Underdog Wheat Kings Wrestle Two Points Out Of Saskatoon
All the signs seemed to point to a tough outing for the Brandon Wheat Kings against the Saskatoon Blades. As it turned out, however, they were tougher than their circumstances.
Luke Shipley, Matteo Michels, Dominik Petr, and Carter Kippenstein all scored, and Carson Bjarnason was stellar with 34 saves on 35 shots as the Wheat Kings took down the Blades 4-1. The Wheat Kings were perfect on the penalty kill in the win as well.
“I’m really proud of the guys,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We played last night and they didn’t, we were short staffed, they’re obviously a really good team and in this building in particular. I’m just really proud of the guys. At times, we had a bend but don’t break mindset.”
Each team traded chances in the first period, many of them coming off awkward turnovers and strange falls. But despite all these looks, including one where not one but two top players for the Blades were staring down an open net, neither team found the scoreboard through the entire opening twenty.
In the second, it was the Wheat Kings who finally broke through. Off an offensive zone draw, Rylen Roersma sent the puck cleanly back to Shipley, who snapped it through traffic for his second goal in his last two games in Saskatoon, and to give the Wheat Kings the 1-0 lead.
Off another offensive zone draw, the Wheat Kings scored almost a replay of one of their goals the previous night. Petr won a draw, Klippenstein tapped it back to Michels, and he snapped home his 15th to make it 2-0.
An ugly hit in the third period sent the Wheat Kings to the penalty kill for five full minutes. With a gutsy combination of shot blocking, dogged puck pursuit, and some big saves from Bjarnason, they killed the entire power play without allowing a goal.
With the net empty, the Blades pulled with one. Egor Sidorov snapped one through traffic from the top of the right circle to spoil the shutout for Bjarnason. But the Wheat Kings pushed back, and this time the goaltender pull didn’t work for the Blades as Petr finished off a pretty passing play on a 3-on-1.
Down by two again, the Blades again pulled their netminder but again the Wheat Kings took advantage with Klippenstein snapping one home from long range to make it 4-1. From there, the clock wound down and the Wheat Kings took the win.
The final game of this three-in-three swing comes tomorrow night in Prince Albert against the Raiders. Puck drop will be 7:00.
