The Moose Jaw Warriors controlled the game early, but couldn't hold on in the end, as their regular season ended with a 5-4 shootout loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings at Westoba Place on Saturday night.

Branden Klatt and Tanner Jeannot scored two goals each to give Moose Jaw a 4-0 lead early in the second period, but four unanswered goals from Brandon, including two by former Warrior Luka Burzan, allowed the Wheat Kings to force overtime. Burzan won the game in the shootout.

Jayden Halbgewachs finished with one assist in the game to win the WHL Scoring Title with 129 points this season. Halbgewachs is the first Warriors to lead the league in scoring since Troy Brouwer did it in 2005-06 when he had 102 points.

Halbgewachs also ended the year tied for the Warriors’ single-season goal record with 70.

With nothing to play for in the standings, the Warriors rolled through their lines in the opening period and were able to pin the Wheat Kings inside their zone.

At 4:47, 2016 first round bantam pick Brayden Tracey fought the puck away from a Brandon defenceman on their end-boards and fed Klatt at the bottom of the right circle where he snapped in his sixth goal of the season.

The Warriors went up by two at 8:20 when Brett Howden and Halbgewachs stole the puck away from the Wheat Kings along their left boards, Halbgewachs skated to the goal line and then connected with Jeannot on top of the Brandon net where he scored his 39th goal of the season.

Just under two minutes later, the Warriors extended their lead when Tracey again stole the puck away from Brandon at their right goal line and then set up Klatt on top of the Wheat Kings crease where he scored his second of the period.

Brandon thought they picked up their first goal of the game at 14:43 when a shot from the blue-line by Braden Schneider got past Adam Evanoff, however, the video goal judge took a look at the play and said that the net was off, so the goal was overruled, which kept the Warriors up by three.

Early in the second period, the Wheat Kings landed on the power play, but that didn't stop the Warriors offence. Howden won a draw in the Moose Jaw circle by poking it ahead and then used the boards to chip the puck around the defenceman to start a shorthanded odd man rush, Howden came in on the left wing and then set up Jeannot on the right side where he hammered in his second of the game and 40th of the season to make it 4-0.

After giving up the shorthanded goal the Wheat Kings started to battle back. They had the Warriors pinned at times inside their zone, which led to a 14-9 advantage on the shot clock in the second period.

Evan Weinger got the Wheat Kings on the board at 11:42 when he snapped in a rebound from inside the right circle. 

Burzan made it a two-goal game at 13:49 when he led a rush across the Moose Jaw blueline and then snapped a shot from inside the right circle.

Brandon found another gear in the third period, they outshot the Warriors, 9-1, in the frame and pulled to within one at 7:36 on a power play goal from Ty Lewis.

The Warriors fought to hold onto their lead, but with just over a minute left in the game and with the Brandon net empty for an extra attacker, Burzan tipped in a point shot from Schael Higson to tie the game at four.

In the overtime, the Warriors had their chances to end the game, the most notable were two breakaways for Halbgewachs, but unfortunately, he was denied.

Brandon scored in the opening round of the shootout and then the Warriors responded with a goal from Justin Almeida in the third round. The game-winning goal for Brandon came in the sixth round when Burzan snuck the puck over the goal line.

Evanoff made 27 saves in the loss.

Moose Jaw was 0-for-2 on the power play and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.

Moose Jaw ends the regular season with a record of 52-15-2-3 as they captured their fourth East Division title and they won their first Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as the regular season champions.

The Warriors are now off until next weekend when they’ll open the 2018 WHL Playoffs at Mosaic Place on Friday night with Game 1 of their first round series against Prince Albert. Tickets go on sale to the General Public Monday at 10 a.m.