The final two periods for the Brandon Wheat Kings and Swift Current Broncos were dead even and the pace of play even favoured the Wheat Kings somewhat, but they had dug themselves in too deeply by the end of the first period.
Chase Surkan and Kris Muissu scored in the first and third periods respectively, but the Wheat Kings fell 7-2 to the Broncos in their first meeting of the season. The Broncos scored six times in the opening frame.
“A lot of times good defense leads to offense, and I know tonight there were a couple of times where guys were just flying the zone,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We gave up a 2-on-0 in front and we had four guys outside of our blueline…a hockey game is usually pretty fair and you usually get out of it what you put into it. Tonight we got out-worked, out-battled, and got embarrassed.”
Chaos ruled the day early in the first period. Not even two minutes in, the Broncos were up 2-0. First it was Zach Pantelakis picking off a pass in front of the net and quickly snapping it home. Then, Brock Burch beat Ruzicka to a rebound he tried to cover and poked it through his five-hole and in.
Just over a minute after the Broncos scored their second, the Wheat Kings responded. Brady Turko broke up ice on a two-on-one with Surkan and snapped the puck to him as he drove the net on the left wing, with Surkan burying it to cut the lead in half.
But from there Broncos rolled and the Wheat Kings seemed unable to slow them down. Carter Moen started the sudden outburst on down low two-on-one that he finished high-blocker. Then, another two-on-one following a turnover turned into a one-timer goal for Trae Wilke.
The Broncos, as it turned out, were just getting started. Another turnover turned into Yuri Vlasenko’s first WHL goal when he was left alone in front. Then, a spinning shot from Ty Meunier deflected off a stick in front and hopped over Ruzicka’s pad and in.
In the second period, the well from which the offense had flowed suddenly ran dry. Both teams had power play opportunities but neither team broke through and the 6-1 score persisted through 40 minutes.
Brandon got some life early in the third, just as a power play expired. Cole Hunter sent an area pass ahead for Muissu to skate onto, and the big power forward beat Cal Conway to the puck as he came out to play it, stepping to his left and firing in his 11th of the season.
After the Wheat Kings could not score on a lengthy five-on-three, the Broncos got their five-goal lead back on another two-on-one. This one saw Hyde Davidson go into the clear, lifting a shot over Ruzicka’s shoulder and in.
The Wheat Kings will have to sit with this one for a few days before facing the Regina Pats in Regina on Friday night.
