Jonah Lemoine lifts Wheat Kings to East Coast victory over Rush

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This article was published 24/04/2024 (758 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An own goal was just what the Brandon Wheat Kings needed to change their fortunes Tuesday night in Membertou, N.S.

Trailing 3-2 going into the third period at the Telus Cup U18 nationals on the East Coast, Jonah Lemoine fired the puck towards the Sydney Rush net, where it deflected off D-man Cohen Tanner’s skate past goalie Jonathan Coombs.

This opened the floodgates, with Brandon outscoring host Sydney 5-1 in the final 20 minutes en route to a 7-4 win.

With the victory, the Wheat Kings improved to 1-1, while the Rush dropped to 0-2.

Josh McGregor scored Brandon’s fourth goal to give his team the lead for good, converting a pass from Lemoine.

“We can’t play with toe drags,” McGregor said. “We needed to chip the puck in deep and work their D on the forecheck. Do the simple passes.”

Assistant coach Mike Ferland agreed, telling The Brandon Sun his players needed to simplify their game, including face-offs, plus support the puck more.

“We were not happy with our play in the first two periods. [The Rush] are a good faceoff team, so we weren’t getting the puck back to the D.”

It did not take the Wheat Kings long to find the back of the net to start the game, with Jaxson Brick beating Coombs 70 seconds into the game.

However, the Rush responded just 41 seconds later as Rory Pilling beat Wheat Kings goalie Matt Michta with the first of two goals in the opening period.

After 20 minutes, the Rush had a 3-2 lead when Pilling and Brady Matheson scored 60 seconds apart to erase Brandon’s 2-1 lead, following Colten Worthington scoring on the power play.

By Jules Xavier

The Rush came off a 12-0 loss on the opening day at nationals facing the Calgary Buffaloes (Pacific), while the Magog Cantonniers (Quebec) defeated the Wheat Kings 5-1.

It was a scoreless second period, with Coombs stealing two likely goals off the sticks of Brandon’s two snipers Brady Turko and Jaxon Jacobson, who contributed two assists in the game.

With 270 goals scored during the regular season, the Wheat Kings are not playing the same offensive tempo at nationals as they did during the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League, according to Worthington.

“We weren’t happy with our play in the first, but picked up the pace in the second,” he said. “During the regular season we had lots of skill scoring our goals … In the [post-season], we have to dump the puck deep and play a gritty kind of game to [score].”

On his first-period power-play goal, Worthington acknowledged he scores a lot of goals from the edge of the crease.

“I’m just doing my job staying in front of the net. I just put my stick on the ice and [teammates] get the puck to me for a back-door tip in.”

Turko, Nolan Saunderson, with the game-winner, and Ethan Stewart had the other Brandon third-period goals, while Braylen Fitzgerald answered for Sydney, which was outshot 43-25.

DAY 2 ROUNDUP

“We can’t play with toe drags. We needed to chip the puck in deep and work their D on the forecheck. Do the simple passes.”– Josh McGregor

In other action on Day 2 of the seven-day tournament on the East Coast, the Cantonniers improved to 2-0 following an easy 6-1 triumph over the Markham Waxers (Ontario), now 1-1.

Simon-Xavier Cyr sniped twice for Magog, which outshot Markham 36-28 and went 5-for-7 on the power play.

Gabriel Courchesne, Marc-Olivier Proteau, Charles-Antoine Adam and Mavrik Duhaime added single markers on Waxers goalie Eamon Callighan, while Antoine Boudreau had three assists.

The only Markham skater to beat Magog goalie Kyan Labbe, who recently was named top goalie by the U18 AAA Canadian Elite Hockey League (CEHL), was Philip Govedaris.

Tied 1-1 after 20, the Cantonniers broke the game open in the middle period, outshooting the Waxers 22-3 and going up 4-1.

The Buffaloes also improved to 2-0 following a penalty-filled 4-1 win over the Kensington Wild (Atlantic), now 0-2.

Kensington goalie George Gallant was busy between the pipes, facing 42 Calgary shots, while at the other net, Kael Svenson earned the victory after stopping 25 shots, the only blemish on his game record was allowing a goal by Ethan Dickson.

Talen Lewis, Keiran Kelly, Rhys Jamieson and Tyson Murray scored for Calgary, while teammate Caleb Matthews added three assists.

The two teams combined for 25 penalties or 95 minutes in the box, with the two referees assessing 20 minors, three misconducts, a game misconduct, plus a match penalty for attempt to injure.

The man advantage was not fruitful for either team, with Calgary going 1-for-8 while Kensington was 1-for-6.

ICINGS: Magog boasts 12 Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League drafts picks on its roster, while Brandon has 10 Western Hockey League selections. Host Sydney has two QMJHL draft picks, Coombs and Pilling … Calgary has two players currently one-two in tournament scoring after two days, with Matthews first with seven points, while Jamieson is second with no assists, but has a tournament-high five goals … Player of the game for Brandon was Nash Henwood … Up next for the Wheat Kings is the Wild, with puck drop today at 1 p.m. CDT.

» jxavier@brandonsun.com

» X: @julesxavier59