To be the best, it’s rather simple — you have to beat the best. That’s something that the Brandon Wheat Kings did on Friday night when they welcomed the Edmonton Oil Kings to town. Backed by a two-goal performance from Connor Gutenberg, Brandon nipped Edmonton, 5-2.
That was a battle of East vs Central. On Saturday night, the Wheat Kings hosted a huge all-East Division battle and they didn’t get the same result. Playing on home ice against the Prince Albert Raiders, the Wheat Kings fell down by two goals and couldn’t complete the comeback in a 2-1 loss.
Brandon failed to record 10 shots in a single period and ended the game with just 20. The team also struggled on the power play, going 0-for-5 while Prince Albert went 2-for-6.
“The difference was one team played last night and one team was rested and ready to go,” said Dave Lowry, head coach, after the game courtesy of wheatkings.com. “We just didn’t generate much against the Raiders.”
In the first frame, Jiri Patera made nine saves to Max Paddock’s seven.
The second period ended up being the difference in the contest. Just 1:58 into the frame, Ilya Usau tickled the twine with his 21st of the season as Prince Albert took a 1-0 lead. On the power play more than 10 minutes later, Ozzy Wiesblatt scored his 22nd goal of the campaign as Prince Albert doubled up its lead.
Fun Fact Wiesblatt:
After recording 39 regular season points (15G) last year, Ozzy has erupted this season offensively. He already has 61 points.
Ozzy’s brother, Orca Wiesblatt, has 51 points in 54 games with Calgary. Ocean Wiesblatt is currently with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Portage Terriers where he has five points in 13 games. Oasiz Wiesblatt has 21 points with the Calgary Midget AAA Buffaloes and he also made his WHL debut with Medicine Hat earlier this season.
Back to the game:
As mentioned before, the second period proved to be the difference. Braden Schneider notched his seventh of the season, just 4:18 into the third as Brandon got back into the game. However, in the end, that was as close as they got as Prince Albert locked down the rest of the way to secure a 2-1 victory.
The win for Prince Albert extended its East Division lead to six points over Brandon and four points over Winnipeg. Brandon could have clinched a playoff spot with the win, but the team will have to wait another day.
Brandon is right back at it on Sunday when it plays the Regina Pats at the Brandt Centre. The game will complete a stretch of three games in three days for the Wheat Kings.
“We’ll have to find a way to play smart. We have to travel and get things done and move forward,” concluded Lowry.
