Kings defending their turf

Times Editor

 

Despite their .500 record, the Wheatland Kings are just six points away from second place in the Heritage Junior B Hockey League South Division.

And while the two teams ahead of them in the standings have games in hand, the Kings feel if they can get on a bit of a roll in the New Year, they can capture the coveted first-round bye in the playoffs.

In order to achieve that, the Kings will have to remain hot on home ice, where they boast a 9-3 record, in the remaining seven games at the Strathmore Family Centre.

“That will definitely help us out (playing at home),” said Kings head coach Doug Murphy of the remaining 11 league games. “After the (Christmas break), the next two league games are both home games, so that should help us out a lot.”

While the Kings started the season playing more often on the road, they are looking forward to playing in front of the home crowd during the stretch drive. Even in the three home defeats, the Kings lost two of them by one goal.

“Big ice (is one reason) for our success,” said Murphy. “It gives a lot of teams that don’t have the speed and skill a lot of difficulty. (Opposing) goaltenders to some extent have issues with different angles on the bigger ice.”

While the Kings started the season playing well on the road too, they are in the midst of a seven game losing streak away from the Family Centre. 

That has resulted in the team’s mediocre 13-13-1 record at the Christmas break.

“(Our record) is much lower than we wanted it to be,” said the coach. “We’re going to have to go on a tear here at the backend of the year to get it closer to where we want it to be.”

However, despite their record, the Kings have seen a lot of good things in the first 27 games of the season. Even in the 10 road losses, five of them were by one goal.

“A lot of really good things have happened,” said Murphy of his season. “We’ve got some real good depth, we’ve got some guys that are stepping up with the number of injuries we’ve got and they’re starting to contribute. That’s certainly good to see. (It’s tough) when you have guys like (Ross) Fox and (Rylan) Muenchrath out of the line up. They’re pretty big shoes to fill.”

Wheatland will resume their regular season on Jan. 5 when they host Coaldale (8 p.m.) at the Strathmore Family Centre.