Kings crowned in road victories

Times Reporter   

 

Wheatland Kings head coach Jeremy Blumes could not have written a better script to open the 2014-2015 season, as his team is 2-0 after two road wins against Medicine Hat and Coaldale.

The Kings beat Medicine Hat 10-4 and the team was really excited to get going and start the season on Sept. 19.

“I think the boys were really excited to get going, you can only play so many pre-season games before you want to play where there is something on the line,” said Blumes. “I thought we played with a lot of energy and a lot of excitement and we did a good job sticking together. The thing we talked about early, going out there was making sure we’re doing ourselves a favor by not chasing the puck.”

Strathmore product Cody Willis had himself a five-point (3g+2a) night in Medicine Hat and got nothing but phrase from his coach. Brady Breneau followed with a hat trick, while Justin Kostiuk, Matt Thomson, Kirby Ruzesky and Lucas Jones added single tallies.

“Cody skates well, he sees the ice well, and most importantly he works hard. He’s involved in all three zones and you know when you work as hard as Cody does, he’s going to get rewarded by showing up on the score sheet,” said Blumes.

The fact that the Kings found the net 10 times on the night was a positive sign and execution of plays was a success.

“I think one of the big keys was our passing and our execution and making sure we were making plays out there,” said Blumes. “We did a good job of focusing on what was going on out the ice.”

The Coaldale game was a much tighter one as the Kings were playing on back-to-back nights.

“We knew our first period was not where it needed to be and between the first and second period we asked the boys to play at the level that we know they’re capable of and they did exactly that,” said Blumes. “We scored two goals in that second period and the third period, our power play scored a big third goal and then we added another. They rallied late and our goalie (Robert) Gillard played extremely well and we came out with four out of four points on the road.”

Brett Dumaine scored twice to lead the way for the Kings, while Chris Williams and Matt Thomson each added a goal.

Bassano native Garrett Brower boosted the team up as he had a spirited fight and single-handedly won the bout over an older player on Coaldale.

Now that the team has opened the season with two wins, they are looking forward to the home opener.

“We’re very excited. The bus ride home was very quiet, I think they were a tired group and they deserve the day off and a little bit of recovery time and start gearing up for the home opener,” said Blumes. “We’re going to make sure the hometown fans are entertained with an honest effort.”

After taking last season off, the Kings will host their first home game in a year and a half as they take on the Stettler Lightning on Saturday, Sept. 27 at the Strathmore Family Centre. Game time is 8 p.m.