Wheat Kings drop Hurricanes in shootout

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This article was published 28/02/2025 (252 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jaxon Jacobson had a pair of goals in regulation and Nick Johnson scored the lone goal in the shootout as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes for the first time this season with a 4-3 victory in Western Hockey League action at Westoba Place on Friday.

Brandon (32-18-4-3) received a single from Nolan Flamand, with Kash Andresen, Brayden Edwards and Leo Braillard replying for Lethbridge (37-19-2-2) in front of a crowd of 2,650.

“I think it was really a playoff-style game,” Jacobson said. “I thought we glimpses of a lot of good plays out there and we had a couple of times when we were in our zone for a bit but we persevered really good tonight and showed what we’re about.”

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his club did some things well and had goalie Carson Bjarnason there to bail them out in the tougher moments.

“We’ll take the two points and run,” Murray said. “Lethbridge is a real good team and we kind of bent a little bit but didn’t break. Obviously Bjarnason was really good, especially in the overtime and shootout.”

Lethbridge forward Shane Smith had a glorious chance to open the scoring several minutes in but rang the puck off a post.

Brandon struck first 11 minutes 12 seconds into the opening frame when a Jacobson pass bounced off the stick of Lethbridge defenceman Noah Chadwick at the Hurricanes blue-line and Brandon forward Jordan Gavin picked it up at the side boards.

He carried the puck deeper, and when Jacobson joined the play, fed the rookie forward for a shot that glanced off a Lethbridge stick and bounced past goalie Jackson Unger.

“I saw Gavin skate in the zone and I knew he’s always looking to make that pass because he’s a pretty smart player so I yelled for him and got it and threw it on net,” Jacobson said. “I got lucky, it hit a stick. You take those when you can get them.”

Bjarnason made an outstanding save three minutes later off a Brandon turnover when he slid across the crease to deny Edwards on a one-timer.

But the next Brandon turnover was costlier. Former Wheat Kings forward Tony Wilson picked the puck up high in the Brandon zone and sent a shot at net that Andresen tipped through Bjarnason’s legs to even the game at 1-1.

After Brandon killed a tripping penalty to Adam Belusko, the Slovak defenceman was returning to the Brandon bench when Jacobson jumped off the bench to pursue a puck that could have resulted in a breakaway. Instead Brandon was flagged for too many men, and went to a second penalty kill with 24 seconds left in the period.

It took the Hurricanes just 12 seconds to move the puck around on a tic-tac-toe play that resulted in a tap-in goal by Edwards with 11.3 seconds left in the period.

Brandon tied the game 4:40 into the middle frame.

After failing to do much with an early power play and spending a lot of time in their own zone, Jordan Gavin sent the puck up the ice to Matteo Michels and the speedy Texan burst into the Lethbridge zone and then passed across the slot to Jacobson for the youngster’s 14th goal of the season and second of the night.

“(Quinn Mantei) made a good breakout pass to Gavin, Gavin chipped it up to Mikey and I just busted as hard as I could to get backdoor and luckily Mikey found me,” Jacobson said.

Brandon ended up with a full two-minute five-on-three 7:35 into the middle frame and didn’t do much with it until they suddenly did. Nick Johnson found Flamand in the slot for a quick shot into the top of the net to give Brandon its first lead.

The Wheat Kings still had almost two minutes of power-play time left, but the best chance came when Bjarnason denied Smith on a shorthanded breakaway. Both teams certainly had their opportunities.

Before the period ended, Bjarnason robbed Luke Cozens on a one-timer that seemed like a sure goal, and at the other end, Unger got enough of the puck with his glove to keep it out on a Brady Turko breakaway.

The Hurricanes tied it off the rush with 7:18 remaining in the third period when Noah Chadwick fed the Swiss sniper Braillard in the slot for a shot that bounced in off the post.

The Wheat Kings found themselves back in the penalty box with 3:15 remaining when Nick Johnson put a hook on a Hurricane to prevent a scoring chance, but the hosts got the kill and the game was tied 3-3 after regulation.

In overtime, there was no shot for the first 90 seconds as Lethbridge played keep-away with the puck until their first shot missed the net. It proved to be a firing gallery on Bjarnason, who made four saves in extra time.

“They had full breakaways, small-area breakaways, I think we got a little tired and had one to two guys who were completely gassed,” Murray said. “They exposed that and we held on. Barney made some big, big saves.”

In the shootout, Johnson came in wide and put a low shot past Unger, and both Jacobson and Matteo Michels had the goaltender beat but missed the net.

At the other end, Bjarnason denied Logan Wormald, Smith and Brayden Yager for the victory.

“That’s what I like,” Bjarnason said. “I like those kind of moments. We do a shootout after practice every day for fun so that’s what I like. It’s been a fun ride with this team so far.”

Bjarnason made 38 saves for the Wheat Kings and the three in the shootout, with Unger stopping 21 shots for the Hurricanes and two in the shootout.

“He was really good,” Jacobson said with a chuckle. “You kind of get it from him every night. He’s that backstop for us and we can trust him every night.”

Brandon went 1-for-4 on the power play, with Lethbridge scoring once in three chances.

Lethbridge assistant coach Ryan Aasman said his team did a lot of things well.

“I liked a few of our moments for sure,” Aasman said. “I just thought we got away from our details there with some bad penalties. It’s a momentum killer. We’re up 2-1 and you take a penalty at the end of the period and you take another one and that puts you down five-on-three. Now you’re down 3-2 in the second period trying to chase, and against a very good goalie, that’s hard to do.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured forwards Roger McQueen, Carter Klippenstein, Ben Binder Nord and Easton Odut and defenceman Merrek Arpin. They dressed 10 forwards and six defencemen as a result … Before the game, the Wheat Kings paid tribute to the late Richard Hlady, who passed away earlier this week. He was the father of equipment manager Scott Hlady … Former Wheat Kings Trae Johnson was also in the Lethbridge lineup … Former Wheat Kings broadcaster Branden Crowe did colour for Hurricanes broadcaster Dustin Forbes and they won the 50-50 jackpot together … Jacobson led the Wheat Kings with five shots on net … The game took two hours, 24 minutes to play. There was a seven-minute stretch in the third period without a whistle … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 25-22 … The Wheat Kings host the Medicine Hat Tigers tonight at 7 p.m., then head out on a four-game Alberta road trip next week for games against the Red Deer Rebels on Tuesday, the Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday, Lethbridge on Friday and the Calgary Hitmen on Sunday.

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