Brandon Wheat Kings vs Prince Albert Raiders

7 p.m. at Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

6:30 p.m. (91.5 FM): 7 p.m. (Victory!)

WHEAT KINGS

Jordan Gavin had two goals and an assist and Filip Ruzicka made 34 saves as the short-staffed Brandon Wheat Kings topped the Saskatoon Blades 3-2 in Western Hockey League action at SaskTel Centre on Saturday.

Brandon (11-10-1-0), which was missing Jaxon Jacobson and Caleb Hadland from its top line after both were injured in Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Prince Albert Raiders, received its other goal from Luke Mistelbacher, with Hunter Laing and Tyler Parr replying for Saskatoon (14-9-2-0) in front of a crowd of 4,467.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said with the 6-4 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors on Tuesday and Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Prince Albert Raiders, it was a difficult week with three games in five days.

“I thought it was just a really gritty effort and a character win,” Murray said. “We were down to 10 forwards and missing two-thirds of our first line. A lot goes into this week, the travel for the game on Tuesday and then back to back with three games on the road.

The Prince Albert Raiders won the offensive battle and dominated the defensive game as they beat the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings 4-1 in Western Hockey League action at Art Hauser Centre on Friday.

Prince Albert (16-1-4-0) received its goals from Matyas Man, Max Heise, Brock Cripps and Riley Boychuk, with Luke Mistelbacher replying for Brandon (10-10-1-0) in front of a rowdy crowd of 2,942.

Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his team simply didn’t have enough early in the game for the Eastern Conference leaders.

“I thought we were pretty flat,” Murray said. “We were second to pucks and second in 50-50 battles. I thought we were chasing them. We took eight penalties in the first two periods, and a lot of them we were a half step behind.”

Former Brandon Wheat Kings head scout Mark Johnston will be inducted posthumously into the Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation’s Wall of Honour next summer.

Johnston, who died in 2024, was hired as a scout prior to the 1989-90 season by former Wheat Kings owner Kelly McCrimmon, who now serves as general manager of the National Hockey League’s Vegas Golden Knights.

He left the organization in 2001, scouted for the Kelowna Rockets for 12 years and returned to the Wheat Kings in 2013.

Jim Bzdel, Garnet (Ace) Bailey, Craig Channell, Paul Charles, Marcel Comeau, Jeff Crisp, Marshall Davidson, the late Laurence Ferguson, Thomas Gradin, Randy Hansch, Ryan Jankowski, Kelly Kisio, the late Jack McIlhargey, John Williams, Ray Dudra, Mike Barnett, Dan Ginnell, and twin brothers Rich and Ron Sutter will also be inducted.

Grayson Burzynski scored twice, including the game-winner, as the Brandon Wheat Kings defeated the Moose Jaw Warriors 6-4 in Western Hockey League action at Temple Gardens Centre on Tuesday.

Brandon (10-9-1-0) received its other goals from Carter Klippenstein, Joby Baumuller, Jaxon Jacobson and Max Lavoie, with Lynden Lakovic, Riley Thorpe, Gage Nagel and Connor Schmidt scoring for Moose Jaw (10-11-1-0) in front of a crowd of 2,311.

It was the fourth meeting between the clubs this season, and the fourth to hit double-digits in goals.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said another high-scoring affair was to be expected.

Jaxon Jacobson scored his second goal of the game in overtime as the Brandon Wheat Kings weathered an unlikely comeback by the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers to post a 6-5 victory in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Saturday.

Brandon (9-9-1-0) also received two goals from Brady Turko and singles from Luke Mistelbacher and Jordan Gavin, with Bryce Pickford sniping twice for Medicine Hat (11-6-3-1) and Carter Cunningham, Cam Parr and Liam Ruck also sniping in front of a crowd of 2,920.

The Wheat Kings beat the Tigers 7-4 in Medicine Hat a week ago.

“It’s awesome to get a win, especially against a good team,” Jacobson said. “We’ve had some success against them already this year and it’s good to get another one. We just have to keep it going. We have to get something going for a long streak, not just a short one.”

Brandon Wheat Kings vs Medicine Hat Tigers

6 p.m. at Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

5:30 p.m. (91.5 FM): 6 p.m. (Victory!)

(All stats prior to Medicine Hat’s game in Regina last night.)

Chase Surkan and Canada Red topped Canada White 6-3 to win the U17 World Challenge on Sunday in Truro, N.S.

The 16-year-old Wheat Kings forward had a goal and six assists in five games, including an assist in the final.

In the bronze-medal game, the United States defeated Czechia 3-1, with Finland beating Sweden 3-2 in overtime to finish in fifth place.

The all-star team included Canada Red goaltender Leif Oaten, defenceman Brock Cripps and forward Canada Red, American defenceman Diego Gutierrez and forward Brayden Willis and Canada White forward Maddox Schultz.

Luke Mistelbacher had a hat trick and Brady Turko scored twice as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 7-4 in Western Hockey League action at Co-op Place on Saturday.

Brandon (8-8-1-0) also received goals from Grayson Burzynski and Jordan Gavin, with Jonas Woo also posting a hat trick and Bryce Pickford also scoring for Medicine Hat (10-6-2-1) in front of a crowd of 3,601.

The seventh-place Wheat Kings have had a world of trouble at Co-op Place recently, last beating the fourth-place Tigers there on Dec. 4, 2021.

Brandon general manager and head coach Marty Murray said it was a relief to finally get a victory in Medicine Hat, and a nice rebound after an ugly 8-7 loss to the Lethbridge Hurricanes a night earlier.

Luke Cozens had two goals and five assists as the Lethbridge Hurricanes beat the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings 8-7 in a wild Western Hockey League shootout at VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Friday.

Lethbridge (5-13-0-1), which sits last in the Eastern Conference, also received two goals from Logan Wormald and Owen Berge and singles from Shane Smith and Tomas Malinek, while Dylan Ronald and Luke Mistelbacher scored twice for Brandon (7-8-1-0) and Caleb Hadland, Brady Turko and Nick Johnson sniped once in front of a crowd of 3,497.

Brandon general manager and head coach Marty Murray said it was a hard game to watch.

“I don’t know where to begin,” Murray said. “I know there are some things I’m going to get in trouble for saying. Obviously seven kills definitely hurt us and the five-on-threes. We have to stay disciplined and find ways to keep the puck out of the net, make saves and we need penalty kills to get it done.”