Gavin fills hat as Wheaties rally for win

Jordan Gavin had a hat trick and two assists as the Brandon Wheat Kings rallied from 3-0 and 5-3 deficits to beat the visiting Regina Pats 8-5 in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Saturday.

Brandon (6-6-1-0) received its other goals from Gio Pantelas, Caleb Hadland, Brady Turko, Nick Johnson and Max Lavoie, with Zachary Lansard of Ste. Anne scoring twice and Aiden Wagner, Caden Brown and Ellis Mieyette replying for Regina (5-8-1-1) in front of a crowd of 1,970.

Brandon hosts the Calgary Hitmen on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Gavin said his team showed a lot with Saturday’s victory after having less success playing from behind earlier in the season.

“It’s just our ability to bounce back,” Gavin said. “We obviously struggled early on with our starts and we didn’t come out great today but our ability to bounce back was big tonight.”

You didn’t dare blink in the first period because you might have missed something.

The Pats opened the scoring two minutes 29 seconds into the game after establishing their first sustained zone time. With the Pats swarming around the puck, Wagner sent a shot from the point through traffic that beat Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka.

They made it worse when rookie defenceman Cameron Allard took a holding penalty just over a minute later and Brown deflected a shot from the point to put the visitors up 2-0.

The Pats made it 3-0 on a massive unforced error when Ruzicka tried to pass the puck and found a Pats forward instead, with Lansard getting the easiest goal of his career into an empty net at the 8:28 mark.

That was the end of the night for the rookie Czech netminder, who was pulled for veteran Jayden Kraus.

“There were a couple of floaters, one that got tipped and one that had seeing eyes, and then obviously he would want the one back where he misplayed the puck,” Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said. “He’s a 17-year-old goalie and sometimes you have to recognize that.

“We’re a team that has everybody’s back, and it was a massive save by Kraus-er there at the end to keep the lead for us. It’s good for his confidence too.”

The hosts immediately showed some life.

Just 76 seconds after Regina went up three, Pantelas carried the puck into the Pats zone, took a shot that was high but bounced back into the slot off the glass and the defenceman scored on his own second rebound.

Just 40 seconds after that, Hadland found the puck after Jaxon Jacobson went hard to the net and swatted in a rebound to make it 3-2.

The five goals came in less than eight minutes.

The Wheat Kings nearly equalized before the period ended when Gunnar Gleasman made a beautiful pass to his linemate Prabh Bhathal, but Pats goalie Marek Schlenker denied the rookie forward. The tying goal came soon after — with 2:18 left — when Joby Baumuller went wide and then cut hard to the net and Gavin popped in the rebound.

“I saw Joby got him wide and had a step on him,” Gavin said. “I was in the right place at the right time and drove the net hard and finished it off.”

Special teams were Brandon’s issue to start the second period as they gave most of their progress away again.

After a Wheat Kings power play was ruined by a tripping penalty, Regina regained the lead 1:58 into the middle frame with the teams playing four-on-four when Lansard snuck the puck between the legs of Kraus after a shot block in front of the net. They then scored eight seconds into a Regina penalty as Mieyette beat defenceman Grayson Burzynski to the puck and beat Kraus for a short-handed goal to make it 5-3.

Murray was struck by how quickly the game had changed.

“I think we saw a resilient group for the most part,” Murray said. “We made some plays at crucial times. Obviously getting down 3-0, that was a big goal Pantelas scored just to get the bench going and then we scored two pretty quick ones after that.

“It was big to get tied after one and I felt good about coming into the second period on a power play, and we took a penalty and they scored and then we gave them a shortie. It’s a funny game. It can turn at the drop of a hat.”

The Wheat Kings were fortunate to stay that close, with the Pats forward Cohen Klassen ringing a shot off the crossbar minutes later.

The Wheat Kings edged closer again 15:49 into the period when Turko went in on a breakaway, but was stopped by Schlenker. The McCreary product then tapped the puck off the goalie’s pad and it was 5-4.

Brandon tied the game for a second time 1:13 into the third period when Johnson got his own rebound in front and tucked the puck into the corner for an unassisted goal.

“We stuck with it,” Murray said. “It was a big goal by Turko, a second effort on the breakaway and then Johnny ties it up and we started executing some plays after that.”

Gavin hit a post on the next shift, but made no mistake from the slot on a power-play opportunity a few minutes later and Brandon suddenly found itself with its first lead of the wild contest.

“It was a good entry by Mistel (Luke Mistelbacher) and a great pass by Turks (Turko) to find me on the weak side,” Gavin said. “I went top corner.”

Regina took its timeout with 1:37 left and pulled the goalie for the extra attacker with the face-off in the Brandon zone.

The Wheat Kings salted the game away a minute later on a tremendously unselfish play.

