Kings finding rhythm

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Wheatland Kings are starting to see glimpses of how dominant a team they can really be after picking three of a possible four points over the weekend.
Head coach Jeremy Blumes was really thrilled with the pace that his team played with in the 6-0 win against High River in Strathmore on Saturday and even in a 6-5 overtime loss to Okotoks on Sunday afternoon.
The win versus High River saw the Kings really control the outcome of the game and was a sign of a team that is playing hard.
“We came out and I thought we dictated the pace, we were moving the puck quickly and all four lines were rolling. When we did take a penalty, our PK was excellent going six for six,” said Blumes.
“When we got chances on the power play, we made them pay (going) three for six. On the power play it was a matter of keeping things relatively simple, making sure we went to the net to cash in on some rebounds.”
The team has been consistently collecting points lately and starting to go in the right direction.
“The last couple of weeks we’ve been collecting points and we’re definitely heading in the right direction. The game against High River, you see we can be a dangerous team and it’s not just one line, it makes it really tough for the opposition to figure which line to check because we’ve got some really lethal offensive players,” said Blumes.
The game had some added energy to it as Matt Thomson had a spirited bout with a High River player and they were going toe-to-toe the whole fight.
Goal scorers for the Kings were Garrett Watkins with four goals, Curtis Osborne and Cody Willis adding one each.
Special teams played a key role for a majority of the game for Kings in Okotoks and for the second game in a row the special teams was able to capitalize.
“I thought our special teams was excellent for the first 40 minutes. We scored two big power play goals because we weren’t trying to pass through guys, we were looking for the open man,” said Blumes. “In the third period, they got a little bit of momentum and we had a tough time shutting the door but I think you got to give a lot of credit to our guys, in five minutes we scored a couple goals to earn a point.”
In the overtime loss, it was Watkins, Osborne, Lucas Jones, Chris Williams and Brett Dumaine that scored.
The Kings will now travel to Three Hills on Friday, Nov. 7 (8 p.m.), before hosting Medicine Hat on Nov. 8 (8:15 p.m.) at the Strathmore Family Centre.