Gavin scores teddy bear goal, Wheaties win 6-3

Jordan Gavin brought the teddy bears down and a noisy crowd of 4,116 people went home happy as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the visiting Kelowna Rockets 6-3 in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Friday.

Brandon (16-11-1-0) received two goals from both Carter Klippenstein and Joby Baumuller and one from Chase Surkan, with Hiroki Gojsic, Hayden Paupanekis, and Carson Wetsch replying for Kelowna (14-10-3-1).

“It was nice,” said Gavin, who didn’t score a teddy bear goal in his time with the Tri-City Americans prior to the trade to Brandon last season. “It was a little bit of a relief. You wonder who is going to score it. My linemates made it really easy for me. We all deserve credit for that goal.”

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was nice to get the first goal out of the way, especially after the visitors built a 2-0 lead in the first 12 minutes.

“This is a game that’s marked on everybody’s calendar,” Murray said. “It always draws a good crowd and there is good energy in the building. I’m sure everybody would like to get that big goal. It’s nice to get it out of the way early, and going down 2-0 wasn’t ideal, but it was a big goal and big momentum shift when Gavin got that first one.”

The best save early on came from Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka, who denied Wetsch with his pad on a breakaway four minutes in. But a minute after that — at the 5:02 mark — Gojsic skated the puck into the middle from the corner and, while showing pass to Shane Smith, fired a quick shot past Ruzicka to give the Rockets an early lead.

They extended the lead seven minutes later on a turnover in the Brandon zone when Paupanekis picked up the puck and immediately fired a shot into the top of the net.

The goal that brought the teddy bears flying came 53 seconds later at the 13:11 mark. Baumuller made a play along the boards and got it over to overage forward Nick Johnson, who found Gavin on the back door, and he ripped it by a diving Kelowna goalie, Josh Banini.

“It was kind of a nothing play,” Gavin said. “It was a rim around the net, and then Joby fired it on the net, and Johnny gave me a really nice pass and made it easy for me.”

The goal came on Brandon’s ninth shot and was the 20th fastest in Wheat Kings teddy bear history.

It took just 58 seconds after the quick cleanup for Brandon to equalize, with Johnson finding Baumuller with a stretch pass at the Kelowna blue-line and sending him in all alone for a shot over Banini’s glove.

Brandon promptly gave up an odd-man rush, but rookie forward Chase Surkan rushed back to intercept a pass that would have led to a tap-in goal without his intervention.

During a contest that was at times in the first period looking like the NBA all-star game — defence optional, fast breaks mandatory — Klippenstein was denied when he beat a defender wide and went to the net. Brandon captain Caleb Hadland quickly created a turnover at the side of the net and got the puck back to Klippenstein, who deked around a sprawling Banini to give the hosts their first lead.

Before the period ended, Baumuller beat Banini with a slapshot, but it hit the post, bounced out, hit the back of his pad, and was dribbling to the goal-line when the goaltender found it.

Brandon added to its lead at 8:29 into the middle frame with six seconds left in their second power play when Jaxon Jacobson stripped the puck off a Kelowna defender looking to make a clear and got the puck to Grayson Burzynski, who found Surkan all alone for the rookie’s 17th goal of the season and league-leading 13th on the man advantage.

The teams traded three penalties in 90 seconds midway through the frame, and Brandon made it 5-2 on the power play when Gio Pantelas found Hadland down low, and he sent a quick pass to Klippenstein on the doorstep for Brandon’s second power-play goal of the game.

Kelowna came out hard to start the third period, generating a number of early opportunities, but Brandon’s Brady Turko may have had the best one five minutes in when he rang a shot off the post on a short breakaway.

The Rockets broke through on their fourth power play of the game when Wetsch knocked in a rebound on the power play with 6:36 left. Brandon took another penalty two minutes later but killed it, and after Kelowna pulled their goaltender with 1:31 left, Baumuller found the empty net for his second goal of the night.

“You certainly don’t want to get down 2-0, but the Gavin goal was big, and scoring off the same shift after the teddy bear cleanup was huge and then a big goal by Klippenstein gave us confidence being up one after the first period,” Murray said. “I thought overall, it was a little bit of loose hockey in the third period at times, kind of like in our last game, but we closed it out, and we’re happy with where we’re at right now.”

Ruzicka made 29 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Banini stopping 39 shots for the Rockets. Brandon went 2-for-5 on the power play, with Kelowna scoring once in five chances.

The win extended Brandon’s season-high winning streak to five games.

“It’s nice,” Gavin said. “We’re continuing to build our confidence up and hope for a big second half here and a good Alberta swing.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin and D Adam Hlinsky, plus healthy scratches D Dylan Ronald, F Gunnar Gleasman and F Ryan Boyce … Kelowna was without star forwards Tij Iginla and Tomas Poletin, who are away at world junior camps, and injured defencemen Peyton Kettles and Nate Corbet … Luke Mistelbacher put Brandon’s first shot on goal 1:40 into the game and drew a big reaction from the crowd … Kelowna defenceman Mazden Leslie apparently said one of the magic words to the referee, and was handed a 10-minute misconduct to go with his interference minor … In a humorous moment, when Kelowna rookie defenceman Owen Hayden was trying to goad Klippenstein into a fight in the second period, the veteran Brandon forward made an exaggerated point of looking at his number and name bar to illustrate he had no clue who he was and it wasn’t going to happen … Baumuller led the Wheat Kings with eight shots on net … The game took two hours, 28 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon dominated 40-23 … The Wheat Kings play their next five games on the road and won’t be at home again until the Moose Jaw Warriors make their final visit of the season on Dec. 28. Brandon next sees action in Edmonton against the Oil Kings on Sunday afternoon.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com