Gavin’s shootout winner lifts Wheaties past Pats

Jordan Gavin scored in a shootout and Filip Ruzicka blanked all three shooters as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Regina Pats 3-2 in Western Hockey League action at Brandt Centre on Wednesday.

Brandon (5-6-1-0) received its goals in regulation from Caleb Hadland and Nick Johnson, with Ellis Mieyette and Cohen Klassen replying for Regina (4-7-1-1) in front of a crowd of 2,269.

The two teams meet again in Brandon on Saturday at 6 p.m.: The Wheat Kings then host the Calgary Hitmen on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his club certainly played better than it did in a 6-4 loss in Regina on Oct. 18 when it was outshot 17-3 and outscored 3-0 in the first period.

“The last time we came into this building it was a real struggle,” Murray said. “The game was probably over in the first 16 minutes. Our emphasis obviously was to come out harder and play smarter. I thought the first 10 minutes was really good and to get that first goal was big.

“It wasn’t pretty. We bent a little bit but didn’t break and found a way to get it done.”

With a second left in their first power play, Hadland pounced on a rebound off a shot by Nigel Boehm as they scored the game’s opening goal for the third time in a row. The goal came seven minutes 33 seconds into the contest.

Unfortunately for them, Brandon lost overage defenceman Grayson Burzynski for the rest of the period on the charging minor taken by Mathis Paull that led to the man advantage.

Brandon took a penalty on the next shift, and with Hadland trying to go wide for a shorthanded breakaway, Pats captain Ephram McNutt came sliding in to cut the play off. He succeeded but sent goaltender Taylor Tabashniuk’s leg awkwardly into the post.

The rookie netminder had to be helped off the ice and was replaced by Marek Schlenker. Regina poured on the pressure but a combination of solid play by Ruzicka and some timely shot blocks by the Wheat Kings allowed them to maintain the lead through 20 minutes.

The game took an odd turn 2:39 into the second period.

Wheat Kings defenceman Max Lavoie took Pats forward Cohen Klassen into the boards after a whistle, seemingly for a borderline high hit on Brandon forward Jimmy Egan earlier in the shift. Both players dropped their gloves, with Klassen throwing the first punch.

Lavoie was then penalized for four minutes and also given a 10-minute misconduct, with no Pats penalty assessed, a decision that seemed to utterly perplex the Brandon bench.

The Pats put the man advantage to good use when Pats forward Mieyette was found all alone on the backdoor by Ruslan Karimov with 16 seconds left in the second penalty to make it 1-1.

Brandon had a good chance to restore the lead when Jimmy Egan sent Brady Turko in on a breakaway, but Schlenker made a nice pad save on the deke.

The Wheat Kings had better luck on their next breakaway.

After a tremendous stretch pass by Jaxon Jacobson, Johnson went in all alone from the Regina blue-line and snuck a low shot through Schlenker’s legs with 28.7 seconds left in the middle frame.

Regina tied the game for a second time on a terrific individual effort with the teams playing four-on-four early in the third period. Klassen went wide and then cut into the middle and lifted a backhand shot past Ruzicka.

Both teams had power plays but didn’t do a lot with them in the next few minutes as the game eventually went to overtime.

The Pats missed on a three-on-one and had a player left all in front of the net, but were unable to capitalize on either opportunity. Schlenker then robbed Jordan Gavin with his glove on a one-timer at the other end, and on the next shift, Ruzicka denied Julien Maze with his glove.

In Brandon’s first shootout of the season, Ruzicka stopped Maze, Caden Brown and Keets Fawcett, and Gavin won the game with his team’s first attempt with a quick cutback after he faked a shot and tucked the puck between the goalie’s skate and the post.

Johnson’s attempt was stopped, and Brandon didn’t need a third shooter because Regina went first and didn’t score.

“We do the goofy little shootout drills (after practice) and different guys win and different guys are still in at the end,” Murray said of his thought process when it came to selecting his shooters. “You kind of go off that, and Gav has that little move there that works pretty well, and Johnny scored on a breakaway so that’s why we went with him. “We were still on the fence who we were going to put third.”

Ruzicka made 28 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Schlenker and Tabashniuk stopping 31 shots for the Pats.

“I thought he was really good,” Murray said of the big Czech netminder. “Especially as the game wore on, he made some big saves. There were a couple in overtime where I had the perfect view from the bench and was saying ‘Boy, this doesn’t look good.’

“He’s so big that the puck hits him. He made some big saves at key points in the game and then in the shootout, he was exceptional. I don’t think their attempts were real threats.”

Brandon went 1-for-5 on the power play, with Regina scoring once in four chances.

The victory extended Brandon’s winning streak to three games, and was their first road victory this season in three opportunities.

“Both are big,” Murray said. “We haven’t played many road games but to get a win on the road in this league, sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone. We were pretty comfortable playing at home for the most part, so to get one on the road and earn two points is good for the confidence.

“Obviously to continue our streak here is nice, and hopefully we can have some momentum back home on Saturday.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin, D Adam Hlinsky, F Easton Odut (illness) and G Jayden Kraus (illness), plus rookie sensation Chase Surkan of Regina, who missed the game after heading to represent Canada at the U17 World Challenge in Truro, N.S. … Brandon goaltending prospect Urijah Moosetail of the U18 AAA Wheat Kings served as backup with Kraus at home … Lavoie finally returned with 3:28 left in the second period after serving 13 minutes and 49 seconds for his fight, including some extra time as he waited for a whistle … Jacobson led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 42 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 41-36 … On Wednesday, the Spokane Chiefs sent 18-year-old defenceman Caden Campion of St. Paul, Minn., to the Wenatchee Wild for a conditional seventh-round pick in 2029… On Tuesday, the Swift Current sent overage forward Rylan Gould of Headingley, who had been playing at Michigan Tech, to the Everett Silvertips for 16-year-old forward Damen Vanderberg of Lethbridge and a conditional first-round pick in 2026. The teams had made a similar deal on May 8 that was scrapped when Gould chose to go to school instead.

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Wheat Kings 3, Pats 2 (SO)

First Period

1. Brandon, Hadland 6 (Baumuller, Boehm) 7:33 (pp).

Penalties — Paull Reg (charging) 5:34, Boehm Bdn (holding) 8:07.

Second Period

2. Regina, Mieyette 4 (Karimov, Paranych) 6:23 (pp).

3. Brandon, Johnson 4 (Jacobson, Ronald) 19:30.

Penalties — Lavoie Bdn (roughing, double minor, 10-minute misconduct) 2:39, Klassen Reg (fighting major) 2:39, Rollason Reg (holding) 7:32, Rollason Reg (high sticking) 16:55, Jacobson Bdn (interference) 17:01.

Third Period

4. Regina, Klassen 4 (Lansard) 1:26.

Penalties — Pantelas Bdn (roughing) 0:44, Maze Reg (roughing) 0:44, Egan Bdn (slashing) 3:44, Bridgeman Reg (roughing) 6:45.

Overtime

No Scoring.

Penalties — None.

Shootout — Brandon wins 1-0.

Brandon: Gavin goal, Johnson miss.

Regina: Maze miss, Brown miss, Fawcett miss.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 11 11 9 2 — 33

Regina 9 7 10 4 — 30

Goal (shots-saves) — Regina: Tabashniuk (8-7), Schlenker (SOL, 2-4-0-1) (9:02, first period) (25-24); Brandon: Ruzicka (30-28) (SOW, 4-2-0-0).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 1-4; Regina: 1-5.

Referees — Josh Grimm, Bryce Sebastian.

Linesmen — Brent Vandermeulen, Sean Dufour.

Attendance — 2,269 in Regina.