Slow starts had been an oft-repeated story for the Wheat Kings in their young season. Against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, they told a completely different one.
Joby Baumuller scored a hat trick and Caleb Hadland, Brady Turko, Jaxon Jacobson, and Chase Surkan all scored in a 7-0 Wheat Kings’ victory. Jayden Kraus stopped all 33 shots he faced for the shutout, and his first win as a Wheat King.
“You could feel the relief in the building when we put that first one in,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “There were a few goals tonight where you just never know what will happen when you put the puck to the net. It was a good shot by Hads and that was a big sigh of relief from the bench when we got that first one.”
For the first time all season, the Wheat Kings opened the scoring. Jacobson sent the puck up ice to Hadland on the rush, and the captain broke down the left wing and put a perfectly placed shot past the ear of Lief Oaten for the 1-0 lead.
The Wheat Kings built on their lead in the second. Chase Surkan blocked a clearing attempt and fed Nicholas Johnson in the slot for a one-timer. A Hurricane defender bravely threw himself in front of Johnson’s shot, but the rebound of that shot popped right to Turko, who made no mistake from close range.
Though the Wheat Kings took a late second period penalty, they turned it to their advantage. Carter Klippenstein broke back in shorthanded and made a gorgeous move between his feet before sending the puck back out front to Baumuller, who leaked a shot through Oaten for the Wheat Kings’ first shorthanded tally of the campaign.
After weathering a bit of a storm from the Hurricanes, the Wheat Kings took the wind out of their sails. Klippenstein, Baumuller, and Jordan Gavin worked a 3-on-1, with Gavin dishing it back to Baumuller at the right circle. Baumuller snapped his second of the night past the glove of Oaten.
With a shorthanded goal already under their belt, special teams again helped the Wheat Kings extend their lead. Jacobson handed the puck off to Surkan at the bottom of the left circle, and with his passing options cut off, Surkan kept the shot for himself and snapped home his team-leading ninth.
Back at even strength, the Wheat Kings kept on rolling. Jacobson took the puck along the umbrella and fired it through traffic from his back foot, bouncing it off the post, off the back of Oaten and in.
Baumuller completed the hat trick on a strange bounce late in the third. Dylan Ronald fired one through traffic that bounced off Baumuller and in. The goal would be reviewed, but it would stand and put the Wheat Kings up 7-0.
The victory puts the Wheat Kings back in the win column just in time to welcome the Moose Jaw Warriors tomorrow afternoon. Puck drop is 4:00.
