Wheat Kings rebound to tame Vees

Joby Baumuller had a hat trick and Colin Grubb had four assists as the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Penticton Vees 7-4 in Western Hockey League action at South Okanagan Events Centre on Friday.

Brandon (6-2-0-0) received its goals from Levi Ellingsen, Kris Muissu, Chase Surkan and Cole Hunter, with Nate Pederson, Noel Pakarinen, Jackson Schneider and Graham Jones replying for Penticton (4-3-0-1) in front of a crowd of 3,211.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his team managed to respond despite a 25-minute span when they were simply dominated.

“I thought the first 10 minutes of the game were probably our best start in the season,” Murray said. “We come out in the first 10 minutes and did a lot of things well, and then we got back on our heels a little bit. You get beat on a one-on-one and they got some momentum, and in the second period for the first 15 minutes, it was a disaster, to be honest.

“We took a lot of unnecessary penalties and spent a lot of time in our zone. Probably the turning point of the game was the five-on-three kill for two full minutes. We did a heckuva job there and we answered on the power play and on the next shift score again.

“It probably stunned everybody in the arena that we were going back in with a lead after two.”

The visitors took the lead three minutes 21 seconds into the game after forcing a turnover in the neutral zone. Brett Wilson got the puck across the zone to Baumuller, who fired a hard shot over the glove of Penticton goalie Andrew Reyalts on the short side.

They made it 2-0 six minutes later when the 16-year-old Ellingsen tipped a shot by Cameron Allard for his first WHL goal.

The Vees responded two minutes after that with a highlight-reel goal when Pederson danced around rookie defenceman Ethan Young and beat Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka on the deke.

The Wheat Kings’ power play has been plagued by giveaways this season and it nearly hurt them again when Pederson headed in on a shorthanded breakaway and was hooked from behind by Baumuller. The Vees forward was emphatically awarded a penalty shot by the referee, but Ruzicka made a pad save on his low shot 17:38 into the period.

The back half of the first period wasn’t great for Brandon, but the wheels fell off in a hurry in the middle frame.

The Vees poured on the pressure to start the second period, including on their first power play, and they held the Wheat Kings without a shot for more than five minutes.

They tied the game 6:32 into the middle frame on their second power play when Pakarinen put a shot on the low glove side through a maze of bodies.

Then, just 61 seconds later, they took the lead when Schneider’s bad-angle shot beat Ruzicka for his first WHL goal.

By that point, the Vees led 9-1 on the shot clock, and the Wheat Kings soon sent them back to a five-on-three power play for a full two minutes after Prabh Bhathal took a tripping penalty and Jaxon Jacobson was called for roughing in the faceoff circle.

Penticton moved the puck around but Brandon somehow killed off the man advantage, with defenceman Nigel Boehm’s shot blocking a key reason. When the penalties ended, the Vees had taken 21 of the last 25 shots on net.

The visitors promptly took their fifth penalty in 11 minutes when Josh McGregor cross-checked a Vees forward after he got a little too close to Ruzicka, and were fortunate when the Vees hit a crossbar but didn’t extend the lead.

A Brandon club that had done everything it could to give the game away through the first 17 minutes of the second period somehow went to the dressing room with the lead.

On their third power play, Baumuller took a shot, Colin Grubb put a second shot on net and the rebound popped out in front where nobody was standing except for Baumuller.

Then, just 24 seconds later, Grubb sent a hard pass to the net off the rush and Baumuller tipped it home for his hat trick. The combined distance he shot the puck on the two goals might have been five feet.

The Wheat Kings made it 5-3 on a power play 5:05 into the third period when Chase Surkan carried the puck in, dished it over to Muissu and after the big Russian took a moment to control the puck, his off-speed shot fooled Reyalts.

Less than two minutes later, Penticton responded again, with Jones firing a shot through the legs of shot blocker Cruz Jim to beat Ruzicka off the rush.

With the score now 5-4, Penticton’s stout forecheckers continually created turnovers as the momentum flipped again, with Brandon struggling to get back over centre ice for several minutes.

The Vees sent the Wheat Kings back to the power play with 6:50 remaining in regulation, and it took just 14 seconds for Grubb to set up Surkan from the side of the net to restore Brandon’s two-goal lead.

On a night when everything seemed to happen, Brandon took a delay-of-game penalty with 4:47 remaining, and the Vees pulled the goalie to make it six-on-four. The Wheat Kings were content just to ice the puck and managed to kill the penalty.

After putting Reyalts back in due to a neutral zone faceoff, Penticton pulled him again with two minutes left, but Brandon did a terrific job of shutting down their zone and gave up nothing.

