A pile of positive streaks for the Saskatoon Blades came to an end Friday night at the hands of the Brandon Wheat Kings.
A 4-1 Wheaties’ triumph ended Bridge City Bunch runs of 11 consecutive wins, 12 straight successes on home ice, 14 games-in-a-row without a loss in regulation time and a first loss in regulation on home ice since October 24 – a stretch of 20 games. A crowd of 5,902 at SaskTel Centre saw Brandon score twice directly off face-offs in the second period to open the scoring. The Wheat Kings killed off a five-minute Blue and Gold power play in the third period, then tallied twice into an empty net after Egor Sidorov gave the Blades some life with his 44th goal of the season with three-and-a-half minutes remaining in the final frame. That was the only one of 35 shots to elude Wheaties’ goaltender Carson Bjarnason as 42-10-5 Saskatoon had the better of the play, but appeared to be off their normal standard of play. For 29-22-6 Brandon, the win was a big one as they played with just 16 skaters due to injury and illness. The Bridge City Bunch will attempt to bounce back on Tuesday when they welcome the Red Deer Rebels to SaskTel Centre at 7 o’clock. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Post-Game Show interviewed with head coach Brennan Sonne and left winger Brandon Lisowsky plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..
Brandon Wheat Kings 4 at Saskatoon Blades 1 – Status: Final
Friday, February 23, 2024 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Brandon 0 2 2 – 4
Saskatoon 0 0 1 – 1
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Maliavin Bdn (interference), 15:22.
2nd Period-1, Brandon, Shipley 8 (Roersma), 4:05. 2, Brandon, Michels 15 (Klippenstein, Petr), 8:18. Penalties-Tastad Sas (boarding), 11:50; Maliavin Bdn (high sticking), 12:23.
3rd Period-3, Saskatoon, Sidorov 44 (Molendyk, Wong), 16:34. 4, Brandon, Petr 14 (Hyland, Michels), 18:23 (EN). 5, Brandon, Klippenstein 9 (Bjarnason), 19:35 (EN). Penalties-Armstrong Sas (high sticking), 0:50; Roersma Bdn (major-check/behind, game misconduct), 7:39.
Shots on Goal-Brandon 7-8-7-22. Saskatoon 13-10-12-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Brandon 0 / 2; Saskatoon 0 / 3.
Goalies-Brandon, Bjarnason 21-12-3-1 (35 shots-34 saves). Saskatoon, Elliott 25-5-2-1 (20 shots-18 saves).
A-5,902
Referees-Adam Bloski (16), Brody McGrath (73).
Linesmen-Riley Carriere (72), Tanner McGregor (55).
