All signs seemed to point to the Brandon Wheat Kings giving up both points against the Calgary Hitmen. With two late goals, however, they wrestled both points back into their grasp.
Nolan Flamand, Joby Baumuller, Luke Shipley, and Marcus Nguyen scored, and Ethan Eskit made 37 saves as the Wheat Kings took a 4-3 overtime win.
“It was a tough game, and it was a really tough one last night against Saskatoon,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “Guys were playing way more minutes than they normally would and the first two periods weren’t pretty, I think everyone could agree. But I thought we had a pretty gritty effort in the third and I’m really proud of the guys for their effort in getting three out of four (points) this weekend.”
After a Wheat Kings power play failed to connect, the Hitmen made one of theirs count. Though Quinn Mantei made a sprawling defensive play to block a pass, it unfortunately bounced right to Ben Kindel, who fired home his third goal in the last two games.
Both Jaxon Jacobson and Flamand continued point streaks on the first Wheat Kings’ goal of the game. Jacobson fired the puck though traffic from the left point, and Flamand was ready and waiting for the rebound to stuff it in.
The Hitmen snuffed out the momentum almost immediately, however. Another bouncing puck found its way to Kindel in prime shooting position, and he showed off a goal scorer’s touch to put Calgary ahead again.
Late in the period, the Wheat Kings answered. Caleb Hadland deked and dodged his way around two Hitmen, then fed the puck out front to Baumuller who lifted home his second of the season.
An early third-period power play turned into another Hitmen lead as Oliver Tulk fired it across the offensive zone to the top of the left circle. Carter Yakemchuk, locked and loaded for the one-timer, blasted it home.
It took the Wheat Kings some time, but they got the score squared again. With the net empty, Shipley took the handoff from Mantei and rifled one home through traffic with less than a minute to go.
Overtime was halfway over when Nguyen took matters into his own hands. The speedster dodged one check, dangled through another, and lifted home the bar-down game-winning goal.
The win moves the Wheat Kings to 7-4-2 on the season, and gives them another week between games. Next up: the Medicine Hat Tigers on home ice on Saturday, November 2.
