A dramatic shift in the schedule is coming for the Brandon Wheat Kings and their calendar is about to get a lot fuller. Thanks to injury returns and solid play, however, they’re ready for whatever the busy stretch throws at them.
After two week-long breaks in the last three weeks, the Wheat Kings will play three games in four days beginning tomorrow night, and five games over the next eight days. Given their 4-0-1 record on their five-game homestand, you can see why they’d enter this cramped schedule with confidence.
“It started in Lethbridge, even though we came up short in that one I thought we kind of got our mojo back,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We’ve been banged up and playing shorthanded so I’m really proud of the guys. We’ve had a good five-game stretch here. We got nine out of ten points, which is pretty darn good considering where we’re at.”
The injuries Murry alluded to have been numerous and varied, striking at all positions and forcing players to take on a lot of new responsibilities. The trial-by-fire many forwards faced proved once and for all the Wheat Kings have good reason to have faith in their depth up front, where the injury bug bit hardest.
“It’s good to see guy begin to get some production,” Murray said. “Some guys were squeezing their sticks a little bit. With injuries come opportunities and some guys have taken advantage of it. We’re really pleased with our effort over the last little while.”
The skaters have been strong in the face of adversity, but they’ve had their help from the goaltenders when they’ve needed it. In fact, goaltenders Carson Bjarnason and Ethan Eskit now hold the best and second best save percentages in WHL respectively.
“Regardless of who we start we’re going to get a really solid effort,” said Murray. “There’s still a lot of room to grow defensively, but right now we’re sitting at second in the league in goals against average, which is pretty darn good. You can always get better, we’re working at it every day, but once you take a step back and look at the stats, after 15 games they mean something and our guys have done a great job.”
So with a run of tough opponents giving way to some teams further down the standings (three of their next five games are against the 10th-place Regina Pats) and with players returning from injury is there any danger of an emotional letdown? Not according to Murray.
“In here, we don’t take stock in that at all,” he said. “Every opponent is going to be very capable. Anybody can beat anybody on any given night. If you know our league, our conference, you’d agree with that. Our guys need to be sharp and have good practice habits this week and get ready to play some hockey. We’ve had the weekend schedule for a little bit and some one-game weekends.”
On the injury front, Murray added forward Easton Odut is looking like a likely addition to the lineup for the coming weekend. The team is still waiting to see what happens with forward Nicholas Johnson, but the 2005-born power forward is inching closer to a return and has been skating with the team.
