If you’re an optimist, as I am often accused of being, you could look at the last three games for the Wheat Kings and feel pretty good about the team. If you’re a realist, as I like to pretend I am, you can’t divorce the last three games from the season as a whole.
In the last three games, the Wheat Kings have outshot their opponent in every game (heavily in two of them) and won two of three. They’ve been much better at limiting chances against, and haven’t lost a step offensively by tightening up defensively. Last game, they also got their best statistical goaltending performance of the season to go along with their second-best offensive output. This is all to the good after an extremely rocky start.
It does not, however, erase the rocky start. The Wheat Kings will need to do a fair bit of work still to bury that. While it’s very early to be standings watching, if the playoffs began today a Wheat Kings team that was projected by many (and not just me) to finish atop the East Division would only barely squeak into the 8th and final spot.
A lot of things appear to be pointing in the right direction at the moment. And at a time of the season where there have been so few games played, every game carries disproportionate weight as it represents some of the only data we have. In other words, if the Wheat Kings keep those steps going in the right direction against the Regina Pats, it won’t erase the rough start but it will calm things down considerably.
Being an optimist, I won’t worry about what happens if they lose that game.
- Hard to know where to start after last night’s game because so many things went right. One of those things was not, however, the team’s start. For the fourth game in a row they were down 2-0 before the end of the first period, though they did claw back to within one before the period was out. The team knows their starts need to be better. Marty Murray had an interesting line about it when I spoke to him before the win over Kamloops. He said they want to address it but they also don’t want to hammer it home so much that the team becomes white-knuckle, clenched-jaw obsessed with it and it becomes something of a mental boogeyman. The first period against Kamloops was the only period in which they were outshot, but they pushed back steadily as the game wore on and by the third period they were in confident control. Still, expect the coaching staff to remind the players without harping on them that their starts need to be better in order to achieve that oft-discussed full 60 minutes.
- It was a long process getting Filip Ruzicka to Brandon to officially join the Wheat Kings, but the big Czech netminder appears to have been worth the wait. He’s got both the Wheat Kings’ wins this season, and posted their statistical best numbers of the young season with 27 saves on 30 shots in the win over Kamloops. And this is him as he adjusts to a new league, a new city, a new country, and even a new size of ice surface. I talked a bit with Wheat Kings’ goalie coach Tyler Plante about him, and Tyler has high hopes for this young man. A 6-foot-7 frame is a great starting point, and his athleticism and quickness could make Ruzicka a stalwart once he gets used to North American ice. He’s young, of course, so there are bound to be hiccups here and there, but all the tools are there for Ruzicka to be long-term solution for the Wheat Kings in net.
- Statistically, Nick Johnson is not getting the recognition he deserves. In fact, he’s had a lot of his recent statistics actively taken away. He had a goal disallowed against Swift Current, lost an assist that he’d been previously credited with that same game, and then had his assist on the game-winning goal against Kamloops relegated to third assist status (in other words, the kind of assist that while essential to the play’s development, doesn’t actually show up on the stats sheet). Yet for all that, Johnson is playing extremely well. He’s been impossible not to notice in the broadcast booth as he uses his size to strong-arm his way behind the other team’s net and then power the puck back out front, and he’s been in good position to score some close quarters goals (including both his disallowed goal against the Broncos and his goal which actually stood against the Vancouver Giants). It’s not like he hasn’t been using his shot either, averaging over three shots per game. The statistics are sure to come (and actually stay under his name this time) if he keeps it up.
- There are plenty of Wheat Kings who are piling up points, however, and no one should be surprised that Jaxon Jacobson and Luke Mistelbacher have been leading the charge of late. With two more assists against the Blazers, Jacobson has now put up three consecutive multi-point games, and Mistelbacher has a four-game goal scoring streak in that same span. In addition, Jacobson went over 78 percent in the faceoff circle against the Blazers, contributing to a 60.5 percent success rate in the dot on the season. Part of the reason the Wheat Kings’ power play has been so successful (more on that in a minute) is they so often start with possession, and the reason for that is Jacobson has been dialed in on offensive zone draws. He went 4-for-4 on power play faceoffs last game, and outside of the man advantage he was usually up against 20-year-old Jordan Keller or, occasionally, league leading scorer JP Hurlbert. Faced with that competition, he dominated in the dot. Not bad for a guy who won’t turn 17 until well into December.