Hunter then found the empty net with 9.7 seconds remaining for his first WHL goal.

It was Brandon’s first trip to Penticton, which joined the WHL for the 2025-26 season. It was also their first game against former Wheat Kings defenceman Gio Pantelas, who asked for an off-season trade to the Vees and was granted his wish on July 15.

The Wheat Kings are now 4-1-0-0 on the trip after a 3-1 loss to the Prince George Cougars on Friday, a 6-2 victory over the Victoria Royals on Sunday, a 2-1 shootout win over the Vancouver Giants on Tuesday and a 3-1 victory over the Kamloops Blazers on Wednesday.

“That’s a real positive for us,” Murray said. “Six games in nine nights it ends up being, and with the travel and ferry and all that stuff — and you have teams sitting and waiting for you — I think it says a lot about our group.

“It’s fun to see them come together now and face adversity right in the eye and overcome it. It’s a huge sign of character.”

Ruzicka made 25 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Reyalts stopping 21 shots for the Vees.

Brandon went 3-for-5 on the power play, with Penticton scoring once in six chances.

“They win or lose hockey games and for us, the power play struggled early in the year but especially in these tight games with fatigue and all that stuff, you have to rely on your power play and they came through again,” Murray said. “The PK was outstanding. We got some big blocks on the five-on-three. A five-on-three for 45 seconds is one thing, but for the full two minutes and to get out of it unscathed was a huge part of the game.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without healthy scratches F Gunnar Gleasman, F Ahmad Fayad, D Easten Turko and injured D Ilari Kapanen and F Jimmy Egan … The WHL ruled D Josh McGregor would avoid a suspension despite taking a boarding major on Wednesday and was in the lineup … The Vancouver Giants acquired 20-year-old winger Cameron Parr of La Salle from the Medicine Hat Tigers for a fifth-round pick in 2027 and a fourth-round pick in 2030 … In the only previous game between the franchises, Brandon shut out Penticton 4-0 last season at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on a night Ruzicka made 47 saves … Baumuller led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 37 minutes to play. It started at 7:14 local time after the club honoured longtime volunteer Murray Maxwell, who passed away in August at 70 … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 39-31 … Brandon finishes up the trip against the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday at 8:05 p.m. (CT) … Brandon temporarily took the lead in the WHL standings with the victory.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

 

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Wheat Kings 7, Vees 4

First Period

1. Brandon, Baumuller 4 (Wilson, Grubb) 3:21.

2. Brandon, Ellingsen 1 (Allard, McGregor) 9:51.

3. Penticton, Pederson 3 (Bergeson, Schneider) 11:40.

Penalty shot: Pederson Pen, miss, 17:38.

Penalties — Pederson Pen (boarding) 4:21, Pakarinen Pen (goaltender interference) 17:09.

Second Period

4. Penticton, Pakarinen 2 (Katz, Deakos) 6:32 (pp).

5. Penticton, Schneider 1 (Liffiton, Jones) 7:33.

6. Brandon, Baumuller 5 (Grubb) 17:50 (pp).

7. Brandon, Baumuller 6 (Grubb, Wilson) 18:14.

Penalties — Slobodian Bdn (tripping) 1:06, Ellingsen Bdn (fighting major) 4:02, Johnson Pen (fighting major) 4:02, Wilson Bdn (interference) 5:38, Bhathal Bdn (tripping) 8:33, Jacobson Bdn (cross checking) 8:33, McGregor Bdn (cross checking) 12:39, Pederson Pen (hooking) 17:44.

Third Period

8. Brandon, Muissu 4 (Surkan, Jacobson) 5:05 (pp).

9. Penticton, Jones 6 (Burick) 6:42.

10. Brandon, Surkan 4 (Grubb, Muissu) 13:24 (pp).

11. Brandon, Hunter 1 (Surkan, Boehm) 19:50 (en).

Penalties — Jacobson Bdn (slashing) 1:11, Liffiton Pen (cross checking) 1:11, Deakos Pen (hooking) 4:27, Burick Pen (charging) 13:10, Boehm Bdn (delay of game) 15:03.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 12 8 8 — 28

Penticton 11 13 6 — 30

Goal — Brandon: Ruzicka (W, 3-1-0-0). Kelowna: Reyalts (L, 2-3-0-1).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 3-5; Penticton: 1-6.

Referees — Mike Campbell, Bradley Ford.

Linesmen — Zach Anderson, Dustin Minty.

Attendance — 3,211 in Penticton.