another 4 goals given up and were only in the 2nd...blew a 3-1 lead and bounce back twice after sc scored to tie...we need a stop..stop the puck somebody...even last night against MH, mediocre goaltending and an average game by most players... I don't get it...

well, we are in their barn and they have a similar record. even GA/GF is not that big a difference between the two.  
 
At this time it is 5-4 Wheat Kings shots are 41-40 for the Wheaties

is it time for a goalie who actually can steal a game or two for us? or in hayes we trust.... le sigh.

sounds like Michael Ferland had a good game...good for him. Glad to see hear they pulled off a win. Only heard the last period of the game on the radio..lots of shots on goal.

Hayes was good most of the season uptil McKrimmon decided he needed another 19 year old tender and then rotate games what a confident booster. Sometimes things could have been left alone.

only goalie that I see we could get that may actually do something for us would be one of the Hitment goalies, but we would have to give a lot I would assume. Hayes isn't as bad as we think he is. He's 11th in the dub, but half the other goalies have only played 10 games (Hayes has 19). If you've followed other games in the dub or looked at previous games he's not the only goalie that gives up the odd 4 goal game. There's still hope in him and I continue to see him improve. We just need a little more defense, and maybe get a new back-up. As much as I hate bashing goalies, Deserres doesn't make the cut.  
 
Edited by Shaunyboy, 2009-11-18 22:12:43

they are scoring again.

Nice to see Glennie score a few tonight.  
 
Urbom with 2 assist, has 15 points now. He's really starting to play well.  
 
Ferland 1g 1a, nice to see him get some points.  

for both sides, after watching the entire game..take 10 away for both sc and wk...shots were way too high after 2 periods... itchy triggers in speedy creek

I know everybody wants to put the blame on Hayes but when you are letting 42 shots on net, 4 goals isn't that bad. I am leaning more towards getting one more good dman. I know that everyone hammers on him all the time but #3 was -4 on the night, he was on for every goal that they scored. If we give up less shots then we will give up less goals, its a simple eqution.

trading #3 has been the thing to do since last year. If he needs time to improve then do it on another team thats not going to the memorial cup in a few months. yes it sounds harsh but we need to start accepting the fact that this team needs to own up to a higher standard.  
 
Edited by Brandon, 2009-11-19 02:25:12

The W/K don't need to get rid of #3 or Hayes what they do need to do is HIRE a coach,Mr.McCrimmon is a good general manager but as a coach he can't seem to get what he needs from his players.If he was just general manager and had a coach with his record this year he would have fired them by now.Back to #3 he has greatly improved this year and shows some emotion which is more then I see from #4 who I don't see improving at all.

As a long time season ticket holder i have to say that anyone who says BM is improving must have blinders on. He takes too long to wind up a shot, passes are never crisp, as soon as someone goes wide on him his feet get tangled up, and for being such a big guy he doesn't fight. To top it all off he was surprised he didn't get drafted last year!?!? I sure wasn't. Quit insulting Keith Aulie by saying that #3 is on the same career path as he was. Time to start seperating the wheat from the chaff McCrimmon!!

How can everybody still attack Hayes !?! With Melny and Urbom in the defence we will never have a shoot out again.  
He is a good goalie , but if you have 2 guys in front of you that are slow on the ice and scared to hit then what can he do.?  
Bestland should be on the first line with Robak !

First of all I never said #3 was the second coming of Keith Aulie I just meant that he has improved and yes I agree he is a train wreak out ther at times but no worse then the blue chipper(#4)constantly coughing up the puck, won't hit any one need I say more.Secondly we need a coach who might actualy talk to the players and motivate them.

david stone said "First of all I never said #3 was the second coming of Keith Aulie I just meant that he has improved and yes I agree he is a train wreak out ther at times but no worse then the blue chipper(#4)constantly coughing up the puck, won't hit any one need I say more.Secondly we need a coach who might actualy talk to the players and motivate them. "

Robak's role on the team is as an offensive defenceman. 22 points in games would translate to 63 over a full 72 game season. Most teams would kill to have a defenceman that would bring that kind of offense to the back end. I'm not usually a fan of putting too much stock into plus-minus, but it does a bit of talking when a player is +13 this early in the season when 9 of his points have come on the powerplay (no plusses on powerplay goals).  
 
Someone else was talking Urbom. He's really come around lately... 3 goals, 5 assists in the last 7 games and a +3 to boot.  
 
Some folks need to realize that every player in every league is going to come with their strengths and weaknesses. At this level of hockey we're very lucky to have Robak and Urbom a part of the Wheat Kings' top 6 D.

As for Kelly, you're not watching too closely if you're suggesting he doesn't talk to the players. Coach and player interaction extends way behind the 3 hours they're at the rink on a game day. One thing many aren't aware of is the fact that the Wheat Kings make heavy use of video to help players develop. There are some conversations you can have in the heat of battle, others are so much more effective when you can see what you're talking about.

you need to evaluate each defencemen separately. Robak is the typical offensive defencemen. KM wants him to move the puck quickly and put points up. You could compare him to that of Mike Green of the Washington Capitals. They are basically the same type of defencemen. I think everyone wants to see Robak as a shut down player, and that's not his game. Mely is weak yes, but you could say that about all the D-men. Urbom has been a great pickup. He didn't get drafted in the 2nd round by the Devils (who know something about drafting good d-men). He's playing well. The d-men need to buckle down. Look at Schneiders game. Keep it simple!!!

