Grubb leads Brandon past Victoria

Colin Grubb scored twice and added an assist as the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Victoria Royals 6-2 in Western Hockey League action at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Sunday.

Brandon (3-2-0-0) received its other goals from Kris Muissu, Brett Wilson, Jaxon Jacobson and Chase Surkan, with Savin Virk and Drayden Uhrina replying for Victoria (3-1-0-0) in front of a crowd of 3,096. Jacobson, Surkan and Muissu also each had two assists.

It was Brandon’s fourth win in a row over Victoria in the last four seasons. The Wheat Kings fell 3-1 to the Prince George Cougars on Friday in the opening game of the road trip.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his team played well in the victory.

“I just thought we did things right,” Murray said. “We were committed all over the ice. We had a lot of adversity coming from PG on the bus overnight and then taking a ferry. The last time we touched ice was in PG.”

After some early pressure, the Wheat Kings took a penalty two minutes 50 seconds into the game, and just seven seconds later, sniper Cameron Schmidt set up Virk for a one-time blast past Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka.

Brandon tied the game five minutes later with their first power-play goal of the season, when Jaxon Jacobson set up Muissu and the left-handed Russian blasted it in.

And while they were in the mood for firsts, Grubb knocked away a pass while killing a penalty and Brady Turko picked up the puck, skated down the ice and his shot squeezed through Victoria goalie Vladimir Proskurin for Grubb to tap in for his team’s first short-handed goal.

Murray has preached to his troops all season that goals come from in close, and they built a 4-1 lead when Wilson knocked in a rebound on a delayed penalty call late in the first period, and when Jacobson jumped on a second rebound on a Chase Surkan opportunity early in the second period.

The visitors made it 5-1 when Surkan converted on a three-on-one with Jacobson after the captain teed up the Regina product for his big shot at the 13:44 mark.

The Wheat Kings eliminated any doubt with a power-play goal 7:16 into the final frame when Grubb knocked in a rebound of a Muissu shot.

It was the fourth goal Brandon scored on a rebound in close.

“There are a lot of pucks around the blue paint and teams are committed to being there,” Murray said. “Most of our goals we got around the blue paint and hopefully the kids understand that.”

Ruzicka was fantastic all night, but made his finest save when he slid across with his pad to deny Filip Novak when he was left all alone.

The Wheat Kings kept taking penalties, however, and the former Portage Terriers forward Uhrina of Winnipeg scored his first WHL goal on a power-play three-on-one.

A big help in the victory for Brandon was its performance at the faceoff dot. They went a dominant 47-19, winning draws in key moments.

“Especially on special teams, we won a lot of faceoffs and things after icings when there was tension,” Murray said. “We did a good job.”

Ruzicka made 27 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Proskurin stopping 19 shots for the Royals.

Brandon went 2-for-5 on the power play, with Victoria scoring twice in seven chances. It was the first time this season Brandon won the special teams battle.

“That was big,” Murray said. “There’s obviously been an inability to score on the power play we were losing tight games. The power play was good. I really liked their start and they scored on the second one.”

The trip through the B.C. Division continues as they face the Vancouver Giants on Tuesday at 9 p.m. CT, followed by the Kamloops Blazers (Wednesday, 9 p.m. CT), Penticton Vees (Friday, 9:05 p.m. CT) and Kelowna Rockets (Saturday, 8:05 p.m. CT).

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured players D Ilari Kapanen, F Jimmy Egan and F Cole Hunter … The healthy scratches were F Hudson Landmark and D Easton Turko … Surkan led the Wheat Kings with five shots on net … The game took two hours, 31 minutes to play.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

 

SUNDAY

Wheat Kings 6, Royals 2

First Period

1. Victoria, Virk 3 (Schmidt, Vauhkonen) 2:57 (pp).

2. Brandon, Muissu 2 (Surkan, Baumuller) 8:00 (pp).

3. Brandon, Grubb 2 (Turko) 11:05 (sh).

4. Brandon, Wilson 1 (Slobodian, Grubb) 17:50.

Penalties — Fayad Bdn (hooking) 2:50, Brown Vic (interference) 5:55, Schulte Vic (holding) 7:47, BaumullerBdn (interference) 10:26, Gleasman Bdn (fighting major) 17:03, Kohn Vic (fighting major) 17:03.

Second Period

5. Brandon, Jacobson 1 (Surkan Muissu) 1:43.

6. Brandon, Surkan 3 (Jacobson) 13:44.

Penalties — Ellingsen Bdn Bdn (roughing) 6:52, Gleasman Bdn (roughing) 15:30, Novak Vic (unsportsmanlikeconduct) 15:30, Allard Bdn (hooking) 17:41, Schmidt Vic (cross checking) 19:37.

Third Period

7. Brandon, Grubb 3 (Muissu, Jacobson) 7:16 (pp).

8. Victoria, Uhrina 1 (Novak) 17:36 (pp).

Penalties — Fayad Bdn (hooking) 3:24, Kohn Vic (tripping) 7:07, Jim Bdn (boarding) 7:38, Novak Vic (highsticking) 10:23, McGregor Bdn (cross checking) 16:54.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 13 4 8 — 25

Victoria 13 9 7 — 29

Goal — Brandon: Ruzicka (W, 1-1-0-0). Victoria: Proskurin (L, 1-1-0-0).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 2-5; Victoria: 2-7.

Referees — Jake Podann, Kai Walsh.

Linesmen — Aidan Hitchmough, Nathan Van Oosten.

Attendance — 3,096 in Victoria.