Despite a very different effort than in their previous game, the result was the same on the scoreboard as the Wheat Kings dropped their second consecutive road game, this time to the Prince George Cougars.
Chase Surkan scored, and Filip Ruzicka made 26 saves in his return to the lineup, but the Wheat Kings fell 3-1 to Prince George. Brandon native Cole Slobodian made his Wheat Kings debut in the loss.
“I thought we did some decent things,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “But you have to score goals. You’ve got to score goals to win hockey games. That’s only four in our last three games. We have the personnel to get it done and we’ve got to make some plays. Sometimes it doesn’t have to be the fanciest play. You look at their winning goal, they got a rebound and won a race to the net.”
On their second power play of the game, the Wheat Kings were loading up one-timers literally left and right but the Cougars put on a shot-blocking clinic and got rewarded. Off the rebound of one block, they sent Aiden Foster in alone, and he scored a shorthanded goal for the second straight game to make it 1-0 Prince George.
It was at even strength that the Wheat Kings tied the game up at one. Josh McGregor’s breakout pass found Kris Muissu and the big winger broke in to his left, leaving a drop pass behind for Surkan. With two Cougars setting an unintentional screen, Surkan snapped home his second of the season through their traffic.
In the third, however, the Cougars would retake the lead. Kayden Lemire would dance into the slot for a shot off the rush, and while his shot was stopped, Foster found the rebound to make it 2-1.
An incredibly unlucky bounce bit the Wheat Kings later in the third. Lee Shurgot took a shot that Ruzicka turned aside with his blocker, but the rebound bounced off the glass, off of Ruzicka’s back, and in.
The Wheat Kings pressed with the net empty, even leaking a shot through Payton Shore who was brilliant in the game, only for it to be swept off the goal line by a backchecking Cougar. And that was as close as the Wheat Kings would come with the net empty.
From Prince George, the Wheat Kings work their way south to Victoria to face the Royals. They meet their second BC-based opponent on Sunday afternoon.
