Kovacevic, Lakovic sink Wheat Kings

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This article was published 17/12/2024 (275 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If Santa Claus lives in Brandon, Rilen Kovacevic and Lynden Lakovic aren’t going to have much under the Christmas tree.

For the second year in a row, the Moose Jaw Warriors put a big lump of coal in the stockings of the Brandon Wheat Kings as Kovacevic, an overage forward from Kelowna, had a goal and three assists, and Lakovic scored twice and had the only goal in the shootout in a 5-4 Warriors shootout victory in Western Hockey League action at Westoba Place on Tuesday.

The Warriors beat the Wheat Kings 4-3 on Dec. 16, 2023.

Moose Jaw (8-19-3-1) received its other goal from defenceman Aiden Ziprick of Russell.

Marcus Nguyen, Gio Pantelas, Caleb Hadland and Luke Shipley replied for Brandon (15-9-3-2) in front of a crowd of 2,392.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his club didn’t start the way it needed to for success.

“This games are tough,” Murray said. “You never know what you’re going to get. Guys know Christmas break is right around the corner and there are a lot of distractions. Part of it is trying to be a professional and battle through it. “The break isn’t going to come any quicker, it’s going to take the same amount of time, so it’s disappointing to have that lethargic first period that we had.”

Pantelas, the rookie blue-liner from Victoria, saw it the same way.

“We had a really bad first period,” Pantelas said. “Especially me, I had a terrible first period. I was lucky to pick it up, and same with the team. We picked up a little but were allowing too many chances. We showed that we could score tonight but we had too many odd-man rushes.”

The Warriors took the lead three minutes 25 second into the game when Kovacevic sent the puck back into the slot and Ziprick fired it over Brandon goalie Ethan Eskit’s shoulder. The goal came after two minutes of pressure by the Wheat Kings when they didn’t manage a shot on net, a job that took them more than five minutes.

The Moose Jaw goal was the only highlight of a period full of icings, missed passes and offsides, although the visitors did get 14 shots to Brandon’s six.

The second period was everything the first wasn’t.

Brandon earned the game’s first power play 64 seconds into the middle frame, and finally hit the scoresheet when Jaxon Jacobson wired a pass down low to Nguyen for a slick tip past Moose Jaw goalie Brady Smith. The goal came 50 seconds into the man advantage.

Exactly four minutes later, the Warriors scored a power play on a two-on-one — the Wheat Kings had players caught up the ice from a shorthanded, odd-man rush — when Kovacevic ripped a shot over Eskit’s shoulder to restore the Moose Jaw lead.

But just 51 seconds, the rookie blue-liner Pantelas lifted a shot from up high and Smith never saw it to tie the game 2-2.

“It was the same spot as last time,” Pantelas said of his second goal of the season. “I feel like it’s my lucky spot. I was walking down and saw Johnny (Nick Johnson) open for a one-timer and I saw a flash screen going to the goalie so I figured if I looked at him the goalie was going to move a bit and he did, and I got him over the shoulder.”

Two minutes later, Hadland laid a heavy hit on the end boards and then rushed to the net. Second-year forward Joby Baumuller intercepted the Warriors clearing attempt along the boards and fired the puck to the front of the net, where Hadland tipped it in for Brandon’s first lead, 3-2.

But now that the game had transformed into a track meet with the teams trading chances, the big Moose Jaw forward Lakovic was left all alone in the slot and tied the game 3-3 on a pass from Kovacevic. It was Moose Jaw’s second shot and second goal of the period, but both were Grade A chances.

Brandon took its second lead at the 15:03 mark when Nolan Flamand won a draw back to Nick Johnson, who sent the puck over to Shipley. His shot fluttered into a top corner to give the overage defenceman his third goal in two games.

A period that had already featured six goals wasn’t done until the final second. Moose Jaw broke into the Brandon zone and the highly touted National Hockey League draft prospect Lakovic beat Eskit cleanly with 0.2 seconds remaining. The play went to a video review but was shown to be a good goal. Kovacevic earned his third assist on the play.

The game slowed significantly in the third period — it almost had to after the wild action in the middle frame — with the first outstanding chance coming eight minutes in after some end-to-end action with Eskit denying Moose Jaw forward Owen Berge on a two-on-one.

At the other end, Smith made back-to-back saves with 6:44 remaining to keep the game knotted 4-4.

The Warriors went to a late power play with 4:39 remaining in regulation, and while Moose Jaw had some good looks, they weren’t able to retake the lead.

Smith had to make another glorious save in the final minute, stretching out along the goal line with his arm to deny the Wheat Kings.

In overtime, Jacobson hit the post and the puck ricocheted on the other side of Smith but stayed out.

In the shootout, Lakovic fired a shot low on the blocker side for the only goal as Brandon’s Nguyen, Nick Johnson and Hadland were all denied.

“We had mistakes at bad times,” Murray said. “It was frustrating. I thought we kind of took control and got up in the game and then we just let them right back in. The one at the end of the second was especially a back breaker. We have an O-zone faceoff with 10 seconds left and they get one right at the buzzer. That hurt, but you still have 25 minutes of hockey left. We had some chances but did we earn two points? I don’t know if we did. We weren’t good enough all night.”

Eskit made 25 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Smith stopping 39 shots for the Warriors.

Brandon went 1-for-2 on the power play, with Moose Jaw scoring once in three chances.

Moose Jaw head coach Mark O’Leary was pleased with his group.

“I think the fans, aside from the final result, probably went home happy,” O’Leary said. “They were certainly entertained. I loved our first period. I thought we came to work and were on the gas early, I just thought we got a little bit loose in the second period with both our checking and our puck management. The third period was a little back and forth, but I was real proud of our group that we stuck with it and found a way to win.”

Brandon skated without its three world junior players, goalie Carson Bjarnason (Canada), forward Dominik Petr (Czechia) and defenceman Adam Belusko (Slovakia), plus several players nursing injuries, defenceman Nigel Boehm and forwards Roger McQueen, Easton Odut and Ben Binder Nord.

Pantelas said while it’s a tough to lose a point before the Christmas break begins, he’s mindful of which of his teammates are away.

“Every point is needed,” Pantelas said. “The higher we get the better chance we have later on. Going into the break, I’m hoping we can rest up because we have a lot of injured bodies. I feel like that’s the main reason we’re losing so many points. After break, we should be good to go and working harder than ever.”

ICINGS: Both teams wore dark jerseys, with Brandon in grey and Moose Jaw in red … Raiden Zacharias of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Melville Millionaires and Prabh Bhathal of the under-18 AAA Winnipeg Thrashers were in the lineup for the third game in a row to give the Wheat Kings 17 skaters … Jacobson led the Wheat Kings with eight shots on net … The game took two hours, 36 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon dominated 44-26 … The players return to Brandon from their Christmas break on Boxing Day and face the visiting Regina Pats on Dec. 27.

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