Wheat Kings roll offensively in Teddy Bear Toss win over Raiders

Despite being shorthanded again, the Wheat Kings offense picked up right where it had left off the previous night against the Red Deer Rebels, and brought them a new season-high in goals against the Prince Albert Raiders.

Rhett Ravndahl scored the Teddy Bear Toss Goal, and Matteo Michels scored twice as the Wheat Kings took a 7-3 win over the visiting Raiders. Adam Belusko, Easton Odut,  Brady Turko, and Carter Klippenstein also scored in the win, with the Wheat Kings breaking the game open in the third period.

“That was huge, we were on our heels last time we were in here against Prince Albert in the third, we let one slip away,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “It was huge to get that fifth goal, that Turko breakaway, and the next shift (Odut) scored to make it 6-2 so it was two huge ones to start the third.”

The first goal of the game actually went the way of the Raiders just over 2:30 into the first period. Off the rush, Ty Meunier got the puck at the bottom of the left circle and rifled a shot to the top corner to put the visitors up early.

But redemption came immediately for the Wheat Kings. Dominik Petr brought the puck in, dangling his way through the Raiders’ backcheckers, and while he couldn’t get the puck on net, it sat nicely in the slot for a following Ravndahl, who made no mistake from close range to tie the game and send the bears barrelling to the ice.

The goal gave the Wheat Kings some momentum and they didn’t waste it. Carter Klippenstein produced a rebound with his shot, and both he and Turko went after it. Neither of them were able to stuff it in, but they kept it alive long enough for Michels to enter the fray and poke it home himself.

Off the rush, the Raiders tied the score again. Daxon Rudolph broke in and got separation with a cutback move, and fed it into the slot for Roblin-native Brayden Dube. Dube sniped home the tying tally.

But with a flair for the dramatic, Belusko gave the Wheat Kings the lead back with his first WHL goal. From the bottom of the left circle, almost at the goal line, he wired the puck on net and rattled it off the helmet of Dimitri Fortin and in.

Just as a power play expired, the Wheat Kings extended their lead. Luke Shipley fed the puck across the seam to Michels, who one-timed home a goal that also gave Shipley his 100th WHL point.

Early in the third, Michels played setup man, firing it up ice to send Turko in on a breakaway. Turko sold the shot, cut to the backhand, and lifted home a critical 5-2 goal.

Not content with that lead, the Wheat Kings kept on pressing. First, Shipley fed the puck to Odut from the right point as Odut drove the net, and Odut swatted home his third of the season. Then, Klippenstein took a feed from Nolan Flamand in the slot, drove to his left with a fake, and fired in the seventh goal of the game.

The Raider would get one back late, with Meunier snapping one home on a two-on-one, but that came too late to affect the outcome. The Wheat Kings took the 7-3 win, and take a 2-1 lead in the season series. They’ll play the fourth game next Saturday in Prince Albert at 7:00.