Photo by Keith Hershmiller
It may not go down as the Brandon Wheat Kings prettiest game, but Sunday’s 5-4 overtime win vs Winnipeg still counts for two-points in the standings.
After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, the Wheat Kings began to shoot themselves in the foot with a plethora of penalties, a combination of dumb mistakes and questionable officiating.
“We played the way we wanted until about two minutes left in the first period,” said Head Coach Don MacGillivray. “We got away from our game and Winnipeg dictated the game to us. We didn’t compete hard enough and we did a lot of sloppy things but we found a way to get a win.”
After outshooting Winnipeg 13-6 in the first period, the ice quickly tilted in Winnipeg’s favour. Peyton Krebs quickly collected a goal and three assists as the ICE took a 4-3 lead with just under five minutes to go in the third period.
The Wheat Kings tied it late off the stick of Ridly Greig but quickly found themselves behind the eight-ball as Braden Schneider was assesed a phantom checking to the head call that put the ICE on the man advantage.
Two big saves from Ethan Kruger lead to a storybook ending for the Wheat Kings as Schneider left the box and quickly put his 4th of the season over the shoulder of Daniel Hauser lifting Brandon to the victory.
“There were some challenges tonight for sure,” added MacGillivray. “We didn’t get the kills we needed at times tonight and that put us in a bad spot. We got a big kill at the end though and we scored to win the game. We will take it and move on. They all can’t be perfect games… We will look at the tape and get ready for the next one.”
Schneider (1G-1A), Ben McCartney (4A) and Ridly Greig (1G-1A) all had multi-point nights for Brandon while Ethan Kruger made 31 saves for the victory.
“In the second and third we weren’t playing our best,” said Braden Schneider. “Winnipeg played a real good game. They did everything in their power to get past us, we hung in there and im proud of our guys.”
Brandon now moves back into top spot in the East Division, one point up on the Saskatoon Blades and five points clear of the ICE.
The Wheat Kings will take two days off before taking on the Swift Current Broncos on Wednesday afternoon (5:00 PM on Q Country)