For the first time all season, the Brandon Wheat Kings outshot their opponent and surrendered nothing at five-on-five against the Moose Jaw Warriors. And yet, they were still tagged with a loss
Prabh Bhathal scored, and Joffrey Chan was strong in his first WHL game with 25 saves but the Wheat Kings fell 2-1 to the Warriors. It’s the first loss of the season for Brandon.
“I thought we were kind of vanilla for the most part,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “I didn’t think we generated enough. It took us too long to play with passion. It’s hard to win at any level in hockey if you don’t have that passion and play with it for a full 60 minutes. It’s frustrating. Some guys have it, they’re trying to win a job. Other guys need to improve a lot in that area.”
The two 16-year-old netminders, Chan and Dylan Mingo, were unbeaten through the opening 20 minutes. This owed in part to some good defensive conscience by both teams, as the two surrendered only 15 shots combined in the opening period.
The Wheat Kings killed a Warrior’s power play to start the second, but on their next man advantage the Warriors broke through. After back-to-back big saves by Chan on chances in close, Riley Thorpe took a quick wrist shot from the top of the left circle that went off both posts on its way around the Wheat Kings’ net for the 1-0 lead.
After the penalty kill, the Wheat Kings pressed back. Both Easten Turko and Brady Turko had golden chances on the same shift late in the second period, but Mingo turned aside both opportunities.
An early third period power play could’ve given the Wheat Kings the momentum back but instead it gave Moose Jaw an expanded lead. Gage Nagel won a battle behind the Wheat King net and fed it out front to Rasmus Kamarainen who snapped in his first WHL goal.
Another penalty kill cost the Wheat Kings late in the third. The rebound of a shot off the glass bounced to the right corner for Luke Moroz, and after missing all of last season, Moroz scored his first goal since 2024-25 to make it 3-0.
There would be no shutout for Mingo, however. Nigel Boehm took a point shot late in the third that produced a rebound, which Bhathal found on the doorstep and lifted home for his second of the season. Cruz Jim picked up his first WHL point on the goal as well.
The Wheat Kings return home tonight but not for long. They’ll travel to British Columbia this week, beginning their longest road trip of the season in Prince George on Friday, October 2.
