Pleasant Surprise

Sometimes someone shows you something you would not have quite expected to see from them creating a pleasant surprise and leaving you wanting more. On Saturday night, amongst a disappointing loss came a bright light from an unexpected source. This particular player is a bit of an unknown being an eighteen year old rookie in the BCHL. More apt to drop the gloves then even try to contribute offensively - Jeremy Wiebe managed to get no less than six shots on goal.

In the previous meeting between the Spruce Kings and the Williams Lake Timberwolves, Wiebe left the rink wearing the hard hat for his efforts in that game. When I thought back to what transpired on Wednesday night, all I could remember was his two fights including one where he was jumped from behind and was still able to come back and win that one. In fact, I don't think I've seen Wiebe fare any less than a draw with any opponent.

Perhaps on Saturday night that was the thought when he met with his fourth different opponent from the Timberwolves in the team's three meetings. With tilts against Calvin Johnson (September 25, 4:30 of the second period), Anthony DeLong (September 30, 7:41 of the second period) and Keenan Bailey (September 30, 14:55 of the third period), newly acquired Casey Fratkin thought he would have a go with Wiebe. The fight started out fine for Fratkin, but didn't end that way. After getting the first two shots in, Fratkin found himself at the wrong end of a pair of rights and a couple of lefts that sent the twenty year old to the dressing room for the rest of the first period.

With the fighting major and being on a line reserved more for the supporting cast, I didn't see Wiebe on the ice again until the second period. That appearance turned into a scoring opportunity for the Spruce Kings as Wiebe found himself on a two-on-one breakaway with defenceman Justin Fillion. Last year's rookie of the year elected to pass to Wiebe who was able to connect on the one-timer for a quality shot on goal that left the goaltender no option but to cover up and force a face off.

I thought that would be Jeremy's one and only shot of the game and at the time remember making the comment on the broadcast that he didn't have the softest hands in the league but was starting to be known more for his rock hard hands. A few shifts later Jeremy had another scoring chance as he was left alone in the faceoff circle and directed a shot towards the net that was knocked down by a defenceman.

Head coach, Ed Dempsey must have saw something in those two shifts because the rookie found himself moved up to work with a new pairing and was even given some powerplay time. In the third period, Jeremy Wiebe ended up getting a lot more ice time and ended the game with a total of six shots on goal. That was good enough for me to recognize him as the game's third star on the broadcast, even if the lack of production on the scoresheet prevented the star selection committee from choosing him in Williams Lake.

On Tuesday night be sure to watch for number 22 and see if you don't see what I have been seeing develop over the course of the past few games. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you of one other thing that was different about Jeremy Wiebe on Saturday night ... he was wearing a newer light weight jersey as he was wearing the jersey with only one number 2 on it. I wonder now if he will want to go with the single two for the rest of the season.