Brandon stuns league-leading Seattle

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This article was published 09/01/2023 (714 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rylen Roersma scored twice as the Brandon Wheat Kings surprised the Seattle Thunderbirds with a 4-2 victory in Western Hockey League action at Westoba Place on Tuesday.

Brandon (17-18-4-0) received its other goals from Calder Anderson and Nate Danielson, with Jared Davidson and Nolan Allan replying for Seattle (28-6-1-1) in front of a crowd of 3,203.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was a character win for his group as they handed the visitors their second loss in a row for the first time this year.

“I thought it was a real gritty, gutsy effort,” Murray said. “Barney (goaltender Carson Bjarnason) played really well but I thought it was an even game, really. I thought we didn’t give up much five-on-five. We gave up the five-on-three goal and I thought we had a real clean game.”

Roersma put Brandon on the board nine minutes 39 seconds into the opening period off the rush. Dawson Pasternak, who was making his Brandon debut after being acquired earlier in the day, passed over to Danielson in the neutral zone, and he returned the puck to the newcomer. Pasternak skated into the slot and ripped a shot that was stopped by Seattle goalie Scott Ratzlaff, but the puck bounced into the slot and Roersma fired it home for his ninth goal of the season.

“It’s always good, especially against a team like Seattle,” Pasternak said of his first point as a Wheat King. “It’s nice to have that, and my parents were here, so that was great too.”

Brandon nearly took a 2-0 lead with four minutes remaining in the opening frame on a neat passing play but Anderson was denied by Ratzlaff.

Bjarnason had to be sharp, turning aside all 11 shots he faced.

Midway through the second period, Nolan Ritchie jumped out of the penalty box and fired a shot that trickled through Ratzlaff but was intercepted near the goal-line by a defender, and moments later Evan Groening’s one-timer from the slot was negated because the net had been pushed over.

Seattle tied the game late in the second period on a pair of grievous errors by the hosts.

With 5:54 remaining, Brandon handed the Seattle power play a five-on-three for 1:54, and Davidson cashed in after a failed clearing attempt when he had a one-timer that Bjarnason could only lunge at from the other side of the net.

After Seattle tied the game, Brandon immediately pushed back and regained the lead with 16.5 seconds left when Anderson shovelled in a rebound to put his team up 2-1.

Brandon ended up with a 5-on-3 advantage of its own for 1:50 near the start of the third period. The Wheat Kings patiently moved the puck around without any high-quality scoring chances, and Murray took a timeout to rest his top unit after Ratzlaff made a save and covered the puck.

They came the closest to scoring when Zakhar Polshakov ended up with the puck on the back door but he narrowly missed the net.

With 1:17 remaining and a faceoff in the Brandon end after an icing, the Thunderbirds took a timeout and pulled Ratzlaff for the extra attacker. After a Seattle stick shattered on a shot, Brandon brought the puck down the ice and Roersma scored his second of the game into an empty net that appeared to put it away. But with 46.5 seconds left, Seattle’s Allan scored to pull the game back within a goal.

The Wheat Kings finally salted the game away with 2.4 seconds remaining when Danielson scored into another empty net to give Brandon the 4-2 victory.

“We obviously traded away a couple of guys but we just have the depth and a lot of energy coming into tonight because we added those new guys,” said Bjarnason, who was named first star. “I think the key thing is to keep going. We don’t want to have the energy wear down at all. We have to keep it going.”

The game was also notable for the two Brandon debuts. Along with Pasternak, defenceman Kayden Sadhra-Kang also played his first game with Brandon after being picked up in a trade on Monday.

“I thought they had an impact on the game,” Murray said. “Kayden had a great stick tonight and just moving pucks and getting pucks by them. I thought he was as advertised, coming here to be a defensive defenceman and sometimes those guys don’t find the scoresheet but I thought he had a real impactful game.

“Pasternak was very noticeable. He’s small, he’s crafty, he works hard. It was nice to get on the scoreboard there in the first period, he looked like he had been here for a while.”

For his part, Pasternak is more than pleased with his new WHL home.

“It seems like a really great group of guys,” Pasternak said. “They all love to be here and want to play and win. I’m happy to be here in this environment with these guys. I’m looking forward to things moving forward.”

Bjarnason made 35 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Ratzlaff stopping 29 shots for the Thunderbirds and being named second star. The two goalies were teammates on Canada’s U18 team last summer.

Brandon went 0-for-6 on the power play, with Seattle scoring once in five chances.

Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said his club simply didn’t play well enough to win.

“We weren’t quite sharp enough,” O’Dette said. “We were fighting the puck a little bit and just not in sync. Credit to Brandon, they played real well, a fast game where they were getting up and down the ice on us. We weren’t good enough.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured forwards Ben Thornton (upper body, week to week) and Caleb Hadland (lower body, week to week), plus defencemen Andrei Malyavin (upper body, week to week) and Zach Turner (healthy scratch) … Easton Odut was called up for the game from the under-18 AAA Wheat Kings … Seattle was without the recently acquired Colton Zach (injury) and Brad Lambert, who hasn’t joined the team yet. Jarome Iginla’s 16-year-old son Tij was also a scratch … Seattle meets the Winnipeg Ice tonight in a battle of two of the league’s super powers … Seattle forward Ashton McNelly didn’t return after a spirited first-period fight with Brandon’s Matt Henry … Ritchie led the Wheat Kings with seven shots on net … The game took two hours, 20 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 32-27 … Brandon hosts the Medicine Hat Tigers on Friday and Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday, and then heads out for four games on the road. They don’t play again at home until Jan. 31.

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