Hitmen weather early storm, hand Wheaties 5-2 loss

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This article was published 11/12/2022 (744 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings finally tasted a regulation loss in the Marty Murray era behind the bench, falling 5-2 to the Calgary Hitmen in Western Hockey League action at Westoba Place on Sunday afternoon.

Zac Funk scored twice and added two assists, with singles coming from Riley Fiddler-Schultz, Jacob Wright and Sean Tschigerl for Calgary (15-9-3-1), which was playing its fourth game in five days.

Luke Shipley and Brett Hyland replied for Brandon (12-16-3-0) in front of a crowd of 2,373.

Murray. who serves as Brandon’s head coach and general manager, said his team was unable to capitalize on a terrific start.

“We had a real good first 10 minutes,” Murray said. “I’m not saying we could put the game away but we had a chance to really set ourselves up for a good game. I liked what we were doing in the first 10, and again, some penalties disrupted that and took the flow out of the game. They got one and you could see a little life in them and they played a pretty inspired game.”

Brandon especially dominated the first two minutes, and the sustained pressure in the Calgary zone paid off.

Shipley made a short pass near the blue-line to Nolan Ritchie, who fired the puck at the net, where it pinballed between several skaters who were camped out in front of Calgary goalie Ethan Buenaventura. Shipley swooped in, picked up the puck and sent it past Buenaventura for his fourth goal of the season and second with Brandon.

The Wheat Kings enjoyed a number of glorious opportunities early on, but Buenaventura was terrific as Brandon built up a 11-4 advantage in shots in the opening eight minutes.

Brandon took its first penalty 11:16 into the game, and while Calgary didn’t score, the visitors seemed to settle in and find their stride. They evened the game after goalie Carson Bjarnason made a fine pad save off Sean Tschigerl’s shot off the rush, but Fiddler-Schultz drove up the middle and flipped the rebound over Bjarnason for his 17th goal of the season.

The Hitmen took the lead late in the period on a self-inflicted error by the Wheat Kings. Brandon was on the power play and had control of the puck in the Calgary zone when Hyland cross-checked Fiddler-Schultz in the high slot to send the teams to four-on-four action.

Off the resulting draw in the Brandon end, Funk was set up on the back door and scored just six seconds after Hyland went to the box.

Calgary had a 28-second five-on-three early in the second period, but it was Brandon that struck next.

On a play that developed in their own end, Calder Anderson lugged the puck up the ice, passed to Nolan Ritchie and the overage winger set up Hyland for a tic-tac-toe, tap-in goal.

But after Nate Danielson was flagged for slashing two minutes later, the Hitmen regained the lead on a power-play scramble in front of the net, with Bjarnason reaching for the puck but Wright pouncing on it and scoring.

A minute into the third period, Shipley nearly tied the game when his shot from the point found its way through traffic and squarely hit the post behind Buenaventura, who never moved.

That was the high point of the period for the hosts, who were outshot 17-4 as they struggled to get back into the game.

Funk had a pair of breakaways less than a minute apart midway through the period, but was denied on both by Bjarnason. The 19-year-old forward had the last laugh 11:50 into the final frame, however, with a deft tip into the top corner.

After Bjarnason was pulled with more than two minutes left, Danielson hit the post on a one-timer in the best chance for the hosts.

Calgary added an empty netter with 52.2 seconds left when Tschigerl hit the middle of the net from the neutral zone.

“Our first 10 minutes were great,” Shipley said. “We were all over them and outworking them. They were tired. I don’t know what happened but they turned the jets on and they outworked us, and the team that outworked us won the game.”

Brandon went 0-for-2 on the power play, with Calgary scoring once in five chances. Murray said penalties in the offensive zone and neutral zone have become a real thorn for his group.

“It’s incredibly frustrating,” Murray said. “It’s a few guys more than others but generally it’s across the board. Hockey is hockey. You have to maybe take a little bit of a shot sometimes and pick your spots. Those ones that are 200 feet away from your own net and the lazy ones, those usually end up in your net. To me, that’s the difference tonight. We played a lot of hockey here — four in six days — and it grinds down guys who play both sets of special teams and regular shifts.”

The Wheat Kings have handed their opponents 153 power plays in 31 games, just shy of five per game. They are tied for most in the league with the Swift Current Broncos, who have played four fewer games.

Meanwhile, Bjarnason made 34 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Buenaventura stopping 25 shots for the Hitmen.

With Calgary head coach Steve Hamilton attending to a family matter, assistant coach Trent Cassan of Medora said he was pleased with his group after they fell 9-2 to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday and 5-2 to the Regina Pats on Saturday.

“We talked about trying to play an efficient game,” Cassan said. “We had a real tough night in Moose Jaw and last night we had a push in the third period but he hadn’t really put together our identity of how we wanted to play. It was just playing efficient, and I thought we got that tonight. We got some saves from Ethan at key times and some of our older guys really dug in and carried the load for us.

“We tried to simplify the game and not give up odd-man rushes or opportunities because Brandon is a team that is playing very well and is good off the rush. We had to play a game that might not be the most entertaining but under the circumstances we were in schedule-wise, it was important for us to do.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without D Charlie Elick (upper body, week to week), F Caleb Hadland (lower body, indefinite), F Ben Thornton (upper body, indefinite), and D Zach Turner (healthy scratch) … Hyland has goals in Brandon’s last six games … Eastyn Mannix made a terrific shot block in the third period that left him struggling to get back to the bench. He was OK … Calgary had five breakaways in the third period … Danielson, whose 13-game point-scoring streak was snapped, led the Wheat Kings with five shots on net … The game took two hours, 22 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 38-36 … Brandon finishes up its pre-Christmas schedule with a home and home next weekend with the Winnipeg Ice. Friday’s game is at Westoba Place at 7 p.m., and Saturday’s game is at Wayne Fleming Arena at 7:05 p.m.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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Hitmen 5, Wheat Kings 2

First Period

1. Brandon, Shipley 4 (unassisted) 1:40.

2. Calgary, Fiddler-Schultz 17 (Tschigerl, Funk) 14:59

3. Calgary, Funk 10 (Sieppman, Tulk) 18:40.

Penalties — Henry Bdn (roughing) 11:16, Hoilett Cgy (kneeing) 18:06, Hyland Bdn (cross checking) 18:34.

Second Period

4. Brandon, Hyland 13 (Ritchie, Anderson) 6:33.

5. Calgary, Wright 7 (Funk, Yaskemchuk) 10:17 (pp).

Penalties — Danielson Bdn (slashing) 8:55, Tulk Cgy (cross checking) 12:36, Johnson Bdn (tripping) 16:21,

Third Period

6. Calgary, Funk 11 (Patterson) 11:10.

7. Calgary, Tschigerl 7 (Funk) 19:07.

Penalties — None.

Shots on goal by

Brandon     14     9     4     —     27

Calgary     13     10     17     —     40

Goal — Brandon: Bjarnason (L, 11-10-2-0). Calgary: Buenaventura (W, 6-3-1-0).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 0-2; Calgary: 1-5.

Referees — Josh Grimm, Bob Millette. 

Linesmen — Lucas Nagel, Andrew Paul.

Attendance — 2,373 in Brandon.