Make that back-to-back losses after a seven-game winning streak for the Saskatoon Blades.

Now, the Bridge City Bunch is tied for first place in the W-H-L’s East Division “Dubble” with the Brandon Wheat Kings, who downed the Blue and Gold 3-1 Sunday night in Regina for the Wheaties’ sixth consecutive victory. Both teams have 9-2-1 records for 19 points.

Ben McCartney broke a 1-1 tie at 3:20 of the third period and that stood up as the winning goal for Brandon. The Blades led 1-0 after the first period as former Wheat King Caiden Daley scored on the power play. But, after out-shooting the Wheaties 12-8 in the first period, Saskatoon wasn’t able to sustain that energy and advantage as Brandon pressed the issue and out-shot the Bridge City Bunch 24-12 over the final 40 minutes. Lynden McCallum broke through the heroic goaltending of Koen MacInnes of the Blue and Gold in the second period while Reid Perepeluk added insurance into an empty net in the final 10 seconds.

The last goal came seconds after what appeared to be a missed penalty call against Brandon when Blades’ defenceman Wyatt McLeod was hauled down while trying to get a shot away to try and tie the game. After the final whistle, Saskatoon head coach Mitch Love voiced his displeasure with referees Adam Bloski and Jason Bourdon as he walked off the ice towards the dressing room. Love was slapped with a game misconduct, which may result in him not being able to be behind the bench for the Bridge City Bunch’s next game Tuesday against the Winnipeg ICE. First face-off is 4 p.m. Following is the game summary from the W-H-L…

Brandon Wheat Kings 3 at Saskatoon Blades 1 – Status: Final
Sunday, April 4, 2021 – Brandt Centre – Regina, SK

Brandon 0 1 2 – 3
Saskatoon 1 0 0 – 1

1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Daley 5 (Crnkovic, Robins), 8:20 (PP). Penalties-Ginnell Bdn (checking to the head), 4:23; Hyland Bdn (charging), 7:42; Morozoff Sas (holding), 15:30.

2nd Period-2, Brandon, McCallum 10 (Hyland, Ritchie), 9:08. Penalties-Roersma Bdn (tripping), 10:19; Salame Bdn (roughing), 14:47; Lisowsky Sas (tripping), 19:57.

3rd Period-3, Brandon, McCartney 7 (Greig, Iorio), 3:20. 4, Brandon, Perepeluk 3 19:52 (EN). Penalties-Dach Sas (holding), 6:04; Ritchie Bdn (interference), 7:07; Wyatt McLeod Sas (tripping), 9:57; Morozoff Sas (delay of game), 12:42; Sas (game – coach), 20:00.

Shots on Goal-Brandon 8-13-11-32. Saskatoon 12-6-5-23.
Power Play Opportunities-Brandon 0 / 5; Saskatoon 1 / 4.
Goalies-Brandon, Kruger 7-1-1-0 (23 shots-22 saves). Saskatoon, MacInnes 2-1-1-0 (31 shots-29 saves).
A-
Referees-Adam Bloski (16), Jason Bourdon (20).
Linesmen-Devan Thiessen (94), Tanner McGregor (55).