PR - Wheat Kings

Midseason Perspective (July 9th)

The Saskatchewan Wheat Kings came out of the All-Star break sitting first in the league, standing strong to repeat as President Trophy winners. The first half of the season saw the Kings continue to maneuvre, and continue to maintain their overall perforance. Significant deals saw Roberto Luongo and Keith Tkachuk leave while the Wheaties continued to bring in young players to round out their team. The Wheat Kings have spent most of the season fluttering around the .700 mark, on par with their performance in the latter fifty games of the previous season. The Kings defy logic, winning games without any significant superstars nor as loaded depth-wise as some other teams. Sure Dmitri Kazionov is one of the preeminent snipers in the league, but so is Alexei Kovalev of the bottom-dwelling Rednex. Only Kaz and the unassuming Steve Bernier have stood in the top 25 scorers for any significant time this season, but neither are necessarily the secret to the Kings success. Nor, a
swell, is the excellent goaltending the Kings have received from Kevin Weekes and Ilya Bryzgalov.

When asked what he thought was the Wheaties secret of success, GM Tyler Young had this to say: "I think it's because we play a true team game. We are not the most talented team in the league, we don't even have the best players on the ice most nights, but what we do have is a group of talented, young players who go out and work their ass off. We've built this team so that heart was the primary quality of our players: these guys play together to win, and it shows in the results."

Despite their regular season success, the Kings can not make any claim to greatness until they perform likewise in the playoffs. To further their chances the Kings have added veterans like Bill Guerin, Pavel Bure, and Brian Leetch to strengthen their depth and add experience. The player though who may have the biggest impact on the Kings playoff chances will be Ilya Bryzgalov, as the number 1a he will be expected to win the big games - something which he, despite his relative youth, has done in the past for the Saskatoon Saints, and something the Kings have long missed in the playoffs.

The Kings pulled-off another deal at the end of the All-Star break, acquiring Masi Marjamaki and Kamil Kreps from the Saskatoon Blades for Konstantin Greshkov and Lance Monych. The deal is expected to help round out the wings, plus from the point of view of management, give the Kings a couple more talented, young players.

In action today against the Pain, the Kings were struck by one of the most devasting injuries in team history to date: Ilya Bryzgalov was injured in play and will reportedly miss the next three weeks of action. Although Kevin Weekes is capable of playing, if he exausts himself or is injured, the Wheat Kings may be seriously comprimised.