Photo credit - wheatkings.com

Brandon offence goes quiet in loss

The Moose Jaw Warriors scored early on Friday night, and they held Brandon off the scoreboard for the entire night as they blanked the Wheat Kings 5-0 inside of Westoba Place.

On a night where Brandon put up just 22 shots, they couldn’t really get anything going, and Bailey Brkin came up clutch when he needed to.

Moose Jaw, meanwhile, got multi-point games from five different players en route to their second straight win of the season.

Dave Lowry joined the QCountry post game show to share his thoughts on the game.

“I really liked the way we started the game. It was disappointing that we were down after 20 because we did a lot of good things,” said Lowry. “We played with a lot of pace and that’s a definite positive.”

“Obviously, we don’t like the final score or outcome, but we knew coming into this year that it was going to be a process,” he continued. “We’ll talk more about getting in for second chances and that sort of thing.”

7:41 into the opening period, Eric Alarie put Moose Jaw up 1-0 with his first of the season. That’s when the Taphorns took the game over. With 5:02 left in the first, Kaeden Taphorn scored his first of the campaign. Carson Denomie and Jadon Joseph picked up the assists.

Already up 2-0, Moose Jaw kept it going in the second. This time it was Keenan Taphorn’s turn. He scored his third of the season as he continued his great start, with Ryder Korczak and Eric Alarie getting the assists. The goal really sank the Wheat Kings’ ship as there was just 2:32 left in the midway frame.

Through 40 minutes, Brandon was down 3-0 and had only 15 shots.

“We simply didn’t get enough second chances tonight, and we didn’t go hard enough to the net,” continued Lowry. “It’s early in the season; we’ll work on it.”

Up 3-0 early in the third, it was Tate Popple’s turn. The forward notched his second of the early season, just 5:43 into the period. Ryder Korczak picked up his second assist of the game.

With the game already well decided, Moose Jaw made sure they would make their trip home with a handful of goals. With just 22 seconds left, Jadon Joseph notched his first of the season. Kaeden Taphorn and Carson Denomie both had an assist to complete their two-point nights.

(Photo credit – wheatkings.com) Connor Gutenberg battles as his team falls 5-0 on Friday night.

Despite the loss, there were some other positives for Brandon. They didn’t take one penalty in the game. In their first two games against Winnipeg, Brandon took 11 penalties.

“Our goal is to play hard and play whistle to whistle,” said Lowry. “The difference tonight was we were moving our feet and we weren’t using our sticks. That was a big key for us staying out of the box.”

Brandon will head on the road on Saturday night to complete a home-and-home with the Warriors. Ben McCartney, who was serving a suspension, will return to Brandon’s lineup. He had two points in his first two games.

“That gives us another veteran forward in our lineup,” Lowry concluded. “We’ll look at our lines and make some adjustments.”

ICINGS:

  • 13 Moose Jaw players were at least +1 on the night. Ryder Korczak led things by going +3. Brandon, meanwhile, had no players that were a positive on the night. Jake Chiasson, Jonny Hooker, and Jonny Lambos went -3.
  • Jiri Patera made just 24 saves on 29 shots.
  • Moose Jaw won 37-of-64 faceoffs.
  • On top of being a +3, Korczak also went 8-for-11 on faceoffs.
  • Brandonite Nolan Ritchie led the Wheat Kings with three shots. Kaeden Taphorn led Moose Jaw with four.