Miracle bounce leads Brandon past Victoria

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This article was published 16/01/2025 (328 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jaxon Jacobson scored the winning goal with 45.6 seconds remaining in regulation as the Brandon Wheat Kings rallied to beat the Victoria Royals 5-4 in Western Hockey League action at Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena on Wednesday.

Brandon (20-13-3-2) received its other goals from Joby Baumuller, Jordan Gavin, Marcus Nguyen and Luke Shipley, with Hayden Moore, Brayden Boehm, Teydon Trembecky and Brandon Lisowsky replying for Victoria (23-12-3-4) in front of a crowd of 2,925.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was a nice effort as his group rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the third period.

“I thought it was a pretty good game,” Murray said. “Victoria has a good team, and I thought it was important on both their first two goals that we scored right after to keep our head above water. Obviously the big point of the game was getting down 4-2 with 12 minutes left and finding a way to claw back into it.

“The guys showed a lot of resiliency.”

Brandon had a number of great chances in the first half of the opening frame, with several coming with the teams playing four-on-four, but Victoria goalie Jayden Kraus was terrific.

He made his best save on Matteo Michels on a subsequent power play when he got his glove on a point-blank shot by the Texan.

After a scoreless opening frame, Brandon goalie Ethan Eskit made his best save early in the second period when Boehm fed Reggie Newman for a tip in front of the net and the 18-year-old goalie tracked it down.

The hosts took the lead shorthanded when Japanese forward Kenta Isogai sent the puck into the neutral zone, where it was picked up by his fellow penalty killer Moore. The 18-year-old forward made a highlight reel move on Jacobson near the Brandon blue-line and on the breakaway backhanded the puck into the top of the net two minutes nine seconds into the middle frame.

Brandon, which hadn’t given up a shorthanded goal in its first 35 games this season, has now allowed two in its last three games.

“When you have four forwards out there, it’s something you flirt with a little bit,” Murray said. “It is what it is. It’s certainly something we have to be aware of, but at the same time, you put your trust in your skilled players and sometimes things like that happen. Hopefully it doesn’t become a habit.”

The Wheat Kings squared the game four minutes later when Michels fired a shot from the slot that hit the second-year forward Baumuller and bounced in.

Victoria retook the lead against Brandon’s top-ranked penalty kill when they needed just 18 seconds for Boehm to walk off the boards and fire the puck just inside the far post past Eskit.

Brandon tied the game again with three minutes left in the second period when Gavin scored his first as a Wheat King — and 15th of the season — from the top of the slot through traffic after Brandon pinned Victoria in their own end.

“I thought he looked the most comfortable tonight,” Murray said of Gavin. “We shuffled some lines around and I thought he and Jax had some chemistry and Hads (Caleb Hadland) is just a guy who goes in and creates space and works his tail off.”

Just 3:15 into the third period, after a faceoff in the Brandon end following an icing, the former Wheat King Trembecky fired in his 23rd goal of the season from the slot to give the Royals their third lead, and Victoria made it a two-goal lead four minutes later off an ugly turnover.

Markus Loponen took the puck low and sent a pass out front to Lisowsky, who had been left all alone for his sixth goal in six games with the Royals since a trade from the Saskatoon Blades.

The Wheat Kings seemed to be in a world of trouble, but it took just 84 seconds for the trailer Nguyen to pick a corner off the rush to make it 4-3.

Brandon came all the way back 13:14 into the final frame after the former Royals defenceman Shipley sent a shot from the blue-line that found its way through a maze of bodies to make it 4-4.

“I think the message was to keep pushing,” Murray said after his team fell behind by two goals. “We were going to get some chances and get some looks, and when you have those opportunities, be ready to score. It was a big goal by Nguyen to make it 4-3, and Shipley is playing the best hockey of his junior career and did a good job of getting the puck through the traffic in front.”

Brandon was 0-for-3 on the power play with 3:52 remaining in regulation when Loponen took a double minor for high sticking Jacobson, giving the visitors a glorious chance to take their first lead. When Jacobson took what proved to a providential slashing penalty 59 seconds later, the teams played four-on-four for two minutes.

When that passed, the Wheat Kings had 61 seconds of power-play time remaining, but Victoria nearly scored a second shorthanded goal when Isogai ripped a shot off the crossbar that bounced back up the ice into the neutral zone.

Jacobson just happened to be stepping out of the penalty box and streaked in on a breakaway, beating Kraus over his glove for an unlikely comeback victory that snapped Victoria’s seven-game unbeaten streak.

During a season in which the Wheat Kings have had their share of ugly bounces, they somehow got the perfect one exactly when they needed it.

“They had a two-on-two and Nguyen ended up playing D,” Murray said of the goal. “Isogai, one of a couple of guys you certainly don’t want to have the puck in the slot, ripped a shot off the crossbar. I’ve never seen a puck bounce that far, all the way out in neutral zone for Jax to pick up out of the box between the red-line and blue-line and it allowed him to have a breakaway.

“It was kind of a wild sequence. You talk about it as a game of inches, in that case it certainly was.”

Eskit made 29 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Kraus stopping 35 shots for the Royals. Brandon went 1-for-5 on the power play, with Victoria scoring once in four chances.

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured forwards Roger McQueen, Nick Johnson (day to day) and Easton Odut, plus newly acquired D Merrek Arpin, who flew home to attend to an urgent family matter. As a result, Brandon had only six defencemen and 11 forwards available … Victoria was without their young star, F Cole Reschny … Matteo Michels, who played in his 200th WHL game, led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … Shipley, Jacobson and Victoria’s Boehm all had a goal and an assist, while Loponen had a pair of helpers … The game took two hours, 29 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Victoria won 34-30 … The Wheat Kings trip continues with a game in the U.S. Division against the Everett Silvertips on Friday at 9:05 p.m. After that, they face the Vancouver Giants on Sunday at 4 p.m., the Kelowna Rockets on Tuesday at 9:05 p.m., the Kamloops Blazers on Wednesday at 9 p.m., and the Prince George Cougars on Friday at 9 p.m.

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