In a game that swung wildly back and forth between the Brandon Wheat Kings and Medicine Hat Tigers, the last swing in momentum went the Wheat Kings’ way and allowed them to foil a valiant comeback effort.
Jaxon Jacobson scored twice, including the OT winner, and Brady Turko scored twice as well as the Wheat Kings took a 6-5 win in overtime over the Tigers. Jordan Gavin and Luke Mistelbacher also scored, and Filip Ruzicka stopped 43 shots in the win.
“Medicine Hat, they skate, they push the pace really hard and have a really active back end,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “They work really well as a unit, there are five guys in the offense. We kind of held on a bit tonight at times and scored some goals at crucial times. I’d have rather not gone to overtime tonight but we’ll take two points any way we can get it.”
As the two teams went back and forth in the first period, the Wheat Kings struck first. Chase Surkan broke the puck in up the left side and sent it to Nicholas Johnson in the middle, who in turn relayed it onto Turko on the right wing. Turko took the lane right to the net and tucked in a backhander for his fifth goal in four games.
The Tigers responded, however. First, off a won faceoff in the offensive zone, Jonas Woo moved the puck to the slot for Carter Cunningham and he fired one home. Then, on a strange play, Cameron Parr tried to drive the net and got knocked down, but got a bit lucky as his momentum carried the puck into the net.
Newly returning to the lineup for the first time in almost three weeks, Easton Odut helped the Wheat Kings tie the game. After Jaxon Jacobson won a battle at the bottom of the right circle, Odut threw the puck across to Mistelbacher, who buried it to tie the game.
With under a minute to go in the first, the Surkan-Johnson-Turko line struck again. Surkan fed the puck from the right corner to Johnson behind the net, and Johnson worked the puck back out front to Turko, who dropped to a knee and wired it in to restore the lead.
The only goal of a much quieter second period went the Tigers’ way. Ruzicka made the initial save on a chance by Liam Ruck, but Bryce Pickford jumped up to find the rebound and bounced it off the Ruzicka and in from below the goal line.
After surviving an early third period penalty kill, the Wheat Kings retook the lead. Joby Baumuller flipped the puck to centre, sending Gavin into the clear. He opened up the five-hole on Jordan Switzer with a slick backhand move to make to 4-3.
Mistelbacher’s net drive turned into another Wheat Kings goal. Though Switzer stuck with him and stopped him after some slick moves, and even stopped Caleb Hadland as he had a try at the rebound, he couldn’t stop Jacobson, who lifted it past him for the 5-3 lead.
Medicine Hat really turned it up with the net empty, however, scoring twice to force overtime. First, Liam Ruck found the puck at the left circle and snapped one low and hard past Ruzicka. Then, Pickford went to work again, moving from the left point to the slot and snapping home the tying goal.
In overtime, however, Jacobson brought the crowd to their feet and made sure the Wheat Kings didn’t surrender the second point. Taking the puck in his own zone, he accelerated up the right wing, broke to the goal, and picked the top corner for the overtime winner.
The win moves the Wheat Kings back to 9-9-1, just in time for them to head on the road for the next three games. First up is Moose Jaw on Tuesday night at 7:00 Central Time.
