On Friday, January 3, Jiri Patera shut the door against the Prince Albert Raiders as he made 29 saves as the Wheat Kings beat the Raiders, 1-0.
Brandon would then get the day off on Saturday to enjoy the win. The club was back at it on Sunday as they hit the road to play the Regina Pats inside of the Brandt Centre.
Getting another start, Jiri didn’t only get another win, but he racked up another shutout. This time, Patera made 31 saves as Brandon beat the Pats, 5-0.
The win was Brandon’s fourth in a row, their longest win streak of the season so far.
Brandon also provided Patera with a ton of support after scoring just one goal on Friday. Things started off on the power play as Luka Burzan scored his 19th goal of the season at the 8:19 mark.
Brandon would strike on the power play again, a short time later. Ridly Greig and Ben McCartney set up Braden Schneider who scored his fifth of the season.
Despite allowing two goals, Donovan Buskey was very good in net for Regina in the first period. He made 16 saves to keep his team in the game.
However, Brandon would instead keep things going in the second. Connor Gutenberg gave Brandon a 3-0 lead with his eighth goal of the season, 4:27 into the second. Luka Burzan would then add to the lead with his second of the game and 20th of the season with 3:07 left in the midway frame.
Buskey would stop another nine shots in the second. Patera, meanwhile, stopped all 12 shots he faced in the second for a two-period total of 21.
Regina put up 10 more shots in the third, none of which beat Patera. Jonny Hooker would score with 1:06 left to give Brandon a 5-0 lead and that was the final goal of the game. it was Jonny’s eighth of the season.
Buskey made nine more saves in the third for a total of 34 saves in the loss.
With a loss from Saskatoon and a win from Brandon, the Wheat Kings are now third in the East Division. The four-game winning streak has them sitting with 19 wins on the season. They’re also just six points behind Prince Albert for second in the division and eight behind Winnipeg for the top spot.
Regina, meanwhile, is now 11-21-3-2 and they’re near the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
On top of the four-game streak, Brandon is 6-2-0-2 in their last 10 games. Regina has lost three in a row and they’re 4-4-0-2 in their last 10.
Brandon now opens up a four-game homestand with a game on Tuesday against Medicine Hat. Regina plays Prince George on Wednesday at the Brandt Centre before they head out on a five-game road trip through the U.S. Division.
Wheat Tips:
- The last shot to get past Patera was on December 30. Cole Dubinsky scored 1:57 into the third for Regina on that night. Jiri still made 34 saves in that game. Add it all up and Patera has stopped 94 of the last 95 shots he’s faced.
- Brandon went 2-for-6 on the power play and they went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
- Luka Burzan became the second Wheat King to score 20 goals on the season. Cole Reinhardt currently has 22.
