Whether they hit the wall at the end of the road trip or not, the Wheat Kings weren’t able to wrestle a fifth win on the road swing out of Spokane against the Chiefs. Jayden Kraus came in to relieve Filip Ruzicka in the first period of what proved to be a 4-0 Wheat Kings loss.
“I just thought we were really light on pucks,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “Last night we were strong and heavy, and the difference is tonight I thought we were light and soft and second to pucks, and I thought that hurt us.”
The shoe was on the other foot from the previous night against Tri-City in the first period for the Wheat Kings. The Chiefs opened the scoring when Rhett Sather’s point shot bounced off a Wheat King in front and leaked through Ruzicka and in. They added another when a rebound of a backhand shot off the rush sat in the crease for Sam Oremba, who cashed in.
Tristen Buckley extended the lead further for the Chiefs when he dodged a poke-check and wrapped around to the far post for the 3-0 advantage. And former Lethbridge Hurricane Logan Wormald ended Ruzicka’s night when he was stopped on his initial five-hole bid but found his own rebound and managed to get that one in.
The Wheat Kings had a golden chance to score their first at the end of the second period. After killing off a penalty, Brady Turko fired the puck up ice to Luke Mistelbacher, who broke in alone and, even though the puck rolled on him at the worst moment, still managed not only the breakaway shot but a follow-up try as the puck bounced back out front. Chiefs netminder Linus Vieillard foiled both chances, however.
As it turned out, the scoreless second was a foreshadowing of an equally scoreless third. The Chiefs locked things down and though the Wheat Kings drew three penalties, they were not able to break through.
The Wheat Kings wrap up their road trip with a 4-3-0 record and will go home to face the Calgary Hitmen on Friday night.
