Photo by Brandi Crowe
Moose Jaw, SK (CKLQ) – Brayden Tracey’s first career hat-trick gave the Moose Jaw Warriors a 3-1 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings on Monday night at Mosaic Place.
For the first time in three games, the Wheat Kings opened the scoring. Midway through the opening period a pair of former Warriors connected to beat Adam Evanoff and give Brandon an early lead. Luka Burzan made a nifty backhand pass to Chase Hartje who jumped up in the rush and tapped home his 3rd of the year.
Just over a minute later, the Warriors tied it up. Connor Ungar made three saves on a goalmouth scramble before Brayden Tracey tucked in his 12th of the year through the five-hole.
In the second, the Warriors took their first lead of the game as Brayden Tracey notched his 2nd of the night while the teams played four on four. The Calgary native was left alone in front and took a feed from Danil Stepanov making no mistake.
Tracey’s hat-trick goal early in the third would ice the game and help the Warriors earn their 20th win of the season. Meanwhile, Brandon has dropped four straight coming out of the Christmas break and currently sit with a record of 15-14-3-3, ten points back of the Warriors for third in the East Division.
16-year-old rookie netminder Connor Ungar made his first career WHL start, the Calgary native made 24 saves on 27 shots. Meanwhile, overage defenseman Schael Higson did not make the trip to Moose Jaw. Coach David Anning told me pre-game it was a "Coaches Decision."
Brandon will head back to the practice ice this week as they prepare for a Friday night matchup on home ice vs the Seattle Thunderbirds. (7:30 on QCountry Radio.)
SCORING SUMMARY
1st PERIOD
BWK – Chase Hartje (3) (Burzan, Greig) 10:31
MJ – Brayden Tracey (12) (Langan, Hunt) 11:54
Shots: 11-8 Moose Jaw
2nd PERIOD
MJ – Brayden Tracey (13) (Stepanov, Hamaluik) 5:07
Shots: 9-8 Moose Jaw
3rd PERIOD
MJ – Brayden Tracey (14) (Langan, Almeida) 5:45 PPG
Final Shots: 29-27 Brandon