Ruzicka propels Wheat Kings past Blades

Filip Ruzicka was sensational in making 31 saves as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the visiting Saskatoon Blades 4-1 in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Wednesday.

“It was very good,” the big Czech netminder Ruzicka said. “Every player on this team played 100 per cent in this game and we won. We had a good start this week with three games. We’ll keep going.”

Brandon (12-11-1-0) received its goals from Caleb Hadland, Joby Baumuller, Grayson Burzynski and Luke Mistelbacher, with Jack Kachkowski replying for Saskatoon (14-12-2-0) in front of a crowd of 2,032.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was a good night for his club and its goaltender.

“I thought the first period was pretty solid,” Murray said. “It was unfortunate to give up that one at the end of the first off a skate. The story of the second period was we took too many penalties and I thought the PK did an outstanding job.

“Obviously your best penalty killer is your goalie.”

The Wheat Kings opened the scoring nine minutes 46 seconds into the game when the puck bounced around off a dump-in — in part due to Brandon stout’s forecheck — and Hadland wired a shot from the low slot past Saskatoon goalie Ethan McCallum, who was making the start in his hometown. Brandon has scored the first goal just eight times in 24 games this season, and Hadland has three of them.

The Blades tied the game with 42.8 seconds left in the opening frame when Kachkowski circled the zone with the puck and sent a pass out front that hit the skate of Brandon defenceman Daniil Skvortsov and ricocheted past Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka.

The Wheat Kings came back down the ice off the faceoff and McCallum had to make a pair of great saves to keep the game deadlocked, and then Ruzicka had to stretch to stop a glorious chance at the other end before the buzzer sounded as the game began to open up after what had largely been a defensive stalemate.

The Wheat Kings regained the lead 1:45 into the middle frame off the rush.

Baumuller broke in with the puck and wired a shot from the faceoff dot that hit the back bar behind McCallum and blasted out, which seemed to confuse everyone on the ice for a moment until the referee signalled it was a goal.

The Blades had the first power play 5:30 into the middle frame and after hitting a post, Ruzicka had to reach across with his glove on a back-door shot by Cooper Williams to make an unlikely — and quite frankly outstanding — save to maintain the lead. It was a carbon copy of a stop he made against the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday.

“That was an SOS save,” Ruzicka said. “I took my arm in the air and hoped the puck hit me.”

Off the faceoff, the big goaltender then fired the puck down the ice. It was the only time Brandon cleared the zone as the Blades had look after look but couldn’t score on their six shots on net.

Brandon promptly went back to the penalty kill, and Ruzicka robbed former Wheat Kings forward Dominik Petr with his pad on a rebound.

At the other end, McCallum denied Baumuller on a shorthanded rush.

After killing the second penalty, the undisciplined Wheat Kings managed to take a third one in a span of just over five minutes, but after a whistle Saskatoon’s Rowan Calvert swatted out of frustration at Ruzicka’s goal stick, which was lying on the ice, and was handed a minor penalty to end the chance.

That led to an uneventful 77-second four-on-four: By the time Brandon went to its abbreviated and unsuccessful power play, it was being outshot 16-4 in the period.

Saskatoon went to its fourth power play six minutes into the third period after Brandon had dominated, and Ruzicka robbed Zach Olsen with his glove when the 17-year-old forward walked out into the slot all alone.

Brandon took a two-goal at the 12:04 mark when Chase Surkan found Burzynski in the slot on the power play and he wired a shot into the top of the net.

The Wheat Kings got an insurance goal into the empty net with 65 seconds remaining when Mistelbacher skated onto a pass by Hadland.

McCallum stopped 30 shots for the Blades.

Brandon went 1-for-3 on the power play, with Saskatoon unsuccessful in four chances.

But the first star, Ruzicka, was clearly the story of the game and he impressed Murray.

“He was really good,” Murray said. “He looks like he’s settled in. He made some massive saves, especially tied 1-1 on the power play when they went back-to-back-to-back almost. That was a big part of the game and obviously the turning point.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin, D Adam Hlinsky, F Ryan Boyce, F Easton Odut and F Jaxon Jacobson … Saskatoon’s scratches included D Tristen Doyle … Defensive callup Luke Dumas, 15, of Beaverlodge, Alta., made his WHL debut for Saskatoon … Brandon’s Gunnar Gleasman threw a heavy hit when he thundered Saskatoon forward Ben Bowtell with a heavy hit in front of the Blades net as they broke out, and later in the first period Hadland caught Kazden Mathies with his shoulder and sent the Martensville product flying… When Petr’s stick got knocked out of his hands late in the third period and he went to the bench, Ruzicka carefully placed it on top of the net to get it out of his way … Carter Klippenstein led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 27 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 35-34 … The Wheat Kings visit the Regina Pats on Friday at 7 p.m., and host the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday at 6 … Scammers have been reaching out to local businesses pretending they are from the Wheat Kings. If anyone receives a suspicious email or phone call purportedly from the team, they’re asked to call the office to double-check it’s legitimate … The Prince Albert Raiders acquired 19-year-old forward Maddix McCagherty of Kelowna, B.C., from the Wenatchee Wild on Wednesday for a fourth-round pick in 2026 and a sixth-round pick in 2027. Also Wednesday, the Seattle Thunderbirds traded 17-year-old forward Colton Gerrior of Williams Lake, B.C., and a seventh-round pick in 2026 to the Vancouver Giants for a fifth-round pick in 2026 and a fourth-round pick in 2028.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com