CHELSEA KEMP BRANDON SUN
Brandon Wheat King Brett Hyland battles Medicine Hat Tiger Rhett Parsons for the puck in a Western Hockey League game Friday at Westoba Place.
The Medicine Hat Tigers’ road trip got off to a tough start Friday night.
The Tigers fell behind 3-0 early in the first period and ended up losing 6-3 to the Brandon Wheat Kings. Friday’s loss is the team’s ninth in a row, with only three games left on the schedule before hitting the offseason.
Brandon opened the scoring 3:11 into the contest with Mason Ward’s fifth goal of the year. The Wheaties followed that up 3:14 later when Rylen Roersma scored his 18th. Chad Nychuk capped off a three-goal run with his 21st of the campaign just 1:53 later.
The Tigers got on the board more than halfway through the first when Reid Andresen fired a seeing-eye puck which found the back of the net for his fourth goal of the year and first of a career-high three points on the night. Pasha Bocharov and Ashton Ferster had assists and the first period wound down with Brandon leading 3-1 and outshooting Medicine Hat 11-8.
The Wheat Kings kept the offence going in the second when Jake Chiasson scored twice in a span of six minutes to put the home team up 5-1 after 40 minutes.
Medicine Hat took a little momentum back early in the third when Oasiz Wiesblatt tipped in an Andresen point shot for his 11th of the year. Andrew Basha had the second assist on Wiesblatt’s goal, coming in his first game back in the lineup since Mar. 30. Defenceman Gleb Ivanov also returned to the lineup after being out since Mar. 26 due to illness.
However, Ward picked up his second goal of the game four minutes later and Brandon re-established a five-goal lead.
The Tigers kept fighting though, and while on a power play, Andresen sent a puck down the ice that was destined for icing before Basha picked it up and got past the Wheat King defenders and found the back of the net. Net minder Beckett Langkow had the second assist on Basha’s fifth goal of the year.
Andresen has 14 points in 61 games this year following Friday’s three-point night.
Despite the Tigers third period surge, Brandon held on for the 6-3 win. The loss drops Medicine Hat’s record to 11-50-3-1 on the year.
Langkow made 25 saves in his 24th appearance of the season. Tigers’ prospect goaltender and Brandon product Ethan McCallum was his backup, with Garin Bjorklund scratched for the second straight game after tweaking something in the morning skate Tuesday.
Across the ice from Langkow, Wheat Kings goalie Carson Bjarnason made 19 saves for his eighth win of his rookie season. Brandon sits in sixth place in the Eastern conference with a record of 34-25-3-2 after Friday night’s win. The Wheat Kings clinched a playoff spot April 1 by beating the Prince Albert Raiders 4-2.
The Tigers are back in action Saturday night in the first of two weekend games against the Winnipeg Ice. Saturday’s game gets underway at 6 p.m., with Sunday’s starting at 4 p.m. local time.
