Wheatland teams end weekend on positive notes

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Wheatland Warriors appeared to have taken a back seat to start back-to-back road games last weekend and the scoreboard showed, as they were shutout 4-0 by the Taber Golden Suns.
“We didn’t show up 100 per cent and that’s a team that’s going to make you pay,” said Warriors head coach Cody Brown.
Brown had mentioned that the team had a slow start and just could not battle through it to produce any offence.
“They’re a strong team and play you hard,” said Brown.
He relayed the message to the boys after the game by saying ‘if you don’t want to show up and work hard, we’re kind of just another team out there,’ and it seem to have sparked the team as they turned right around the next day and came out victorious over Olds 4-1.
“Right off the bat, the boys were firing,” said Brown.
“As the game progressed, we just kept getting better and better, that’s never a bad thing. By the third period, we were hitting our peak, and ended up scoring three goals in the third.”
Max Kathol, Kevin Schrock, Carter Kam and Keith Yellowfly scored in the win.
The local bantam double-A team will host Okotoks on Nov. 13 in Hussar at 8:30 p.m. before taking to the ice in Lethbridge on Nov. 15 at 3:45 p.m.
Chiefs firing on all cylinders
For the Wheatland Chiefs, offence was not an issue as the secondary scoring was abundant in picking up four points. The local double-A midget team dismantled the Medicine Hat Hounds 9-2 on SNov. 7 before doubling up the Central Alberta Selects of Lacombe 6-3 the following day.
“We’re short on numbers, we got lots of injuries right now,” said assistant coach Keenan Desmet.
“But I guess the guys pulled through this weekend. They put two games together that was a strong 60 minutes both nights. We started with our set lines but after awhile guys are getting tired and we got to manage their ice time. But we tend to roll guys through … that was kind of the key.”
He added that the team played well defensively and cycled the puck really well and with that controlled a lot of the play down low.
Robert Butterwick notched the hat trick while Scott Desserre, Riley Romashenko Chayse Hnatowich, Wacy Sandum, Ryan Bell and Ryan Skytt scored one each against Medicine Hat.
Chris Rebeyka led the way with two, while Bell, Sandum, Romashenko and Lucas Muenchrath closed out the scoring in the win over the Selects.
The local midget double-A team will get a much-deserved break before taking to the ice again Nov. 28 in Okotoks at 3:45 p.m. and Nov. 29 in Red Deer on 5:15 p.m.
Braves split
Meanwhile, the Wheatland Braves learned a valuable lesson on holding on to leads against the Cranbrook Eagles on Nov. 6 as the team had a 6-2 lead until the halfway mark of the second and watched it slip away en route to an 8-7 loss.
“We had a good first period, good first half of the second period and after that things started to turn,” said head coach Carl Knudsen.
“Cranbrook had a ton of momentum, credit it to them, they played good. They shut us down in there and we didn’t get too many scoring chances in the second half of the game. It was a tough one, lesson learned I guess.”
Adam Kirkpatrick scored two goals to kick-start the offence, while Nolan Mahussier, Tristan Zandee, Zach Nicholls, Tate Yule and Matthew Quebec scored one each in the loss.
Knudsen thought the next day that Lethbridge played them pretty tough, out battled the Braves with their gritty style and the Braves were fortunate enough to pull out a 4-3 win.
“We were the more skilled team, they seemed to want it a little more, but we were able to get one more than they did,” he said.
Mahussier, Zandee, Bryce Benfield and Ray Warrack scored in the win.
The local peewee double-A team will be in Blackie to take on the Foothills Bisons on Nov. 13.