Carson Bjarnason is like a Rubik’s Cube. He’s hard to solve.
The Prince George Cougars learned that lesson firsthand as the 17-year-old netminder made 39 saves on Wednesday, leading the young Brandon Wheat Kings to a 2-1 victory in front of 1,671 fans at CN Centre.
Bjarnason proved hard to stop right from the opening puck drop, as the Cougars swarmed the Brandon crease but were unable to light the lamp.
The best chance for PG came on its first power-play opportunity when captain Ethan Samson ripped a hard shot from inside the Wheat Kings blue only to ring it off the post.
“I am getting good bounces. There have been a couple times where I have made some faulty saves and my defencemen are there for me so it’s not just me, it’s a team effort,” stated Bjarnason.
During the flurry of chances, Chase Wheatcroft had an opportunity to solve Bjarnason but his quick shot slid through the blue paint past a yawning cage and into the opposite corner much to the despair of the Cougar faithful.
Like a high-performance race car, the Cougars went full throttle in the second peppering Bjarnason with 20 shots only to come up short on the vast majority of their chances.
PG goalie and New Jersey Devils prospect Tyler Brennan also made a series to keep the stalemate at 0-0.
However, at 15:16 of the middle period, Nate Danielson collected his first of the WHL season as he wired a big-league wrister under the bar past Brennan to give Brandon a 1-0 lead.
Things we learned in this clip:
a) Nate Danielson can absolutely rip it.
b) RED had a IIII-I lead on WHT.@bdnwheatkings | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/y3gXMHrYzW— The WHL (@TheWHL) October 13, 2022
Less than three minutes later, the Cougars finally solved Bjarnason as a Samson feed in the PG zone sprung Carter MacAdams who streaked down the wing and blasted the puck over the glove hand of the Wheat Kings goaltender to even the score at 1-1.
In the third, the game saw a bit of a plot twist as it was the Wheat Kings dominating the territorial play outshooting the Cats by a 12-6 margin.
When Bjarnason suddenly got bored of stopping pucks, he collected an assist on the game-winning goal by Brett Hylund accepting a Danielson pass, which found its way past Brennan.
“As we said in the dressing room, one shot could change the whole game and we have a young team but we handled ourselves very well under those pressure situations. We focused on each shift that we had and took it one step at a time.”
Earlier, we saw Nate Danielson, the shooter.
Now, lets watch Nate Danielson, the distributor.@bdnwheatkings | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/faFVtG7FWQ
— The WHL (@TheWHL) October 13, 2022
With time becoming a factor, the Cougars threw everything including the kitchen sink at Bjarnason but to no avail.
Ryker Singer failed to capitalize on a chance set up by MacAdams from point blank range while Carlin Dezainde put together a nice individual effort only to drill the puck off the Brandon puck stoppers mask.
PG (3-4-0-0) outshot Brandon 40-28 overall but the turning point in the game was an 0-for-6 showing on the power-play.
“That’s a game we need to win. Coming in .500 we need to win that game. It’s a tough pill to swallow and we need to bury our chances at the end of the day,” stated Koehn Ziemmer, Cougars forward.
The Wheat Kings went 1-for-5.
Bjarnason was named the game’s first star. This followed up a 41-save performance during a 3-2 Wheat Kings overtime victory on Monday against the Calgary Hitmen.
“It’s hard to score when a goalie is hot so when you have to get one by him eventually. You put pucks on the net but it’s obviously frustrating,” added Ziemmer.
The Carberry, Manitoba product is no stranger to success, as he won a gold medal with Team Canada during the U-18 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. He won his only start and finished the tournament with a 1.00 goals against average and a .950 save percentage.
Bjarnason admitted to MyPGNow.com that it gave him a whole new level of confidence.
“Obviously it’s an honour to wear the Maple Leaf. It’s not something everybody gets to do and I wasn’t sure if I was among that group. I was but I thought it was a great start to the season and was a huge boost of confidence.”
To top it all off, Bjarnason is also a prospect for the 2023 NHL Draft. With a 2.18 goals against average and a .941 save percentage so far this season it’s not hard to see why.
Carson Bjarnason is like a Rubik’s Cube. Hard to solve.@bdnwheatkings pic.twitter.com/y8Cox5VqQL
— The WHL (@TheWHL) October 2, 2022
Despite hovering around .500, the Wheat Kings have ten players on its current roster that have been selected in the first or second round of the WHL Prospects Draft.
Furthermore, Brandon was ranked #1 on the CHL’s Draft Class Rankings for its 2006 born players thanks to the trio of Roger McQueen, Charlie Elick and Caleb Hadland.
“We have such a good core. We have four lines upfront that can score and of course our defense core is young as well but it’s all about doing all the little things right and keeping the game simple,” said Bjarnason.
Brandon (3-2-1-0) is currently 2-0 on an eight-game, 12-day road trip that continues Friday in Langley against the Vancouver Giants (1-2-1-2) followed by a Saturday night matchup against the struggling Victoria Royals (1-7-1-0).
On the other hand, the road doesn’t get any easier for the Cougars as they get set to host the Winnipeg ICE on Saturday at 6pm from CN Centre.
The ICE (6-1-0-0) are the number-one ranked CHL team in all of Canada.
Ziemmer who is tied for second in the WHL in scoring with 12 points believes its critical the Cougars have a short memory with another top-flight team coming to the northern capital.
“We need to flush this one away. Winnipeg is a winning organization; they know what they are doing and have the pieces to do it, so we have to shut them down.”
Winnipeg is led by the high-scoring trio of Connor McClendon, Zach Benson and Owen Pederson who all have 10 points each. Arizona Coyotes first-rounder Connor Geekie has five goals and six games since being returned.
ICE goaltender Daniel Hauser is off to a sizzling start leading all WHL puck stoppers in wins with five to go along with a sparkling 1.57 GAA.
The contest will also mark the return of former Cougars blueliner Jaren Brinson who is enjoying a resurgence in the Manitoba capital collecting four points in seven games.
Little bit of everything tonight. #WHLScores pic.twitter.com/Awb25qdae3
— The WHL (@TheWHL) October 13, 2022
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