Brooker bags HJHL milestone

Tyler Lowey
Times Reporter

 

Brooker Pretty Youngman’s third hat trick of the season and second in five games helped to lift the Strathmore Wheatland Kings over the Medicine Hat Cubs.
The 7-5 icing of the Cubs Dec. 18 at the Kinplex Arena ended a brief three-game slide, sending the Kings into the holiday break on a high note.
Riding extra high was Pretty Youngman, whose hatty also elevated him into rarified Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) air, as he surpassed the 100-point plateau.
“It felt good to finally accomplish that. It’s something I have been working hard to finally get it. I have played with guys on the Kings and in Okotoks who got 100 points. It was something I always wanted to do, especially in my final year,” said Pretty Youngman.
The Siksika Nation product leads the Kings (10-14-3) with 18 goals and 36 points during his most productive season.
“I’m just trying to do my best and help this team out as much as I can,” said Pretty Youngman.
His 100th point came on a goal at the 18:46 mark of the third period one night earlier at home during a 5-3 loss to the Cochrane Generals (23-4-1).
Grabbing the puck, Pretty Youngman has it sitting on the shelf beside his first ever HJHL goal.
Another milestone was reached during the Kings final game before the holiday break. Rookie netminder Indiana Kelly backstopped his team with 40 saves in his second start to pick up his first career win.
“He faced a ton of shots from the six-minute mark of the second period and on. They pressured us pretty hard, but he held his own,” said assistant coach Braden Desmet.
“I’m very happy for him. He hasn’t missed a single practice all year and he works really hard,” said Pretty Youngman.
Kelly cruised through the opening frame, and was only required to make six saves as his team jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on goals from Zachary Meadows, Pretty Youngman and a short-handed snipe from alternate captain Brenden Moore.
Following a scoreless second frame, the two teams went bonkers, combining for nine goals in the third, as the Cubs (5-18-5) were taking advantage of the lazy play from the Kings.
“I don’t know if we were tired, or guys were thinking about the break, or what. But we took our foot off the gas and any team in this league can come back against you if you let them,” said Desmet.
The Cubs sit fifth, eight points behind the Kings in the southern division.
Trailing 5-1 in the third, the Cubs scored four times in the final 8:31, but were kept at bay by a pair of George Montour goals.
Montour, who turned 20 on Dec. 10, exploded with five points in his best game of the season. It was the first time Montour registered a multi-point performance this season.
“He does a lot of things well for this team and is starting to get rewarded for his work lately,” said Desmet, who saw his Kings outshoot the opposition (47-45) for only the eighth time in 27 games.
While the Kings head into the break with a win, they still haven’t found an answer for the monkey on their back that is the Cochrane Generals.
The Generals did what the Generals do, as they clipped the Kings 5-3 Dec. 17 at the Strathmore Family Centre.
Typically a lopsided affair, the Kings battled, but couldn’t close the gap on the Generals.
Cochrane led 2-0 after two, when Matt Thomson drove down the right win, unleashing his heavy snap shot from the faceoff circle on the power play, cutting the Generals lead in half.
Pretty Youngman scored a pair in the final five minutes, but the Kings simply ran out of time, as Hoover made 40 saves in net.
“I was relatively happy with our performance even though the outcome wasn’t what we wanted,” said Desmet.
The Kings have played the reigning Southern division champions slightly better this year. They sit 0-3 with a minus-8 goal differential, marginally different from going 0-4 last year with a minus-13 differential.
“The standings are kind of locked up at the minute, so we need to come back from the break and worry about our own game plan as we shape up for a playoff drive,” said Desmet.
That marks the end of Kings hockey in 2016. The team resumes action Jan. 6 when they take on the Generals for the final time this regular season at the Spray Lakes Family Sports Centre. Their first home action in the New Year goes Jan. 7 (8 p.m.), when they welcome the Cubs back to the Strathmore Family Centre.