Photo by Brandi Pollock
Brandon, MB (CKLQ) – The Brandon Wheat Kings improved to 5-0-1-0 on the season with a 5-4 overtime win over the Moose Jaw Warriors Friday night.
For the fifth time in six games, the Wheat Kings opened the scoring. Schael Higson scored on a seeing-eye point shot that beat Warriors netminder Brodan Salmond.
Less than ten minutes later it was deja-vu for Higson as he hammered home his 2nd of the night from an identical spot on the ice.
Brandon dodged a bullet in the first period when Jiri Patera swept the puck off the goalline while swimming around the crease like fellow Czech netminder Dominik Hasek. Upon video review, the puck never entered the net.
In the 2nd, the Wheat Kings found themselves in penalty trouble and the Warriors made them pay. Two powerplay goals in less than 2 minutes got the Warriors right back into the game and allowed them to take over the momentum.
However, when it looked like Moose Jaw was bound to take their first lead of the night, Jonny Hooker picked up a loose puck and shoveled it past Salmond to restore the one-goal lead.
In the third, the Warriors came on strong and took their first lead of the game with goals from Jett Woo and Tristen Langan. Langan finished the night with two goals and two assists for four points.
With a little over 1:20 to go, and Jiri Patera on the bench, former Warrior Luka Burzan snapped home a rebound to send the game to overtime.
Just like a week ago in Moose Jaw, the overtime period didn’t last a minute. Connor Gutenberg took a pass from Schael Higson and snapped a wrist shot over the shoulder of Salmond to send the water-bottle flying and send the 3366 fans in attendance home happy.
Schael Higson would finish the night with 2G-3A and was named the games first star, while Jiri Patera turned aside 37 shots for his 5th victory of the season.
It is a quick turnaround for the Wheat Kings who welcome the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday night. (7:30 on QCountry Radio)
SCORING SUMMARY
1st PERIOD
BWK – Schael Higson (2) (Thompson, McCartney) 5:30
BWK – Schael Higson (3) (Mattheos, Burzan) 13:44
Shots: 14-8 Moose Jaw
2nd PERIOD
MJ – Josh Brook (4) (Almeida, Langan) 9:25 PPG
MJ – Tristan Langan (6) (Almeida, Brook) 11:07 PPG
BWK – Jonny Hooker (2) (Mattheos, Higson) 13:28
Shots: 10-5 Moose Jaw
3rd PERIOD
MJ – Jett Woo (1) (Langan, Almeida) 5:35 4on4
MJ – Tristan Langan (7) (Almeida, Hunt) 16:11
BWK – Luka Burzan (7) (Higson, McCartney) 18:33 6on5
Shots: 15-9 Moose Jaw
OVERTIME
BWK – Connor Gutenberg (3) (Higson, Patera) 4:35
Final Shots: 41-24 Moose Jaw