Brady Turko’s hat-trick paces Wheat Kings to 4-1 win over Buffaloes

A three-goal effort from Brady Turko paced the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Buffaloes.

With the victory Saturday night in Membertou, N.S., the Wheaties booked their spot in the Telus Cup U18 national final, where they will battle the Magog Cantonniers (Quebec) on Sunday at 3 p.m.

Turko, who led the Wheat Kings in scoring with 41 goals during the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League regular season, finished the game with four points.

He said his team finding its offensive footing came at the right time, following Brandon’s 7-4 win the night before over the Markham Waxers (Ontario), and now their rematch with the Buffaloes, who had won the preliminary round game 3-1.

“We’re generating plays off the rush,” he explained why he’s scored playing on two different lines after coach Travis Mealy separated him from Jaxon Jacobson. “When we play with speed that’s another big factor.”

This was apparent as Jacobson and Colten Worthington both found him alone off to the side with an open net where he twice beat Calgary goalie Kael Svenson, who faced 43 Brandon shots.

His first goal came on the power play, another aspect to the Wheat Kings game that came to life in the win over the Waxers. He was moved to another spot in the power-play formation by Mealy to thwart defensive penalty kill plans by opposing coaches.

“I was moved to the half wall from the buffer, and Jaxon is getting me the puck,” he said of his better scoring opportunities.

With his two goals Turko erased Calgary’s early 1-0 lead, when Brayden Gourley beat Brandon goalie Burke Hood just 42 seconds into the East Coast game in Cape Breton.

Jacobson would finish with three helpers, while Worthington added two as his presence up front was noticeable as he opened space for his teammates with his physicality.

Easton Odut scored his fourth of the tournament to put Brandon up 3-1 going into the final period, with Turko’s final goal coming after Calgary pulled Svenson. His long shot from inside his blue-line did not miss the empty net.

Calgary had its chances after killing off a five-minute major to Tyson Murray, who received a game misconduct on a play where he cross-checked Odut in the head.

Earlier, the Buffaloes lost another of their top scorers when Cooper Williams received a minor and game misconduct for a check-from-behind infraction.

Brandon went 1-for-6 on the power play, while Calgary was 0-for-1.

Hood was stellar between the pipes, shaking off the goal in the opening minute of the first period — he faced 37 shots — with his best test coming at 3:14 of the third facing Calgary sniper Christian Stephanson.

With a sure goal and Hood out of position, the puck was blocked by the goalkeeper’s blocker as he dived across his crease, then Stephanson tried to tuck the rebound in, but was stopped again by Hood planting his stick at the post.

“The young guys have worked hard to get here all year,” Hood said post-game. “After not playing a game for two weeks it took us a while to get our legs under us … hopefully we can keep this going and get it done.”

How do the Wheat Kings knock off the undefeated Cantonniers in the gold medal game?

“There are lots of good teams here, but our offence has finally taken us where we are now,” said Hood. “We just have to not let them have chances … be structured and play our hearts out.”

DAY 6 SUMMARY

Magog advanced to the Telus Cup final earlier in the day, when they cruised to a 7-3 win over the Waxers.

Gabriel Courchesne had his own three-goal performance to pace the Cantonniers’ offence, while single markers went to Ludovic Lapointe-Perreault, Charles-Antoine Adam, Etienne Maheu and Mavrik Dhumaine.

Markam’s offence was supplied by Mason Cruzet, Kyle Butt and Philip Govedaris.

Magog led 4-2 after 40 minutes, and did not allow Markham to challenge in the final 20 minutes, outshooting the Waxers 21-11 in the third. Final shots on goal favoured the winners 45-32.

EAST COAST NOTES: Hockey Canada televised all games up to the medal round online, with play-by-play provided by former Swift Current Broncos broadcaster Shawn Mullin, who did not have a colour commentator for his 17 games … Jacobson led all players from the six teams involved with 11 assists … The top goal scorer was Courchesne, with nine goals, one more than Turko and Kensington Wild sniper Ethan Dickson … Courchesne and Dickson share the overall scoring race, each with 14 points … Going into the gold medal game Magog is 6-0, while Brandon is 4-2 … Tyler Dittmer, who played on the Telus Cup-winning Brandon Wheat Kings in 2004, is at the tournament so he will be witness to another triumph two decades later if Mealy and his young charges bring the trophy back to Manitoba … Hockey Canada will broadcast the bronze medal tilt between Calgary and Markham at 11 a.m., followed by the gold medal game at 3 p.m. on TSN.

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