- The Wheat Kings have long maintained that there is another gear to Joby Baumuller’s game, and the 18-year-old forward is starting to find it. He’s got goals in back-to-back games, is averaging over three shots per game for the first time in his career, and has seven points in his first eight games of the season. And still you get the sense both he and the team are seeking that next level again from him. His shot is a lethal weapon when he uses it off the rush, and playing with Jordan Gavin (who had two assists last night) means he’ll get plenty of chances to use it. It’s been nice to see his goals in each of his last two games have come from crashing the net, because he’s a strong guy with plenty of speed, so getting to the net is no problem and staying there to find rebounds shouldn’t be either. Much like Johnson, you know he’s going to start scoring with his heavy shot soon as well.
- The Wheat Kings’ power play went 3-for-3 against the Blazers, and Chase Surkan chipped in a goal and an assist on the man advantage to help make it happen. Bolstered by that exceptional outing, the Wheat Kings power play once again ranks first in the league at 39.3 percent, and Surkan’s addition to the top unit is a huge part of the reason why. We’re already running out of superlatives for Surkan and his exceptional early season play, and with seven power play points on the season already he’s been a massive part of the team’s power play success. We broke it down on the broadcast, but essentially when Surkan has the puck, every player on the ice is a viable pass option so, naturally, teams cheat to take away his passing lanes. When they do, Surkan does the only thing the other team has left available for him to do: he shoots, and shoots well. Whether he’s picking a corner like he did in the second period or firing a puck into the goaltender’s feet to create a rebound like he did in the first, Surkan’s shot instantly upgrades an already lethal Wheat Kings top power play unit. His inclusion on the rosters for Team Canada at the World-Under 17 was so well deserved it was almost a foregone conclusion.
- The “fourth line” for the Wheat Kings has been a rotating cast of characters this season, and they’ve given Marty the best possible problem to have: whoever he puts on that line, they play so well that it’s hard to take them out. Ryan Boyce rotated in with that group last night and fit like a glove, very nearly scooping up his first WHL point and helping the Wheat Kings hem the Blazers in for long stretches. Easton Odut came back in after a single game off as well, and was a constant thorn in the Blazers’ sides. The game before, Gunnar Gleasman and Prabh Bhathal were in the lineup and both brought a heavy physical presence that gave the Broncos fits. The one constant is Jimmy Egan, lining up at centre, who has a knack for preventing clean breakouts when he’s on the forecheck. So who goes against the Regina Pats? Well, Bhathal being 16 has to play a certain number of games so he’s going to be in most nights (and he deserves to be, he’s just got tough competition) but beyond that? My first thought is Gleasman with his heavy, ultra-physical style is a player you want in your lineup when you’re playing in Regina, but there doesn’t seem to be a wrong answer to this question. My second thought is that, as with many such lineup choices, I’m glad someone else is making them.
- I’ve heaped praise on the forwards throughout this blog, and we’ve known all along they would be the headliners as the season wore on (I haven’t even mentioned Carter Klippenstein, who got the monkey off his back with the first goal of his season against Kamloops and very nearly willed his way to another). The defense, however, deserves some praise of their own, in particular a couple of rookies: the game-to-game improvement in Cam Allard and Max Lavoie has been remarkable. Both guys picked up points in the loss to Swift Current (Lavoie’s first) and both look far more comfortable jumping into the play from the offensive blue line as the season rolls along. As big guys who move well, they’re going to have an advantage over so many of their opponents, and both guys seem to be realizing it. Lavoie’s nastiness in particular has also been a breath of fresh air. No one gets an easy look in the Wheat Kings’ crease when he’s on the ice. As the season goes on, I expect his no-nonsense approach to the game to rub off on some of his teammates, much the way two years ago Jackson DeSouza’s fearless shot blocking became infectious.
The Wheat Kings can’t undo the start to their season, but they can bury it. The longer they wait to do so, the harder it’s going to be but if they apply the right lessons from the last three games they can be in a much better position by the end of this month than they were at the start. And just in time too. The cushy home schedule is about to come to an end and the Wheat Kings are soon to spend a lot more time away from ACU place. Honestly, that might be good for the team at this point. Getting out on the road together and bonding a bit would go a long way. Stockpiling some wins before they go on the road, however, would go even further as they try to meet the lofty expectations they have for themselves for the season.
