Kamloops Blazers at Brandon Wheat Kings 10/16 | WHL Highlights 2025-26

By Colton Davies – Follow Colton on X

The Kamloops Blazers went into Brandon for a matchup against the Wheat Kings on Thursday evening.

Ivans Kufterins got the start in goal for Kamloops, while Filip Ruzicka went between the pipes for Brandon.

The Blazers opened the scoring when CHL leading scorer JP Hurlbert buried his 11th goal of the season off a feed from Josh Evaschesen. Brandon responded with pressure of their own, but Kufterins came up with a big stop to keep Kamloops ahead.

The Blazers then capitalized on a turnover forced by Asher Gingras, who found Tommy Lafreniere for his third goal in the last 24 hours, making it 2–0. Kufterins then came up with another monster save on a wraparound attempt to keep the Blazers ahead 2-0. Brandon broke through on the powerplay and it was Luke Mistelbacher getting the Wheat Kings on the board.

Kufterins remained sharp early in the second, turning aside several high-danger chances. Midway through the frame, Nathan Behm carried the puck down the wing and set up Evaschesen, who ripped home his third of the season to restore the two-goal lead. The Wheat Kings responded quickly on a powerplay marker from Chase Surkan to cut the deficit to one. Moments later, Giorgios Pantelas tied the game Joby Baumuller added another goal to give Brandon a 4-3 lead.

The Wheat Kings struck again just 38 seconds into the third as Caleb Hadland made it 5-3. Kamloops pushed back with quality chances from Lafreniere and Behm, but Ruzicka stood tall. Brandon added one more midway through the period when Carter Klippenstein found the back of the net. Despite a late push, the Blazers couldn’t close the gap, falling 6–3 in Brandon.