WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Petr Hands Wheat Kings Weekend Sweep with OT Winner

Published on September 9, 2023 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


For the second night in a row, the Brandon Wheat Kings and Regina Pats played a close, low-scoring, and at times scrambly game of preseason hockey, this time in front of the Wheat Kings' faithful at Westoba Place. For the second night in a row, a breakaway goal gave the Wheat Kings a narrow win.

Dominik Petr scored the overtime winner and Charlie Elick scored in regulation as the Wheat Kings took the 2-1 win. Ethan Eskit was strong in net, stopping 28 of 29 shots sent his way.

"I thought the effort was pretty good all night long," said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. "I thought Regina did a pretty good job clogging up the front of the net and their goalie played well. We generated some good opportunities, but we got into a little bit of a trading chances game there. It was back and forth. Credit to our guys, we stuck with it to the end."

Regina's goaltender, Ewan Huet, was indeed good with 41 saves on 43 shots, and it was the Pats who struck first. Mirroring the previous night, the game was scoreless through the first and nearly got through the second with no goals as well before Cameron Kuzma finished off a 3-on-1 rush with under a minute left in the middle frame.

It took the Wheat Kings some time, but they got back to even after some hard work in the offensive zone. Off the cycle, the puck found its way back to Elick, who ripped a shot straight to the top corner through traffic to square the score.

A hard-fought remainder of the third, which included a late power play for each team, did nothing to separate the two teams on the scoreboard. Overtime almost expired without any goals either despite furious action and a few miscues at each end. One of those miscues resulted in a 3-on-0 for the Wheat Kings in the dying moments, and Petr elected to keep the puck and fire one through the five-hole on Huet for the game winner.

"Honestly, I didn't know we were 3-on-0," Petr said. "Our guys told me in the locker room it was a 3-on-0. It was weird, but a goal is a goal and we'll take a win, even in preseason."

The Wheat Kings next preseason game comes on Friday, September 15, again on home ice, this time against the Moose Jaw Warriors. Puck drop is 7:00. Pick up your tickets at the Wheat Kings office!

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Western Hockey League Stories from September 9, 2023


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