It seems that the only postion the coaching staff is keen on is goal. (and it is Hayes can't stop more than 5 shots in a row). How many times are the D pinching 5 on 5 and one of the wingers are covering for them? I don't think that Glennie or Calvert are defensive forwards but they are constantly covering for Robak,Menlenchyk, and Urbolm. The PK sucks and that is because of the system(??) they are using. It seems the coaches want Calvert to get 25 SHG but could care less what they PK % is. Hale is terrible. KM should bench him- better yet have him dress up as Willie and play in the Tim Bits game- you don't have to worry about him hitting anyone.

david stone said "First of all I never said #3 was the second coming of Keith Aulie I just meant that he has improved and yes I agree he is a train wreak out ther at times but no worse then the blue chipper(#4)constantly coughing up the puck, won't hit any one need I say more.Secondly we need a coach who might actualy talk to the players and motivate them. "

be watching a different hockey game.. I think Robak has been outstanding so far this season and has lived up to every expectation of him thus far. The only improvement I could see for him would be to use size to his advantage more and finish some more checks. However, as others have pointed out that isn't his role as an offensive defenseman. To compare him to Melnychuk is absolutly appaling in my opinion. I would agree to some degree that a coaching change could be warranted, but is obviously not in the cards for this season. We do need a goalie that is going to steal games for us when sometimes maybe we don't derseve to win and so far Hayes and De Serres have not proven they can live up to that. Hopefully they can get on a streak here and start winning more conistently before they get too far in the hole.

At the start of this thread the complaint was that the W/K's allowed 4 goals agaist again last night (not good enough).Ask anyone that wins a championship defence wins championships.Lets face it the W/K's have plenty of guys that can put the puck in the net.But not many that care about keeping it out. Personaly I think the hole team needs to buckle down defencivly and the offence will look after it self

has played mediocre at best and we all know mediocre goaltending doesn't win you a championship. The only thing the wheaties have proved this year is that they're the scariest offensive team in the WHL. They're way too young on the d-side. No experience other than Robak and Bestland. I agree with you Phillip Ontacos. I've been to almost every home game this year and he's played well. Sure he has had a few defensive minded lapses, but that's the risk you take for an offensive d-man. Make a trade for 1 or 2 quality 19 year old d-man and a goaltender and the Wheaties are a serious contender for the Memorial Cup.

WK44 said "has played mediocre at best and we all know mediocre goaltending doesn't win you a championship. The only thing the wheaties have proved this year is that they're the scariest offensive team in the WHL. They're way too young on the d-side. No experience other than Robak and Bestland. I agree with you Phillip Ontacos. I've been to almost every home game this year and he's played well. Sure he has had a few defensive minded lapses, but that's the risk you take for an offensive d-man. Make a trade for 1 or 2 quality 19 year old d-man and a goaltender and the Wheaties are a serious contender for the Memorial Cup. "

Early in the season hayes breaks a team record for minutes without a goal against and was close to breaking league record then has a game where he allows a couple and then another shut out how can that be mediocre come on

kilroy said "new coach!new coach!new coach! that being said if you watched fridays game against cal you would have on the surface seen a very strong win by brandon.i must admit that the d worked hard to spoil at least 3 clear breaks.but those breaks were caused by the d mentioned in posts before this pinchin in.i have seen urbom get a coupel goals this way and he is good enuf at it that he should be permited to do it once in a while.now they all think they are forwards and other teams are catching on.if you watched how plays transpierd on friday except for a few blunders by cal (that im sure got addressed the very next day in practice) they were such a tight team with well run set plays.i could not belive how well they take away shooting and passing lanes and apply pressure to the d men on the pk.brandon has very few set plays for moveing the puck up ice and that all comes back to lackluster coaching.david you are right km would have fired a coach by now but only because he found out he had to pay them.it was nice to beable to watch a win by the puffs against a complet team like that.rajala can sure pick the top shelf wow.i leave you all with a joke what does brandon temp and brodie mal have in common...there both -40 in december.lol     Edited by kilroy, 2009-11-24 15:15:52"

WK's totally outplayed, outcompeted and outhit the oft vaunted Hitmen.  
And the target of your joke was a +1 on the night, and led the WK's with 8 hits....

it was just a joke and not a real stat or we might be in real trouble. what i was saying is that you can see a big difference in the way cal plays there positions and it is a big reason there a great team.brandon did play very well in 2nd and 3rd that was the best game i have seen them play all year note that i have missed half the games to being away with work but i still thought we could play a tighter game than we did it is apperent that cal has better coaching as far as all around play

kilroy said "it was just a joke and not a real stat or we might be in real trouble. what i was saying is that you can see a big difference in the way cal plays there positions and it is a big reason there a great team.brandon did play very well in 2nd and 3rd that was the best game i have seen them play all year note that i have missed half the games to being away with work but i still thought we could play a tighter game than we did it is apperent that cal has better coaching as far as all around play "

I was very impressed with Stone, he is a brick wall out there, along with some offensive potential.  
I thought it was Brandon's 2nd best performance of the year, #1 being the week before against the Blades.  
I've said it before and I'll say it again, those 2 performances have to be benchmarks for the guys, they have to know that anything less than that is unnaceptable going forward....  

on hockey! But I have season tickets and have watched this team play their best against top notch opponents and then crumble against weaker ones. On my army team a life time ago...we did the same thing time and time again. Its a mental thing I guess.  
 
Now our coach used to say this to us whenever we got on our poor goalie....there were five mistakes made before his....think about that.