Kings stumble into break

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

Doug Taylor Photo

 

The Wheatland Kings had a tough weekend to end 2015, when they saw a 3-1 lead disappear in Banff on Dec. 18 en route to a 5-3 loss, before suffering a 7-3 home loss to Coaldale the following day.
The team was down 4-3 going into the third period against Coaldale, and with too many lost opportunities, were unable to regain their footing.
“I think we had an up and down game,” said local defensemen Brenden Moore. “We were kind of on a rollercoaster. I think keeping it simple in our zone and neutral zone is where we went a little wrong.”
However, Moore said the boys are improving more and more in those areas of the game compared to the beginning of the season.
“We had a great offensive zone and when we were cycling down low they couldn’t touch us,” said Moore. “We had a couple of nice breakouts too where it was one, two passes and out of the zone.”
Brennan Fuoco, Brooker Pretty Youngman and Lucas Jones scored in the loss.
Moore said that in the Banff game they were the on the side of unfortunate bounces that ended up in the back of their net.
“They got one off the wall, from behind the net, one through a screen, it’s just like that they’re back in the game,” said Moore. “We played fantastic … it’s just a couple of bad bounces. We’ve had a couple of leads now that we let slip away. Hopefully we get better at that soon. We’ll adapt to that and learn how to play with the lead.”
Pretty Youngman, Jayden Smith and Jacen Bracko scored in the loss against Banff.
The Kings will begin the New Year at home against High River on Jan. 2 at 8 p.m.