The regular season is over and, in the standings at least, the Wheat Kings ended it on a high note.
While the game was arguably not their best effort of what is now a three-game winning streak, the Wheat Kings got 30 saves from Ethan Eskit and goals from Nolan Flamand, Nicholas Johnson, and Joby Baumuller for a 3-2 victory over the Pats.
An almost tentative first period saw flashes of opening up, including a series of three odd-man rushes that ended in only one shot on goal, with Eskit stopping a breakaway by Braxton Whitehead. Even a late power play by Regina came to nothing as it was quickly negated by a penalty of their own.
It took until the second period was more than halfway over for someone to break through, and that someone was the Wheat Kings. Flamand found the rebound of a shot by Caleb Hadland and buried it, cracking the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his career.
Off a blocked shot, however, Regina found their answer. Sam Oremba took the rebound off the shinpad, pulled away, and snapped home the tying goal for his 21st of the season.
The offense erupted in the third period all of a sudden. First, the Pats scored a power play goal when Howe faked the one timer and instead fired a slap pass to Oremba for his second of the night.
Then, just 15 seconds later, Jayden Wiens and Brett Hyland drove the puck into the zone with determined hard work, and Wiens fed the slot for Johnson. Johnson leaned into a one-timer and made no mistake to tie the score.
Though their next power play was a little more adventurous than they would’ve liked (including another Eskit save on another Whitehead breakaway), the Wheat Kings got the last laugh. On a drop pass from Dominik Petr, Baumuller rifled home his fifth of the season to give the Wheat Kings the lead.
Some face-off shenanigans and an attempt at a goalie goal by Eskit summed up the final few minutes, and the Wheat Kings took the 3-2 win to take the season series and go into the playoffs on a three-game winning streak.
Game one of their first round playoff series goes Friday, March 29th in Moose Jaw against the Warriors.
(Article courtesy of the Brandon Wheat Kings)
