts a full two-minute five-on-three. The Wheat Kings managed to kill that off but with eight seconds left in the double minor, Kindel scored into the top corner. Calgary extended the lead again with a shorthanded goal when Muranov outraced Brandon’s Caleb Hadland to the puck and beat Eskit with a deke.
To make a miserable night even worse, in the last 10 minutes Tulk scored on a three-way passing play and Wetsch converted on a two-on-one.
Eskit made 31 saves for the Wheat Kings. Brandon went 0-for-5 on the power play, with Calgary scoring once in six chances.
ICINGS: Brandon skated without G Carson Bjarnason (lower body, week to week), D Quinn Mantei (lower body, day to day) and F Matt Henry (fourth game of eight-game suspension) … Brandon has just six road wins and 15 points in 19 road games this season … Calgary was playing the sixth game of a seven-game home stand … Andrei Maliavan, Jackson DeSouza and Hadland led the Wheat Kings with four shots each on net … The game took two hours, 22 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Calgary won 29-26 … The Wheat Kings visit the Red Deer Rebels on Saturday and the Edmonton Oil Kings on Sunday.

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