Wheatland teams look for more consistency

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Wheatland Chiefs had an ideal start to the second half of the season with a 5-1 road win in Lethbridge on Jan. 2; however, their offence dried up against a stingy Taber team the next night on route to being defeated 3-1 on home ice.
“We need more consistency,” said Chiefs captain Brad Hendricks. “We have a good effort one night and the next night not everyone’s going. There’s good things but when you’re not working, giving a 60-minute effort it’s hard to win against a team like that.”
Hendricks said you could feel amongst the guys that there was a lot of negativity on the bench throughout the game and he thinks the team needs to find more positive energy and put forth more of an effort moving forward.
“The effort wasn’t there really,” said Hendricks. “I think when you’re a first place team the only good thing to come from a loss is kind of a wake up call that teams are right behind you but you’re not going to win them all. You’re going to have work every night to win.”
He added that in the first game the Chiefs were a lot faster of a team that walked all over Lethbridge and took advantage of their opportunities.
Ryan Skytt scored two goals while Riley Romashenko, Zach Suntjens and Jason Hobson provided the offence in Lethbridge.
Skytt scored the lone goal in the loss to Taber.
The local double-A midget team was in Calgary to face the CBHA Rangers on Jan. 6 (result unavailable as of press time) and will play in Olds on Jan. 10.

 

Warriors win
Meanwhile, the Wheatland Warriors began the New Year with a pair of road wins over Airdrie 7-2 on Jan. 2 and 3-2 over the West Central Tigers on Jan. 3.
Head coach Cody Brown was content with his teams effort.
“Coming off a break there is always some rust no matter what you do, but I thought the boys showed up and definitely had no problem finding the back of the net,” said Brown. “Some things do get sloppy, but that’s to be expected. I think definitely I can’t be disappointed with the start we got.”
He added that it was hard to say what the outcome of the game against Airdrie would be after the break, but doing the little things right paid off for the boys.
“They’re at the same disadvantage as we were,” said Brown. “Obviously we did some things right and it was a good game to get the dust off and get back in the groove for the home stretch.”
The local double-A bantam team then faced a hardworking Tigers team and Brown said they were able to gut out a tight affair.
“The boys didn’t quit,” said Brown. “We fought right until the end there and got into some penalty trouble late up by one goal. Guys put their bodies on the line, made those gritty plays and we ended up locking it out.”
In Airdrie, Max Schafer, Kyle Bray and Ben Kruse all had two goals apiece while Brandon Kasdorf added one in the win.
Ben Slemp led the way with two goals, while Kasdorf scored one against the Tigers.
The Warriors will host the Red Deer Steel Kings in Hussar on Jan. 9 (5 p.m.) before hitting the road to Cochrane to tangle with the Timberwolves on Jan. 10.

 

Braves bounce back
The Wheatland Braves got a wake-up call, as they were thumped 12-3 in Airdrie on Jan. 2, but surprisingly head coach Carl Knudsen was not angered by his players performance.
“I don’t think the score reflected the game accurately,” said Knudsen. “We definitely got outplayed and beat by a very good Airdrie team. We didn’t play our best by any means for sure, but then again Airdrie is a top-tiered team. We know what we’re up against being the first time we’ve seem them.”
He thought the second period was their best period, but knows that there is still work to be done to compete with these tough teams.
“It was a pretty even period,” he said. “I think they only scored one goal that period. We just sent a message that we’re maybe not as skilled and still think we need to work hard to compete with these teams.”
Tegan Skehar, Koby Gosling and Avery Hansen scored in the loss.
The Braves were able to turn it around the next day in Taber as they got caught in a seesaw battle and came out on top with an 11-8 win.
“It was a little more engaged,” said Knudsen. “We did a better job of moving the play up the ice and into the offensive zone. We put down a few more passes and things are going better. We would have a three, four, five goal lead and they’d get it back. I was a little concerned that we couldn’t shut them down in the third period, but that’s the way she goes.”
Tristan Zandee had three goals, while Ray Warrack had two goals. Hansen, Matthew Quebec, Adam Kirkpatrick, Trey Gillis, Bryce Benfield and Nolan Mahussier each scored in the win.
The local double-A peewee team will play host the Lethbridge Hurricanes White in Hussar on Jan. 8 (7:30 p.m.) before heading to Olds to take on the Grizzlys on Jan. 9 (2:15 p.m.).