Garrett stars as Wheaties top Warriors

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This article was published 28/12/2024 (264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Carter Klippenstein and Nolan Flamand each scored twice and Alex Garrett made 35 saves in his Brandon Wheat Kings debut as they beat the Moose Jaw Warriors 5-2 in Western Hockey League action at Moose Jaw Events Centre on Saturday evening.

Brandon (16-10-3-2) received its other goal from Marcus Nguyen, with forward Joby Baumuller adding three assists, the second three-point game of his career. Pavel McKenzie and Connor Schmidt replied for Moose Jaw (8-21-3-1) in front of a crowd of 3,256.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was a much better effort from his group, which had one point in its two previous games against the cellar-dwelling Warriors and Regina Pats, a pair of clubs that are both rebuilding.

“I thought it was pretty good overall,” Murray said. “There were some parts like giving up odd-man rushes at the wrong time but overall it was pretty solid. Garrett played well in net and we had some timely goals by Klippenstein. Starting the third period we were up 2-1 so it was nice to get those insurance goals.”

Brandon’s decimated lineup was without its two world junior players, goalie Carson Bjarnason (Canada) and forward Dominik Petr (Czechia), plus their injured corps of goalie Ethan Eskit (upper body, undetermined), and forwards Roger McQueen (upper body, indefinite), Ben Binder Nord (upper body, week to week) and Easton Odut (upper body, week to week).

The Wheat Kings also had 16-year-old defensive callup Cameron Allard along with the team but he was a healthy scratch.

Garrett, 19, who Brandon acquired from the Everett Silvertips on Friday for a fifth-round pick in 2026, was busy early as the Warriors took a 9-1 lead on the shot clock in the first several minutes. He turned everything away, and the Wheat Kings opened the scoring six minutes 11 seconds into the opening frame when Nick Johnson put a shot off the post and Nguyen found the rebound to pot his team-leading 16th goal.

The visitors made it 2-0 on a power play after Moose Jaw was flagged for too many men. Luke Shipley found Flamand at the side of the net and the puck hit the overage forward’s skate and eluded Moose Jaw goalie Brady Smith.

The Wheat Kings took the next three penalties — they came in a span of eight minutes straddling the first and second periods — and they paid dearly on the third one. It took just eight seconds for McKenzie to convert when the puck came to him down low and he fired it into the far corner.

Garrett remained solid, however, making a terrific save on a long breakaway on Riley Thorpe 15 minutes into the second period.

“I was happy for him,” Murray said of his new goalie. “He’s been through quite a bit. He travelled to the West Coast and back and had a 5 a.m., flight (on Friday) and got into Brandon pretty much at game time so he’s still getting to know his teammates’ names. The last 48 hours have been a whirlwind for him, but good on him, I thought he was pretty calm and composed and played really well.”

The Wheat Kings certainly had their chances to put the game away. By the six-minute mark of the third period, Brandon had dinged five shots off crossbars or posts.

They had just rang the iron when Klippenstein was set up in the faceoff circle and tucked the puck under the crossbar to give Brandon a 3-1 lead 6:32 into the final frame. The Wheat Kings made it 4-1 at the 10:45 mark off the rush when the puck came back to the trailer Klippenstein, who toe-dragged around a defender and sniped into the top corner. The Lethbridge product was physically involved all night and seemed to have at least one Warriors player annoyed at him pretty much every shift.

“That was probably Klip at his finest,” Murray said with a chuckle. “He was a thorn in the side of the opposition all night and then to capitalize off with a couple of goals, that’s kind of what he is. He’s a bit of a rat out there, and when he plays like that, he elevates his own game. He hit a couple of posts as well. I thought he had one of his better games of the year.”

The Wheat Kings scored a second goal on the power play exactly 13 minutes into the final frame when Shipley found Flamand again and he fired it in. On Friday, the overager snapped a 16-game stretch without a goal in Brandon’s 7-3 loss to the visiting Pats, and now has three goals in two games.

“It was nice to see him break out,” Murray said. “He’s kind of a streaky guy so hopefully it’s the start of a new run for him. Both of those goals were big but I thought the power-play goal finished the game off for us.”

The Warriors added a late goal when Schmidt deflected a shot by Casey Brown that trickled through Garrett to make it 5-2.

ICINGS: Brandon went 2-for-4 on the power play, with Moose Jaw scoring once in four chances. … Forward Garrett Thom of the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Camrose Kodiaks, who was in the second game of his three-game tryout with the Wheat Kings, injured Warriors forward Lynden Laconic with a heavy hit early in the first period. The highly touted draft-eligible Lakovic didn’t return … Klippenstein and Nick Johnson led the Wheat Kings with five shots each on net … Smith stopped 28 shots for the Warriors. … The game took two hours, 23 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Moose Jaw won 36-31 … The Wheat Kings visit the Swift Current Broncos on Monday before returning home to entertain Swift Current on Wednesday afternoon at 2 o’clock. The team drove to Swift Current after the game.

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