The offense that carried the Brandon Wheat Kings through the first half of the 2023-24 season has been harder to come by since the calendar turned. It came back in force to help them beat the Prince Albert Raiders.
Rylen Roersma, Carter Klippenstein, Hayden Wheddon, Nolan Flamand, Matteo Michels, and Quinn Mantei scored as the Wheat Kings took down the Raiders 6-4. Ethan Eskit stopped 32 of 36 shots in the win.
“We got up 2-0 and I thought we were cruising along,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We even had a two-on-one to make it 3-0. We kind of got a little flat and took some penalties throughout the game, but scored some timely goals. I thought that was a big goal by Wheddon after they made it 3-2 to tie it up right away.”
As Murray mentioned, the Wheat Kings jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a power play goal by Roersma, who found the puck after Flamand fed it into the crease and knocked it home, and Klippenstein, who located a bouncing puck after a shot by Charlie Elick and slapped it in. But the Raiders tied the score before the first period was out on a redirected point shot by Dustin Renas, and a power play snap shot by Luke Moroz.
Another redirection, this one by Grady Martin, put the Raiders up 3-2 in the second, but Klippenstein and Wheddon went to work to tie the score, with Klippenstein winning a battle behind the net and feeding it out front to Wheddon to tie it up.
In the third, the Raiders offense roared to life. First, Flamand knocked home another power play goal off a goalmouth scramble. Then, Michels rocketed past the defense on a clean breakaway and finished off the chance of his own making to stretch the lead to 5-3.
With the Raiders’ net empty, Mantei cleverly bounced a shot off the boards and into the yawning cage to seal the deal. The Raiders would get one back with less than two seconds to go, but it would do nothing to change the final outcome.
Next up for the Wheat Kings, they stay on home ice to host the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Saturday, January 20. Puck drop is 7:00.
(Article courtesy of the Brandon Wheat Kings)
