Discussions

This had to start sooner or later, what's wrong with Wheat Kings, here are my thoughts. I know they have 3 guys out and lines are a mess, but from my perspective those 3 guys aren't going to be all that we need. The Wheats need to shore up the defence, and going out on a limb here but goaltending looks weak. The last 3 teams they lost to had guys in behind all night. As for offence yes we have some guys who can score but they got to stay healthy to get any rhythm on set lines. If you look around the rest of the East this year, most teams have improved greatly so it will be hard pressed to think Brandon is going to win it all, I don't see it happening with this group. Kelly has to make some big deals and should do it sooner rather than later if they want to make a big push. So let's see some opinions. Go Wheaties.

Lately missing key guys for various reasons. Season is long, No worries here

I don't think WK have been playing that bad, just in a scoring funk right now but eventually the floodgates will open up. They've been getting chances so it's still a good sign to me. Agree with the goal tending though, doesn't seem as solid so far.

The effort is lacking lately imo. I didnt see the road game but they were definately out worked by Victoria and Red Deer. We lost some hustle when Bukharts was traded for sure and sometimes you need one or two guys like that to spark the others. I wonder if this group has been listening to all the hype o er the last 2 seasons about this being the year for them to win it all. Nobody's going to hand it to them though, they have to go out and earn it.

The special teams needs major improvements! Both the pk and pp are near the bottom of the league. Also giving up to many goals. Goaltending has been very average. Your not gonna score 5 every game. So keep the puck out of your net. Go wheaties go  

CHL rankings came out yesterday and for the first time this year the Wheat Kings are out of the top 10. Not even an honourable mention.

JackAzz said "CHL rankings came out yesterday and for the first time this year the Wheat Kings are out of the top 10. Not even an honourable mention. "

It's the first time in a long time. They were ranked every week last season, and every week so far this season. Things need to be fixed - they aren't playing up to their potential. I understand that they have some injuries. However, injuries don't explain a lack of effort on the ice from the healthy players (ie. Waltz on the second goal Wednesday).

The BWK are full of high end scorers. When u don't score you lose. When u don't keep the puck out of your net you lose.  
Team D is horrible.  
Nobody hits out there. Maybe one player does. Much like training camp, nobody wants to get hurt. It's kind of embarrassing out there. You don't always need Big hits , but you do need to punish the opponents when in your end. Nothing like that happening.  
 
So, the team better learn some defence in their own end or hope you can out score the opponents, hasn't worked so well lately.

iMO wheaties need a goalie and a couple of dmen. The last couple of games the play of the goalie has been really weak. The third pair of dmen might as well not get dressed they hardly play and when they do are a huge liability it doesn't matter which of the 3 is dressed. Wheat kings too soft and the 2 guys that do play tough Waltz and Erkamps are the only 2 dmen that play defence so I think wheaties need a couple of tough forwards. Missing 3 offensive weapons which would be a great help but what can you do if other team scores more goals.

will be alright in net i think, he was one of the best in the league last year. The defense isn't playing well and i think that is reflecting on the goaltending. Too many top guys out, and they do miss pilon.

Weekend will tell if they have what it takes, both Lethbridge and PA are playing well and have better record than the Wheats, and now they have dropped out of the ten without an honourable mention.

stonepicker said "will be alright in net i think, he was one of the best in the league last year. The defense isn't playing well and i think that is reflecting on the goaltending. Too many top guys out, and they do miss pilon. "

I agree Papirney is not the problem, he was among the best in the league last year

Much better effort up and down the line-up last night, if not for some pretty solid Lethbridge goaltending this could have been a blow-out. Way more physical, much better hustle and forecheck, and we won the majority of the puck battles. Good job boys, keep it up!

last night against Lethbridge but with the exception of #9 and #20 the "D" is still the weak part of this team

Thought #5, #9, #20 on d were solid much better effort by #33 upfront #25 was good #8 & 17 were very good and good efforts by 16, 14, 19 other than that was anybody else playing?

When you carry the play and outshoot PA, and loose the game. 0 for 5 on the power play will not get you anywhere, and weak goaltending don't help.

We don't seem to recover well from mistakes. That debacle at the P.A. blue line when we had a power play that resulted in a short handed goal against was awful! We had three guys to their one and then our goalie probably should've covered the puck instead of batting it away. It was an unfortunate series of mistakes that led to the winning goal for P.A.!  
 
I thought we played well most of the game but our power play is abysmal! I can't see it being this ineffective for much longer! We have the talent! It's got to start clicking soon!  
 
We seem to get lots of first shots but we don't get many rebounds. I can't remember the last time I saw the guys cycle the puck down low.  
 
Also, in the two weekend home games there were a ridiculous number of times that I noticed guys fanning on their shots and passes. Pucks were going off the heels of sticks or we weren't getting good wood on shots!  
 
There's 52 games to go! I may sound critical but these guys are good and I expect better out of them!  
 
Go Wheaties!!

Sportsnet addresses the tough week at the link below. They give the impression that this is just the normal kind of blip you see on the radar in junior hockey, pointing to how badly the WKs continue to out-shoot opponents. Hard to argue with that for the most part when there's so much talent on roster and so many players that were part of winning last year. The only thing on that point I'd be interested to know more on (and perhaps understand more about recent struggles) is the quality of those shots (perimeter vs from prime scoring areas/off of rebounds/etc).  
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/whl-blog-no-need-for-wheat-kings-to-panic/

that follows the Wheat Kings closely and attend the game, I don't really agree with the Sportsnet consensus in the article. But I guess that is why I am not an expert! I think everybody in town is waiting with baited breath until #23 returns to see if that is the missing piece to the PP and PK. I don't think the WK shots and scoring chances are of the "quality" type and other teams are burying their chances regularly on Papirny. I hope they turn it around. Two games coming up against lower ranked teams. Really needed to see how they measured up against the better teams with them in the standings.

Dan Forsythe said "that follows the Wheat Kings closely and attend the game, I don't really agree with the Sportsnet consensus in the article. But I guess that is why I am not an expert! I think everybody in town is waiting with baited breath until #23 returns to see if that is the missing piece to the PP and PK. I don't think the WK shots and scoring chances are of the "quality" type and other teams are burying their chances regularly on Papirny. I hope they turn it around. Two games coming up against lower ranked teams. Really needed to see how they measured up against the better teams with them in the standings. "

I agree with you 100% Dan.IMO one player should not make or break a team he is a very good player and will certainly help but from what I seen the WK have been badly out hassled and outworked in all their losses and the shot clock doesn't really tell the story . They play their best hockey if they hit and skate hard but it almost looks like they getting coached to not hit there are to many times when the opposite team skates end to end without getting touched - just my opinion I hope they turn it around soon ......