Raiders pounce on Wheat Kings in 5-3 victory

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This article was published 14/12/2024 (278 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings didn’t start their final road trip before Christmas the way they wanted, falling behind 3-0 in the first period and dropping a 5-3 decision to the host Prince Albert Raiders in Western Hockey League action at Art Hauser Centre on Saturday.

Lukas Dragicevic, Justice Christensen, Ty Meunier, Daxon Rudolph and Harrison Lodewyk scored for Prince Albert (14-10-3-0), which is now just one point back of Brandon (14-9-3-1) in the tightly contested Eastern Conference.

The Wheat Kings received two power-play goals from Caleb Hadland and a single from Marcus Nguyen in front of a crowd of 2,472.

Brandon heads south to meet the Saskatoon Blades on Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock.

Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Marty Murray said the bad start proved to be costly.

“The first period ended up killing us,” Murray said. “We were kind of standing around and second to every puck and we ended up being down 3-0 after one. We got what we deserved. We kind of woke up after that and had a push and a couple of really good chances to tie it and just couldn’t claw our way back into the game. Obviously the first period was disappointing and that was the difference.”

The Raiders took the lead four minutes 26 seconds into the first period during a dominant shift in the Wheat Kings zone. After they moved the puck around, Dragicevic skated in from the blue-line and tucked a shot under the pad of Brandon goalie Ethan Eskit.

Prince Albert made it a two-goal lead four minutes later when Aiden Oiring found Christensen down low with a nice pass and the defenceman one-timed the puck into the net. The lead became three when a soft clearing attempt by Brandon resulted in a shot by Niall Crocker, which was tipped in the slot by Meunier over Eskit’s shoulder. Brandon’s best offensive opportunities came late in the period when they were shorthanded, but Prince Albert goalie Max Hildebrand denied Carter Klippenstein, and Quinn Mantei and Nguyen made one pass too many on a two-on-one.

Brandon killed a penalty that straddled the periods and finally showed their first stretch of sustained dominance, keeping the puck deep, putting five shots on net and scoring 1:49 into the middle frame when Nguyen converted near the side of the net after a pass by Nick Johnson.

The Wheat Kings drew back within goal at 3-2 on their first power play during a mad scramble in front of the Raiders net when Hadland found the puck and the empty net.

Prince Albert’s league-leading power play went to work late in the period and the puck never left the Brandon zone, but Eskit was terrific as he turned aside all 16 shots in the second period.

The Raiders man advantage roared to life in the third period moments after Nguyen nearly scored a highlight-reel goal but couldn’t get a good shot away. The Wheat Kings took a penalty when the puck came back down the ice, and Rudolph dropped in from the point and one-timed a pass from Meunier as Eskit desperately lunged across the net.

The Wheat Kings had back-to-back man advantages soon after, and Hadland converted on a rebound on the second one to bring his team back to 4-3 with eight minutes remaining.

All the good work was swept away less than two minutes later, however, when Prince Albert simply overmatched Brandon physically, pinning them in their own zone until Lodewyk sent a bullet into the top of the net.

Eskit, who made 36 saves, was summoned to the bench for the extra attacker with two minutes remaining, but neither team was able to find the mesh.

Hildebrand stopped 38 shots for the Raiders. Brandon went 2-for-4 on the power play, with Prince Albert scoring once in four chances.

Brandon beat Prince Albert 7-3 last Saturday in their teddy-bear toss game at Westoba Place.

“It was a different game,” Murray said. “They came out with a fresh memory that they weren’t happy with their game a week ago in Brandon and we needed to come out hard and match that intensity. We just couldn’t find our way into the game and we pushed back into the game but it was too little too late.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without their three world junior players, G Carson Bjarnason, D Adam Belusko and F Dominick Petr, and were also without injured F Roger McQueen, F Ben Binder Nord and D Nigel Boehm. As a result, they called up F Raiden Zacharias from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Melville Millionaires and under-18 AAA Winnipeg Thrashers F Prabh Bhathal … Nguyen led the Wheat Kings with an incredible 12 shots on net … The game took two hours, 26 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Prince Albert dominated 39-25 … Brandon finishes up the first half of its season when the Moose Jaw Warriors visit Westoba Place on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson

 

SATURDAY

Raiders 5, Wheat Kings 3

First Period

1. Prince Albert, Dragicevic 4 (Oiring) 4:26.

2. Prince Albert, Christensen 6 (Oiring, Mrsic) 8:20.

3. Prince Albert, Meunier 7 (Crocker, Dragicevic) 14:23.

Penalties — Elick Bdn (cross checking) 18:26.

Second Period

4. Brandon, Nguyen 14 (Johnson) 1:49.

5. Brandon, Hadland 10 (Flamand, Michels) 16:05 (pp).

Penalties — Bibeau PA (interference) 2:26, Mrsic PA (cross checking) 14:36, Ravndahl Bdn (slashing) 17:29,

Third Period

7. Prince Albert, Rudolph 2 (Meunier, Dube) 7:24 (pp).

8. Brandon, Hadland 11 (Michels, Baumuller) 12:01 (pp).

9. Prince Albert, Lodewyk 5 (Macias) 13:50.

Penalties — Shipley Bdn (roughing) 5:57, Rudolph PA (roughing) 8:42, Bibeau PA (delay of game) 11:02, Mantei Bdn (roughing) 14:52.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 11 14 16 — 41

Prince Albert 14 16 11 — 41

Goal — Brandon: Eskit (L, 6-3-1-1). Prince Albert: Hildebrand (W, 12-6-3-0).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 2-4; Prince Albert: 1-4.

Referees — Ridge Brooks, Brayden Glynn. 

Linesmen — Tanner McGregor, Levi Schutz.

Attendance — 2,472 in Prince Albert.