While the top line had carried a heavy load offensively the previous two games, the Brandon Wheat Kings turned things over to their depth scoring in a game against the Kamloops Blazers. The depth scorers picked up right where the big guns left off.
Caleb Hadland scored twice and his line with Noland Flamand and Jayden Wiens all had multi-point games as the Wheat Kings downed the Blazers 6-2. Roger McQueen, Luke Shipley, and Joby Baumuller also scored, while Ethan Eskit came up big with 31 saves.
“They worked hard and came at us and we were a little overwhelmed and on our heels in the first period,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “Last night, I felt like we shouldn’t have been down after one, but tonight I kind of felt like we were fortunate to be up after one.”
It was Kamloops who opened the scoring, as Shea Van Olm scored a pretty one on a backhand deke. But Hadland had the answer, taking a feed from Wiens below the goal line and snapping a shot to the top corner. Then, off the rush, Wiens fed Shipley, who batted it out of mid-air.
Baumuller got his first of the season, cashing in a rebound following good work in front of the Blazers net by Matt Henry and Carter Klippenstein. And even though Kamloops got one back late in the second, from Dylan Sydor off a goalmouth scramble, the Wheat Kings still went to the room up by two, thanks to a laser of a shot from Hadland from the top of the right circle.
That goal marked a turning point as the Wheat Kings rolled from there. McQueen drove the net early in the third and tapped home a feed from Brett Hyland, and Flamand scored a beautiful goal, batting one perfectly out of mid-air under the bar after Hadland was stopped on a backhand opportunity.
The Wheat Kings skate to a fifth straight win, and fourth in a row at home. Their homestand continues on Wednesday, December 13, when they welcome the Kelowna Rockets.
(Article courtesy of the Brandon Wheat Kings)
