Warriors special teams sink Wheat Kings

The Moose Jaw Warriors beat the Brandon Wheat Kings in the special-teams battle at Temple Gardens Centre on Saturday, posting a 3-1 victory in Western Hockey League action.

Moose Jaw (2-1-0-0) received power-play goals from Riley Thorpe and Luke Moroz and a shorthanded marker from Rasmus Kamarainen, while Prabh Bhathal replied late in the game for Brandon (2-1-0-0) in front of a crowd of 2,271.

Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his club simply didn’t play well enough for long enough on Saturday.

“I just thought it was kind of a vanilla game,” Murray said. “We didn’t generate enough. It was one of those games where you flip a coin for the winner and if you do that, chances are you’re going to come up on the wrong side of it.”

Brandon, which allowed numerous odd-man rushes and terrific opportunities in its first two outings, held Moose Jaw to just nine shots in the first period. That allowed rookie goalie Joffrey Chan to settle in during his WHL debut, which came against another 16-year-old netminder, Moose Jaw’s Dylan Mingo.

The Wheat Kings had an outstanding chance to open the scoring 13 minutes into the game when Brady Turko had a rebound come out to him on the backdoor, but his stick shattered when he tried to shoot.

Neither team was giving up much, with both blocking shots, clogging lanes and taking away empty ice.

Moose Jaw finally opened the scoring 18 minutes six seconds into the middle frame on the power play. After a faceoff, the puck came over to Thorpe, who skated in to the top of the circle and fired a shot over Chan’s glove that dinged in off the post.

The play went to a brief review but was ruled to be a goal.

Brandon finally showed some sustained offensive pressure on the next shift, but Mingo stopped all three shots.

Early in the third period, the Wheat Kings shot themselves in the foot in a big way on a power play.

Gage Nagel outraced defenceman Cameron Allard for the puck on a dump-in and threw it out front to the 19-year-old Finnish rookie Kamarainen for a shorthanded goal. That meant that not only has Brandon’s hapless power play gone 0-for-9 through three games this season, it has given up two shorthanded goals.

“We’re minus with two shorties and haven’t scored yet,” Murray said. “That’s not a recipe for success and certainly something that we’re going to have improve on a lot.”

At the same time, the Wheat Kings kept taking penalties and Moroz scored on Moose Jaw’s fourth power play when a hard shot bounced off the end boards onto his stick. It was Moroz’s first goal since Feb. 22, 2025 after he missed last season due to injury.

The Wheat Kings penalty killers have allowed four goals in 15 chances this season, but Murray has been encouraged by what he’s seen from them.

“I thought our PK battled,” Murray said. “I think one thing through three games is our commitment to blocking shots. I thought our guys did a pretty good job of that. On the first one, they’re walking in and it’s post and in, which is a tough shot and then the second was a rebound that bounced onto a guy’s stick.

“With our PK, we’re encouraged by the work ethic and commitment to getting into shot lanes.”

Late in the third period on a power play — in an unmistakable sign of his frustration with the team’s top players and to reward the guys who were playing well — Murray put five rookies on the ice and followed that with the second power-play unit.

“There was a TV timeout and we talked about it,” Murray said. “Those guys were working hard and doing their job. It was probably a bit of both, to be honest with you. The power play has a tendency to take a step back and be casual, and when you do that, you get yourself into trouble. We’ve done that and the kids were playing hard so I thought we would give them a look.”

Brandon went 0-for-3 on the power play, with Moose Jaw scoring twice in four chances.

Bhathal finally broke Mingo’s shutout bid with 49.4 seconds remaining. Moose Jaw had a couple of chances to clear the zone but were unsuccessful, and the Winnipegger fought off three Warriors to lift the puck into the top of the net.

Cruz Jim earned his first WHL point with an assist.

Chan, who was his team’s most consistent player, made 25 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Mingo stopping 28 shots for the Warriors. Mingo was also making his season debut, although he played two games last winter as a call-up.

“Both goalies were 16 year olds and they both played pretty well,” Murray said. “(Chan) gave us a chance to win the hockey game and it was unfortunate we couldn’t give him some offence. The biggest dagger was the shorthanded goal we gave up but we can’t fault him. He played really hard tonight and should be proud of his effort.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured forwards Jimmy Egan and Cole Hunter and D Ilari Kapanen, plus healthy scratch F Gunnar Gleasman and G Filip Ruzicka, whose flight back to Manitoba arrived too late for him to accompany the team. Backup goalie Ryley Budd tweaked a leg on Friday and watched from the bench … When Brandon won the shootout 4-3 on Friday in a 3-2 victory over the Regina Pats, it was the first time since the shootout began in 2005-06 that the Wheat Kings allowed three goals and won. The last nine-round shootout for Brandon was on Dec. 8, 2023 when Carson Bjarnason made seven saves and Roger McQueen, Dominik Petr and Jayden Wiens scored in a 5-4 win over the visiting Warriors … Defencemen Ethan Young and Allard led the Wheat Kings with four shots each on net … The game took two hours, 24 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 38-25 … Brandon next sees action when they start their West Coast trip against the Prince George Cougars on Friday.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

 

SATURDAY

Warriors 3, Wheat Kings 1

First Period

No Scoring.

Penalties — Williams MJ (boarding) 4:45, Bench minor Bdn (too many men) 19:59.

Second Period

1. Moose Jaw, Thorpe 1 (Paquette, Lajoie) 18:06 (pp).

Penalties — Baumuller Bdn (cross checking) 6:43, Kamarainen MJ (roughing) 6:43, Boehm Bdn (hooking) 16:21,

Third Period

2. Moose Jaw, Kamarainen 1 (Nagel) 2:04 (sh).

3. Moose Jaw, Moroz 1 (McFadden) 11:42 (pp).

4. Brandon, Bhathal 1 (Boehm, Jim) 19:10.

Penalties — Schmidt MJ (tripping) 1:01, Ellingsen Bdn (slashing) 7:09, Muissu Bdn (holding) 10:32, Kamarainen MJ (slashing) 13:15, Boehm Bdn (fighting major) 20:00, McFadden MJ (fighting major) 20:00.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 6 12 11 — 29

Moose Jaw 9 10 9 — 28

Goal — Brandon: Chan (L, 0-1-0-0). Moose Jaw: Mingo (W, 1-0-0-0).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 0-3; Moose Jaw: 2-4.

Referees — Ty Skene, Troy Murray.

Linesmen — Jordan Frey, Colby Ross.

Attendance — 2,271 in Moose Jaw.