Jacobson line carries Wheaties past Pats

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This article was published 01/02/2025 (308 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jaxon Jacobson had two goals and an assist and his linemate Jordan Gavin had three helpers as the Brandon Wheat Kings overcame another poor first period to beat the Regina Pats 5-2 in Western Hockey League action at Brandt Centre on Saturday.

The third member of the line, Caleb Hadland, had a goal and an assist, and Adam Belusko and Marcus Nguyen also scored for Brandon (24-16-3-3), with Julien Maze and Ephram McNutt replying for 10th-place Regina (13-29-4-2) in front of a crowd of 2,879.

On a night Brandon when got the two points but didn’t look great doing it, head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his team will need to find its way again before the Wenatchee Wild visit Westoba Place on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

“You have mixed emotions,” Murray said. “Regina is playing hard. They’re trying to create a new identity, and if we think we’re going to go out and win with soft skill, it doesn’t matter. You don’t win in this league playing like that. We’re going to address some things. We have a quick turnaround against Wenatchee and we have to be ready to start the game at home. It’s going to be critical.

“We’ll probably start with our leadership group and have a chat with them but it has to be our veteran players leading who need to drive the bus and be sure we’re ready to go. And us as a staff too, we watch video and try to get them as prepared as possible but we might have to tweak the routine a little bit and light the fire.”

One night after falling behind the basement-dwelling Moose Jaw Warriors 3-2 after 20 minutes, a gaffe-prone Brandon club gave up repeated odd-man opportunities, with at least eight in the first period.

After allowing a partial breakaway and a three-on-one in the first three minutes, the hosts scored three minutes 32 seconds into the first period on a two-on-one when Maze elected to shoot, firing the puck over Brandon goalie Carson Bjarnason’s shoulder.

The big goaltender had to be sharp: Although he faced only 10 shots, many were high-grade chances.

At the other end, Nolan Flamand hit the post nine minutes in and a Wheat Kings three-on-one late in the period failed to produce a shot on Regina goalie Ewan Huet.

“It’s just not good enough,” Murray said he told his players in the dressing room. “For a team that should have some desperation to get as high up as we can in the standings, that’s just not acceptable. “I said ‘Guys, here’s the bottom line, and this is fact, I’m not trying to hurt anybody’s feelings here, but our top scorer is 43rd in the league in scoring. If you think we can come out here and out-skill teams, we have another thing coming. We have to go earn it and play the game the right way, top to bottom.’”

The Wheat Kings apparently listened, because they took the game over during a four-minute stretch midway through the second period.

Brandon evened the game 9:40 into the second period after a Regina turnover in the neutral zone. Off the rush, Gavin made a pass across the zone to Hadland, who sent the puck back into the middle for Jacobson to score his 11th goal of the season.

The Wheat Kings went to their first power play three minutes later, and after the top unit didn’t create much, Gavin capitalized on a Regina defender stumbling to make a pass across to Hadland, who sent a low shot just inside the post on the far side.

The visitors made it 3-1 just 62 seconds later on a lucky bounce. Belusko sent a shot at the near side on Huet, but it hit the skate of Pats defenceman Kolten Bridgeman and deflected into the far side of the net.

Bjarnason made a nice save on a Cameron Kuzma breakaway near the end of the period to maintain the lead.

The Wheat Kings sent the Pats to their third power play after some rough play following Bjarnason covering the puck, and it proved costly. With Hadland playing without his broken stick, McNutt walked around him, and with two seconds left in the power play and 6:41 in regulation, fired a shot though traffic that Bjarnason never saw to make it 3-2.

Regina pulled Huet with 1:50 remaining, and after a faceoff in the Brandon zone, Nguyen put the puck into the empty net 18 seconds later after being tripped by Pats defenceman Reese Hamilton but it bounced off the blue-liner and went in. The Pats pulled Huet again, and this time Gavin fed Jacobson for another empty netter with 24.9 seconds remaining.

Murray said the play of the Jacobson-Hadland-Gavin, trio, which combined for eight points, was important for his club.

“They had two in the second, which was huge,” Murray said. “They had some nice, well-executed plays and it was good to see them bury. It certainly gave the bench some life, which we needed at that time.”

Bjarnason made 25 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Huet stopping 27 shots for the Pats. Both clubs went 1-for-3 on the power play.

Brandon ended up taking five of six points from the three teams unlikely to make the Eastern Conference playoffs, with a 4-3 shootout loss to Moose Jaw on Friday and a 7-2 rout of the Red Deer Rebels on Wednesday. The common denominator was a bad first period all three nights.

“Last night still stings,” Murray said. “We left one (point) on the table for sure. Five out of six, at any time you’d probably take it, but last night, to be completely honest, I’m not over it yet. We’ll take the two points and move on and hopefully address some areas we can get better at.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured forwards Roger McQueen and Easton Odut and D Merrek Arpin … Luke Shipley led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 19 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Regina won 29-27.

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