More than halfway through their season, the U18 West Central Wheat Kings, coached by Unity’s Pat Sperle, won their most recent game 7-6, Jan. 5 in North Battleford against the North West Stars, to get to an even win-loss record of 10-10 and a tie. There are 12 more regular season games before playoffs start in early March.
A defenceman, Macklin’s Chase Weinkauf leads the scoring for the Wheat Kings with 33 points – 10 goals and 23 assists. He has played in all 21 games.
To date, goaltending duties have been split between Unity’s Noah Gumpinger and Drake Chester who hails from Kindersley. Their save percentages could hardly be closer: Noah’s is .881 and Drake’s is .879 for a team figure of .880.
The “West Central” portion of the team’s name reflects the makeup of the roster. Also from Macklin are Ethan and Kaleb Veller while the Unity portion of the squad is rounded out by Nash Sperle and Hudson Bretzer. Several players live in Kindersley while others travel from Eatonia, Dodsland and Elrose.
After playing in Unity Jan. 3 as part of the Fire and Ice Festival, the Wheat Kings are on the road for the rest of January. Their next game is Jan. 17 against the Saskatoon Crunch who are two points ahead of them in the Centre Four standings.
They start the following month with a home game in Kindersley Feb. 7 and two in Unity, Feb. 8 and 9, and look forward to playing in front of their hometown audiences once again.
