Photo by Brandi Pollock
Moose Jaw, SK (CKLQ) – The Brandon Wheat Kings earned a thrilling 6-5 OT win against the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday night at Mosaic Place.
Caiden Daley (1G,2A) and Stelio Mattheos (2G,1A) led the way for Brandon each with three-point nights.
Linden McCorrister (1G, 1A) extended his point-scoring streak to six games, with a two-point night. While Daley is now riding a four-game streak.
The Wheat Kings held a trio of leads in the game, but the leagues most potent offence would not go away. Jayden Halbgewachs (2G,1A) became the first player to eclipse the 70 goal mark in a season since Pavel Brendl scored 74 in 1999.
Dylan Myskiw turned aside 29 shots for his tenth victory of the season in what was his fourth consecutive start. Logan Thompson remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury. At the other end of the rink, Brody Willms kicked aside 26 shots in the losing effort.
Powerplays were a tad one-sided tonight, the Warriors finished 2-5, while the Wheat Kings scored once on a pair of abbreviated opportunities.
The win combined with Regina’s shootout against Swift Current means the Wheat Kings will face the Medicine Hat Tigers in the first round of the WHL Playoffs. (The schedule is TBA).
These two teams will meet again tonight at Westoba Place with the puck drop at 7:30 p.m. and the QCountry pre-game show starting at 7:00 p.m. The evening will also feature the Year-End Awards. The show starts at 7:15 p.m.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st PERIOD
BWK – Linden McCorrister (20) (Daley, Ettinger) 2:15
MJ – Tristyn DeRoose (4) (Smithies, Popple) 3:12
BWK – Caiden Daley (7) (Bettens, Wytinck) 7:24
BWK – Stelio Mattheos (42) (Burzan, Daley) 15:22
MJ – Jayden Halbgewachs (69) (Brook, Howden) 17:42 PPG
Shots: 10-9 Brandon
2nd PERIOD
MJ – Jayden Halbgewachs (70) (Howden, Almeida) 9:35 PPG
BWK – Cole Reinhardt (19) (Mattheos, Burzan) 14:31
Shots: 7-5 Moose Jaw
3rd PERIOD
MJ – Tanner Jeannot (38) (Halbgewachs, Howden) 1:29
BWK – Connor Gutenberg (18) (Lewis, Reinhardt) 9:25 PPG
MJ – Justin Almeida (43) (Howden, Woo) 19:59 6on5
Shots: 16 -15 Brandon
OVERTIME
BWK – Stelio Mattheos (43) (McCorrister) 1:17
Final Shots
32-31 Brandon
