Wheaties blitz Rebels to end home slide

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/01/2025 (310 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings received goals from seven different players as they won their first game at Westoba Place in 53 days on Wednesday, beating the Red Deer Rebels 7-2 in Western Hockey League action.

Luke Shipley, Jaxon Jacobson, Quinn Mantei, Jordan Gavin, Marcus Nguyen, Nick Johnson and Carter Klippenstein all scored for Brandon (23-16-3-2), with Jhett Larson and Ty Coupland replying for Red Deer (16-25-4-2) in front of a crowd of 2,227.

The Wheat Kings, who played 13 of their last 17 games on the road, hadn’t ended up on top at Westoba Place since a 7-3 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders on Dec. 7.

“I feel like we haven’t won at home in a while so it feels great to get it done in front of our fans,” said Shipley, who also had four assists for a career-best five-point game.”

After a scrambled start to the game that saw four whistles in the first 90 seconds, the goals began to go in.

Off the rush, Larson ripped a shot from the top of the circle that went bar down to beat Brandon goalie Carson Bjarnason at the three-minute, 37-second mark of the first period. The lead wouldn’t last.

On the next shift — and just 11 seconds after the first goal — Brandon went down the ice and Shipley fired a shot over the blocker of Red Deer goalie Chase Wutzke.

“Jax had it down low and got it deep and we got it back and he threw it out front and I think it went off a guy and came to me in the slot,” Shipley said. “I went down on the right wing and found an open spot and picked it up at the top.”

The Wheat Kings gave it away six minutes later. After taking a too-many-men penalty, the Rebels moved the puck around on the man advantage and Nishaan Parmar found Coupland through a seam for a quick shot that restored the lead for the visitors.

Red Deer continued to press and narrowly missed a pair of high-end chances as they took a 10-5 edge in shots in the first 13 minutes.

It took 16 minutes for Brandon to have a dominant shift, and Jacobson tied it again with 1:52 remaining in the period.

Wheat Kings captain Quinn Mantei skated the puck into the zone and handed it off to the rookie forward, who fired a shot from the slot just inside the far post for his 10th goal of the season.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said the first 20 minutes didn’t go exactly as planned.

“The start was probably the opposite of what we hoped,” Murray said. “These games are always tough coming off the West Coast trip. I always compare it to the first game after Christmas almost, that kind of hangover, and we certainly had that and then some.

“We turned the puck over at the blue-line probably 12 to 15 times at the offensive zone, and when you do that, you put the game in the other team’s hands and you aren’t able to generate much offensively. We were probably a little fortunate to get out of the period tied 2-2.”

Shipley said the players knew they could be better.

“Honestly, at our calibre, we played down to them in the first period,” Shipley said. “We were a little frustrated but we told each other to calm down and it will come. Our team is kind of inconsistent. There are games where we put up seven and there are games we don’t score, so it was just sticking with the process and doing the right things and the offence will come.”

Brandon took its first lead 7:52 into the second period, and the floodgates opened. With Klippenstein standing in front of Wutzke, a shot by Mantei hit the skate of a Red Deer defender and dribbled into the net.

Red Deer had back-to-back man advantages but failed to convert, and Brandon burned them when the Rebels took a too-many-men penalty of their own. Jacobson put the puck in front in the perfect spot for Gavin, who outworked defenceman Dmitri Toporowski to shovel it in for his first goal at home as a Wheat King.

“We saw the Red Deer guys go for a change so that led to a fast break,” Gavin said. “Hads (Caleb Hadland) made a nice drop to Jaxon and he obviously made a really good pass to find me back door.”

In nine games since arriving in Brandon in the Charlie Elick deal with the Tri-City Americans on Jan. 7, Gavin has two goals and four assists, and has settled in on a line with Jacobson and Hadland. He said the West Coast trip his team just returned from has helped him settle in with his new club.

“It’s been good,” Gavin said. “It was a long road trip so I got to meet the guys and we got to know each other a little bit. It was nice to get that time, and it’s nice to be back and get settled in here.”

