Photo by Brandi Pollock
Brandon, MB (CKLQ) – It was the Luka Burzan show on Saturday night at Westoba Place.
The Surrey, BC native scored five times and added an assist for a career-high six-point night as the Wheat Kings knocked off the Lethbridge Hurricanes 8-4 in front of over 3700+ fans.
It was a quick start for the Wheat Kings who moved to a perfect 3-0-0-0 on the season. Cole Reinhardt fed Connor Gutenberg just inside the Lethbridge line and the Brandon native made no mistake to open the scoring just 0:47 seconds into the game.
Burzan would score twice in a six-minute span to give the Wheat Kings a 3-0 lead after one.
In the 2nd, the Wheat Kings exploded for four goals. Cole Reinhardt & Linden McCorrister mixed in a pair of goals while Burzan notched his hat-trick goal and added another for good measure.
The Hurricanes would turn it on in the third period, chipping away at the lead one goal at a time. The ‘Canes score three powerplay goals and another at even strength to cut the lead to three, but it was a close as they would get to mounting a comeback.
Jiri Patera faced 45 shots between the pipes for Brandon, turning aside 41 of them while Akira Schmid allowed 7 goals on 27 shots.
The Wheat Kings won’t play again at home until October 12th. This weekend, the team heads out on a mini two-game Saskatchewan road trip through Moose Jaw and Regina.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st PERIOD
BWK – Connor Gutenberg (1) (Reinhardt) 0:47
BWK – Luka Burzan (2) (Hartje, Schneider) 4:35
BWK – Luka Burzan (3) (Mattheos) 10:34
Shots: 12-11 Brandon
2nd PERIOD
BWK – Cole Reinhardt (1) (Mattheos, Burzan) 6:39
BWK – Luka Burzan (4) (Wytinck, Gutenberg) 15:48 PPG
BWK – Linden McCorrister (2) (Daley) 17:35
BWK – Luka Burzan (5) (Schneider, Greig) 19:14 PPG
Shots: 17-13 Lethbridge
3rd PERIOD
LETH – Taylor Ross (3) (Cozens, Shepard) 3:52 PPG
LETH – Jake Elmer (3) (Addison, Jeri-Leon) 6:56 PPG
LETH – Dylan Cozens (5) (Unassisted) 10:52
LETH – Jordy Bellerive (3) (Cozens, Addison) 11:54 PPG
BWK – Luka Burzan (6) (Unassisted) 18:03 EN
Final Shots: 45-29 Lethbridge