Preseason games, whether won or lost, are rarely pretty, but you’d rather win them than lose them and the Brandon Wheat Kings have been doing a lot of winning this preseason. They kept right on rolling in their third preseason game, downing the Regina Pats 5-3.
Caleb Hadland scored twice and Quinn Mantei, Adam Belusko, and Nolan Flamand added singles as the Wheat Kings moved to 3-0 on the preseason. Dylan McFadyen earned his second straight win between the pipes.
“We started off well but I thought we got a little sloppy at the end of the first managing pucks and the start of the second too,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “They capitalized on some plays. But overall it wasn’t bad. I liked our third, especially with a short lineup.”
Hadland started the party and kept it going. First, he broke in up left side, caught up to his own chip-in, and ripped home his second goal in as many preseason games. Then, parked at the top of the crease, he tapped home a perfect feed from Flamand.
Sam Oremba replied twice for Regina, first with a one-timer on the power play and then with a tap-in of his own as he was set up off a 3-on-2. But Mantei replied for the Wheat Kings on their second power play of the game, snapping one through traffic from the right point to restore the lead.
After Logan Peskett scored another power play tally for Regina, the Wheat Kings started the third in a 3-3 tie, but it didn’t stay that way for long. Belusko flipped one through traffic just 39 seconds into the game to put the home side ahead again.
As the third period went on, the Wheat Kings built up a huge shot lead, more than doubling the Pats, but couldn’t break away until Flamand stuffed home an empty netter to complete the win.
The Wheat Kings and Pats do it all again tomorrow in Regina. Puck drop is 7:00 Central Time.