Baumaller came in on the breakaway on the empty net but passed the puck to Gavin instead for his hat trick goal with 29.0 seconds remaining. “That’s a super unselfish play,” Gavin said. “I didn’t expect that but I think that shows what kind of guy he is. He got me my hat trick so I’ll have to buy him something here soon.”

Murray was also impressed, although not surprised.

“They’re all great kids, and that was pretty selfless what Joby did there to let Gavin get the hat trick,” Murray said. “Those things bring teams closer together … To see plays like that, a lot of people won’t leave the rink remembering it, but we do. It’s just a good sign that Joby is one of the guys on the team looking out for his teammates.”

Brandon still had one more goal to come, and it was also of the feel-good variety for the Brandon bench. With 12.7 seconds remaining, 19-year-old rookie defender Max Lavoie potted his first WHL goal with a shot from the point, and was immediately jumped on by his happy teammate Mistelbacher as the bench celebrated.

The win was Brandon’s fourth in a row after they went 2-6-1-0 to start the season, and Gavin said the squad is understandably excited.

“Spirits are up a bit,” Gavin said. “Four straight wins is good. We’ve climbed our way back to .500 so we’re not looking back and continuing to build on this winning streak.”

Ruzicka and Kraus combined to make 30 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Schlenker stopping 35 shots for the Pats.

Brandon went 1-for-3 on the power play, with Regina scoring once in five chances.

The Pats, who beat the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday, lost Brown to injury during the game and were also without head coach Brad Herauf, who was ill and stayed home.

Regina associate head coach Ryan Smith said his team played well and not so well at different times.

“If there was ever a game to be described as a roller coaster, that would be tonight,” Smith said. “It was fantastic start to the game but not the greatest end to the first period. The game settled in a little bit in the second. A little miscue in the first minute of the third cost us. We were a little bit tired: It’s not an excuse, it’s a fact, and we were short a couple of bodies and Brandon slowly wore us down.

“They’re a good team. They pounce on any opportunities they get.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin and Adam Hlinsky, plus F Easton Odut and Chase Surkan, who is away at the U17 World Challenge … Mistelbacher had three assists and Jacobson and Baumuller each had two … Baumuller and Gavin led the Wheat Kings with five shots each on net … The game took two hours, 25 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 39-24 … Pats rookie goaltender Taylor Tabashniuk, who had to be helped from the ice after one of his defencemen crashed into him during Brandon’s 3-2 shootout victory at Brandt Centre on Wednesday, is expected to be out of the lineup for a while with a lower-body injury.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

SATURDAY
Wheat Kings 8, Pats 5
First Period
1. Regina, Wagner 2 (Karimov, Kohn) 2:29.
2. Regina, Brown 10 (McNutt, Klassen) 5:01 (pp).
3. Regina, Lansard 7 (unassisted) 8:28.
4. Brandon, Pantelas 2 (Gavin) 9:34.
5. Brandon, Hadland 7 (Jacobson, Mistelbacher) 10:24.
6. Brandon, Gavin 3 (Baumuller, Ronald) 17:42.
Penalties — Allard Bdn (holding) 3:36, Klassen Reg (roughing) 20:00.
Second Period
7. Regina, Lansard 8 (Fawcett) 1:58.
8. Regina, Mieyette 5 (Bridgeman, Brown) 3:06 (sh).
9. Brandon,Turko 3 (Gavin) 15:49.
Penalties — Turko Bdn (tripping) 0:33, Rollason Reg (interference) 2:58, Pantelas Bdn (roughing) 7:15, Maze Reg (roughing) 7:15, Baumuller Bdn (tripping) 18:48.
Third Period
10. Brandon, Johnson 5 (unassisted) 1:13.
11. Brandon, Gavin 4 (Turko, Mistelbacher) 2:58 (pp).
12. Brandon, Gavin 5 (Baumuller) 19:31 (en).
13. Brandon, Lavoie 1 (Mistelbacher, Jacobson) 19:48.
Penalties — Miyette Reg (hooking) 2:31, Hadland Bdn (tripping) 5:43, Gleasman Bdn (fighting major, game misconduct) 10:43, Boyce Bdn (fighting major) 10:43, Bhathal Bdn (roughing) 10:43, Kohn Reg (fighting major, game misconduct) 10:43, Paull Reg (fighting major) 10:43.
Shots on goal by
Brandon     15     12     16     —     43
Regina    13     10     12     —     35
Goal (shots-saves) — Regina: Schlenker. (42-35) (L, 3-5-0-1); Brandon: Ruzicka (6-3), Kraus (8:28, first period) (29-27) (W, 2-3-1-0).
Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 1-3; Regina: 1-5.
Referees — Simon Desbiens, Mike Langin.
Linesmen — Josh Miko, Logan Young.
Attendance — 1,970 in Brandon.