Perry Bergson The Brandon Sun
Brandon Wheat Kings goaltender Carson Bjarnason watches as Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Matt Paranych stickhandles in on him as Caleb Hadland looks on during Western Hockey League action at Westoba Place on Saturday. Bjarnason made 33 saves for his sixth career shutout, beating the Tigers 3-0.
The Medicine Hat Tigers couldn’t tickle twine Saturday night.
The Tigers poured 33 shots on Carson Bjarnason but couldn’t solve the Brandon Wheat Kings net minder, falling 3-0 to the Philadelphia Flyers’ prospect’s sixth career WHL shutout.
The loss snaps a three-game winning streak, they came into the contest off a 10-5 win Friday at Regina over the Pats. Associate coach Joe Frazer spoke with the News from Brandon and says he liked their effort in the loss.
“We played pretty well, we had lots of chances, especially in the second period just couldn’t find a way to beat Bjarnason tonight,” Frazer said.
Brandon scored the game winner early in the game, with Caleb Hadland one-timing a puck past Harrison Meneghin 3:14 into the contest. Marcus Nguyen had the assist on the eventual game winner. Meneghin, suiting up in his 100th WHL game–ninth with the Tigers, made 37 saves in the loss. He made a scorpion-like, glove save in the first period to keep it a 1-0 game after 20 minutes.
“Meneghin was great, we had some breakdowns and he was there to deal with it,” Frazer said. “He made a couple of huge saves for us but he was just there for us all night.”
Medicine Hat outshot the Wheat Kings 16-7 in the second period, leading in shots 27-24.
They kept firing pucks on Bjarnason in the third period but the final frame was a battle of the 20-year-old net minders, with Meneghin and the Wheaties’ tender going back and forth with saves.
Tigers’ forward Andrew Basha and Wheat Kings defenceman Rhett Ravndahl went to the box with coincidental penalties with 3:15 left in the game, making it four-on-four play. Medicine Hat pulled Meneghin for the extra attacker and Brandon capitalized on the empty net twice.
Captain Quinn Mantei scored his first goal of the season, making it a 2-0 game with 1:45 left on the clock. Matteo Michels assisted on his marker. Forward Dominik Petr corralled a loose puck in the neutral zone and guided it into the empty Medicine Hat net for the 3-0 final.
Both teams were scoreless on the man advantage, Brandon had four power plays to the Tigers’ three. The Wheat Kings won the face-off battle 31-29.
The Tigers (9-7) are off until Wednesday when they head to Lethbridge to wrap up the four-game road streak with the first Highway 3 matchup of the season with the Hurricanes. It will be the first meeting of the clubs since Medicine Hat acquired Meneghin in the Oct. 5 trade that sent 19-year-old forward to the Hurricanes.
