Brandon forward Rylan Roersma (centre) had a goal in Medicine Hat's 6-3 loss to the Wheat Kings Friday night (Photo courtesy Brandon Wheat Kings / Twitter)

By Scott Roblin

Early Deficit

Tigers slow out of the gate in road trip opener, fall 6-3 to Brandon

Apr 8, 2022 | 9:44 PM

BRANDON, MB – Even without Ridley Greig and Marcus Kallionkieli, the Brandon Wheat Kings showcased their talent over the Medicine Hat Tigers.

Just over eight minutes into their weekend road swing opener, the Tigers found themselves trailing 3-0 and were never able to dig out of that hole falling by a 6-3 final to the Wheat Kings.

Despite the loss, their ninth in a row, it was a career night for Medicine Hat blueliner Reid Andresen who chipped in on all three of the Tigers’ goals Friday and finished with a career-best one goal and two-assist performance.

It was a rocky start to the Manitoba road trip for the Bengals, as Wheat Kings defender Mason Ward ripped a shot off a Brandon face-off win into the back of the Tigers net just 3:11 into the game for the early lead.

That was followed up by a Rylan Roersma power play tally three minutes later, before Brandon overager Chad Nychuk walked into the left slot to quickly give the home side a 3-0 lead.

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Andresen finally halted Brandon’s momentum with 6:52 remaining in the opening period, receiving a pass from defensive partner Pasha Bocharov and firing his fourth of the season from the blue line past Carson Bjarnason in the Wheat Kings net.

After a back and forth start to the second period, Brandon extended their lead to 4-1 off a rush which saw Nolan Ritchie find Jake Chiasson for the tap-in.

Chiasson’s first-star night continued in the late stages of the second, as he tipped a slap pass from Nychuk off another face-off win to firmly put the Wheat Kings in control after 40 minutes of play.

Medicine Hat got back on the board 4:45 into the third with Oasiz Wiesblatt in his return to the lineup tipping an Andresen shot from the point to cut the deficit to 5-2.

That was until Ward was able to net his second of the night four minutes later, picking up the puck on the backhand and executing the wraparound past Beckett Langkow.

The Tigers added one final goal from Andrew Basha on a bank play off the end boards on the man advantage, but that would be it for Medicine Hat’s attack.

Basha joined Andresen in multi-point performances for the Tigers on Friday, while Langkow allowed six goals on 31 shots against.

Next up for the Tigers will be a pair of games in Winnipeg to battle the top-ranked ICE, which begins on Saturday evening at 6:00 pm MDT.