Just 66 seconds after Gavin’s goal, Nolan Flamand made a terrific play in front to get a rebound over to Nguyen for his 23rd goal of the year as Brandon raced out to a 5-2 lead with their third goal of the period.

“It was nice to come out in that second period and get a couple,” Gavin said. “We wanted to regroup after that first period and I thought we were much better through the rest of the game. I thought we got better as the game went on.”

Brandon had a power play carry over to the third period and 35 seconds in they made it 6-2 when Johnson’s shot from in tight went bar down on the short side, and Klippenstein added his ninth of the season four minutes late on a rebound into an open net.

After the slow start, Murray said his team really found its way in the final 40 minutes.

“What we tried to sell to the guys is if there are plays off the rush, let’s make them,” Murray said. “But if you start trying to force them and turn pucks over, you’re not giving yourself a chance. If you get pucks behind and get to work, one of the strengths of our team is our below-the-dot offence.

“We’re pretty strong down below the goal-line and when you’re turning pucks over left and right, you take that out of our game. Hopefully guys can learn and see where we have success.”

Bjarnason made 29 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Wutzke stopping 30 shots for the Rebels.

Brandon went 2-for-4 on the power play, with Red Deer scoring once in three chances.

Red Deer head coach Dave Struch said his team played well early but its errors really hurt.

“We made a couple of mistakes early that cost us the two goals against but for the most part, I thought we did a good job, especially creating offence and doing things right,” Struch said. “Our power play has really struggled this year and scoring on that was a really big bonus for us. With 10 minutes left in the second period we make a big turnover on an outnumbered situation by one of our older guys and then the dominoes fell from there.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured F Roger McQueen and F Easton Odut, plus healthy scratch D Merrek Arpin … A banged-up Red Deer squad was without F Kalan Lind, Ollie Josephson and Jaxon Fuder plus D Keaton Dowhaniuk and Ice Weir. As a result, callup F Noah Milford and D Graeme Pickering made their WHL debuts. The Rebels had eight rookies in their lineup … Jacobson and Flamand both had two helpers … Johnson and Jacobson led the Wheat Kings with four shots each on net … The game took two hours, 20 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Red Deer won 33-31.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson

LATE WEDNESDAY

Wheat Kings 7, Rebels 2

First Period

1. Red Deer, Larson 6 (Coupland) 3:37.

2. Brandon, Shipley 13 (Jacobson, Gavin) 3:48.

3. Red Deer, Coupland 11 (Parmar, Vlooswyk) 9:23 (pp).

4. Brandon, Jacobson 10 (Mantei, Shipley) 18:08.

Penalties — Bench minor Bdn (too many men) 8:03.

Second Period

5. Brandon, Mantei 6 (Shipley) 7:52.

6. Brandon, Gavin 16 (Jacobson, Hadland) 16:47 (pp).

7. Brandon, Nguyen 23 (Flamand, Shipley) 17:53.

Penalties — Thurston RD (high sticking) 3:58, Belusko Bdn (boarding) 9:28, Petr Bdn (fighting major) 9:28, Thurston RD (fighting major) 9:28, Nguyen Bdn (tripping) 13:48, Bench minor RD (too many men) 16:06, Vlooswyk RD (checking from behindboarding) 18:46.

Third Period

8. Brandon, Johnson 9 (Flamand, Shipley) 0:35 (pp).

9. Brandon, Klippenstein 9 (Petr, Ronald) 5:00.

Penalties — Missura RD (cross checking) 9:04.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 9 14 15 — 38

Red Deer 13 10 8 — 31

Goal — Brandon: Bjarnason (W, 10-11-2-0). Red Deer: Wutzke (L, 13-21-3-1).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 2-4; Red Deer: 1-3.

Referees — Karlin Krieger, Wyatt Rapsky.

Linesmen — Josh Blondeau, Logan Young.

Attendance — 2,227 in Brandon.