Wheat Kings Outlast G-Men in Brandon

Richard Nejezchleb and John Quenneville each scored twice as the Brandon Wheat Kings edged the Vancouver Giants 4-3 at Westman Place in Brandon on Friday night. Jackson Houck, Dalton Thrower and Anthony Ast found the back of the net for the G-Men in the losing cause as Vancouver fell to 1-4-0-0 on the season.

The game started out well for Vancouver. The Giants had a lot of the early pressure and out shot Brandon 12-6 in the opening period. The G-Men found the net first as well when Houck deflected Thrower's point shot past Wheat Kings goalie Jordan Papirny for his first of the season in the late stages of the stanza.

The home team seemed to find their groove in the second though as Nejezchleb pulled the Wheat Kings onto level terms just two minutes into the second, scoring off the rush. He added to his tally just past the midway mark of the game to put Brandon ahead, and Quenneville netted his third of the year, knocking the puck past Payton Lee from in close on the power play, to give the Manitoba club a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes.

The Giants rallied twice in the third to make it interesting in the late going. First, Thrower beat Papirny with a screened wrister from the point on the man advantage to pull Vancouver back to within one. But Quenneville responded for the Wheat Kings when he finished off a nice play by Ryan Pulock to make it 4-2. Ast scored his third of the year with just over six minutes remaining, but it wasn't enough as Vancouver couldn't find the needed equalizer.

The G-Men will continue their eastern road trip on Saturday evening in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan against the Warriors. Hear all the action on TEAM 1410 and teamradio.ca. Pre-Game gets underway at 5:30pm followed by the puck drop at 6:00.

Game Summary

3 Stars:
1. Richard Nejezchleb - Brandon
2. Dalton Thrower - Vancouver
3. John Quenneville - Brandon