Wheat Kings Rally for Point

Tanner Kaspick scored in his WHL debut
on Tuesday in Edmonton

  It’s not a phrase to throw around lightly but Edmonton’s 5-4 overtime victory over Brandon on New Year’s Eve may have been a moral victory over the Wheat Kings.

 

  Edgars Kulda got the winner 1:47 into overtime for the Oil Kings while Henrik Samuelsson scored a pair of goals for Edmonton.

  Brandon trailed 3-1 after a particularly poor opening period and were down 4-1 midway through the second period before rallying to tie the contest and send the game to overtime.

  “I thought, to a man, we were very poor in the first period for sure.  I thought we got going a little more in the second just in terms of work ethic and that type of thing,” said Brandon GM/Coach Kelly McCrimmon on CKLQ’s post-game show, “I think it was a case of showing too much respect to our opponent in here, to be honest in the first stages of the game.  It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, if you stand around and watch them they are going to look like a pretty impressive team and that’s what we did.”

  15-year old Tanner Kaspick, Brandon’s second round pick in the 2013 Bantam Draft, made his WHL debut Tuesday and netted his first career goal, which was the game-tying marker at 9:56 of the third period.

  Ryan Pulock, Richards Bukarts and Peter Quenneville also scored for the Wheat Kings while Curtis Honey made 33 saves in the Brandon net.

  “I give our guys a lot of credit for digging in and pushing back.  There was a stage earlier in this game where you thought the final might have been 8-1,” added McCrimmon, “It would have been a great night to steal that extra point and really feel good about the comeback and everything else but it just didn’t work out.”

  The results leaves Brandon with a 20-15-4-0 record for 44 points, still in sole possession of fifth-place in the Eastern Conference, three points behind fourth-place Medicine Hat and two points ahead of both Prince Albert and Regina.

  The Wheat Kings finish their four-game road trip Thursday in Calgary (7:30 p.m., 880 CKLQ).

Chaff...the loss was Brandon’s fourth in a row in games that have gone to extra time...Eric Roy’s assist on Bukarts’ second period power-play goal was the 100^th of his WHL career...Pulock’s goal was the 54^th of his WHL career, seven shy of the Wheat Kings’ franchise record for goals by a defenceman...Henrik Samualsson now has eight goals and 15 points in seven career games against the Wheat Kings...Team West lost 5-2 to the Czech Republic Tuesday at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, falling to 0-and-2. Wheat Kings’ prospect Colt Conrad had two assists while Brandon forward Jesse Gabrielle was held off the scoresheet...Braylon Shmyr and Team Pacific had the day off Tuesday at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.  They have a 1-and-1 record...Brandon’s product Carson Perreaux notched his 11^th goal of the season in Prince Albert’s 4-3 loss in Moose Jaw Tuesday.

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