Brandon beats Saskatoon in overtime to win U18 West regional

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This article was published 07/04/2024 (927 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings and Saskatoon Blazers battled to a scoreless draw for about 62 minutes Sunday afternoon.

It only took eight seconds of inspired brilliance from Brady Turko to end it.

The 16-year-old Brandon winger gathered the puck in his own zone during the 3-on-3 overtime session, stormed past Saskatoon forward Raiden Zacharias vainly attempting to defend on the play before snapping the puck past Blazers goaltender Grayson Malinowski at 2:21 of overtime.

The goal gave the Manitoba champs a 1-0 triumph in the Telus Cup U18 Male Hockey West Regional final and triggered a wild on-ice celebration at the Hockey For All Centre Sunday afternoon.

“I found myself on a one-on-one, made a move and ended up scoring,” said Turko, who was named tournament MVP after scoring four goals and six points in four games. “I faked going up the middle, pulled it to my backhand and then went high glove on the goalie. It was just kind of spur of the moment thing.”

Linemate Jaxon Jacobson enjoyed the view while trailing on the play.

“I was trying to get free of coverage because 3-on-3 is straight man-on-man and I think Brady just realized he was up against a forward and that he could just burn him and that’s what he did,” said Jacobson.

The Wheat Kings, who lost 5-3 Saturday to the Thunder Bay Kings in their final game of the tournament round robin, were able to regroup after their only regulation loss of the season snapped a 42-game winning streak.

And it was Turko, who missed a wide-open net in the second period, who was man of the hour.

“He’s done it all year,” said Wheat Kings head coach Travis Mealy. “He’s incredibly skilled, the tournament MVP. He’s had some bad puck luck lately but you give him the opportunities and eventually he’s gonna score a goal.”

Brandon, which finished the round robin with a 2-1 record, got a superb 30-save performance from goaltender Burke Hood.

“I love these types of games — 30 shots — I’m in the game the whole time,” said Hood. “It’s fast, there’s a lot of adrenalin, there’s a lot on the line. We came out on top and it feels unreal.”

Malinoski, honoured as the tournament’s best goaltender, made 34 saves in the Saskatoon net.

Saskatoon, the Saskatchewan champion, earned its spot in the final by beating the host Winnipeg Wild 4-2 Saturday. The Blazers went 2-1 in the round robin, with their only loss a 4-1 decision to Brandon in Friday’s tournament opener.

“It was really tight-checking,” said Jacobson, who had five assists in four games. “Obviously, they’re a great team. But I think we really stuck together though. Shift by shift, every period, we kept on getting better.”

By virtue of the regional title, the Wheat Kings earned a berth in the Telus Cup national U18 championship tournament, slated for April 22-28 in Membertou, N.S.

“I think that if this is the worst thing that happens to any of these kids — it’s still a pretty good day, right?” said Blazers head coach Troy Walkington, who guided his team to a bronze medal at the 2023 national championship. “I think that they got to play in one of the better games they’re ever going to play in. I think it was an exciting game. It was end to end, there were some outstanding saves.

“I think from an (U18) point of view, I don’t know if you’re going to find a better game anywhere in the country this year… I think probably if both of us could go to nationals and win gold and silver, that’s how close we were. But only one team gets to go and it’s Brandon.”

Walkington could only marvel at Turko’s ability to exploit the situation in overtime.

“You identify those things and that’s what smart players do,” he said. “I mean, there’s a reason why he was the MVP of the Western Regional.”

Brandon’s victory marked only the fifth time a Manitoba representative has won the regional title and advanced to the national championship since the current six-team Telus Cup format began in 1984.

“We knew we had a special group — we just didn’t know how special, right?” said Mealy. “You never know at the start of the year, until players start coming back. But we found our groove at the right time of the year and I’m super proud of the boys. They’ve earned it.”

NOTES: Brandon played without suspended forward Nash Henwood for Sunday’s final. Henwood was assessed a charging major late in Saturday’s loss to Thunder Bay and is expected to also miss at least one game at the national championship … Jonah Vanderhorst of the Winnipeg Wild was named named the tournament’s top defenceman. He registered two goals in three games.

— with files from Perry Bergson, Brandon Sun

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca