Brandon again scored four in the opening frame and would hold off a comeback push by the Warriors in the second before going on to an 8-3 win in Western Hockey League action at the Brandt Centre in Regina.
To say that the Warriors were looking for a better outcome in the first period compared to their last game against the Wheat Kings is an understatement -- and to see the same kind of result didn’t sit well with head coach Mark O’Leary.
“I thought it was about 50-50 for our players, I don’t want to lump everyone into the same basket for our start,” he said. “I thought we had some guys who were really good tonight, we had some guys who were late to the party and we had some guys who never arrived… it’s tough, you come into a game and we’re playing a pretty good team, I’d think that you’d be a little bit inspired to be your best and we didn’t have enough guys who were willing to pay the price to win a hockey game.”
Just like the previous meeting, though, the Wheat Kings were able to get on the scoreboard first -- only scoring once in the opening six minutes this time.
Ty Thorpe finished off a rush by finding a bit of open space in front of Brett Mirwald, taking a feed from Braden Schneider and batting home a shot five hole with 5:26 gone.
Thorpe then made it 2-0 five minutes later, beating a Warriors defender to the puck in front of Mirwald and flipping a shot over Mirwald.
Vincent Iorio then tacked on Brandon’s third marker with 5:25 remaining, jumping in on the rush and putting a shot past a screened Mirwald.
Brayden Yager got one back for Moose Jaw before the period was out, racing down the left wing and getting off a shot that beat Connar Ungar high to the glove side 19 seconds after Iorio’s goal, but Nolan Ritchie would restore Brandon’s three-goal lead on the power play three minutes later.
Mirwald was pulled in favour of Boston Bilous after Ritchie’s marker. He faced 18 shots in his 17:26 of work.
Lynden McCallum added Brandon’s fifth goal at 5:51 of the second.
Yager picked up his second of the game with 12:15 gone in the period, taking a feed from Daemon Hunt from behind the net and lifting a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle over Ungar’s glove.
A Jagger Firkus power play goal with just over five minutes left in the second made things interesting, with his shot from the point finding the mesh high over the blocker side to close the Warriors within two 5-3, but Ridly Greig would score with 37 seconds left on the man advantage to again restore the three-goal lead heading into the third.
O’Leary admitted that seeing his troops play well enough to get back in the game in the second period was a head-shaker given their rough start.
“As a coach, it’s frustrating for sure and I think it should be frustrating for the players,” he said, “In the second period I felt like we still had a chance, it was one of those games where I certainly didn’t feel like it was an 8-3 game by the end of it. We always felt like we were one goal away from being in it, but that’s a tough hole to dig yourself out of. I didn’t like the goals we gave up but I still felt that we had a chance and certainly had lots of looks.”
Tyson Zimmer tacked on the seventh Brandon goal with the man advantage 4:41 into the third and Reid Perpeluk made it 8-3 with 1:35 to play to close out scoring.
The Warriors’ chances showed on the shot clock. They’d fire 40 at Ungar, while Bilous stopped 22 in his two periods and a bit of work.
The Warriors fell to 7-9-1-0 with the loss and remain tied for the fourth place with the Regina Pats.
Next action for Moose Jaw is Thursday when they host the Prince Albert Raiders. Game time is 8 p.m.
