Kings optimistic about upcoming season

Tyler Lowey
Times Reporter

 

The Cochrane Generals proved to be too much too handle for the Wheatland Kings in their final game of their exhibition season with their overhauled front office.
The Generals brushed back the Kings 6-1 in Heritage Junior B Hockey League action in front of a near-sold-out crowd Sunday night at the Strathmore Family Centre.
It will be a brand new coaching staff brought in by their new general manager Darcy Busslinger.
Busslinger and his staff have worked with the Wheatland midget AA organization for the past three seasons, making it to the South final three times.
“We are proud to have this group of local men join the organization,” said Kings’ president Mike Langen. “We as an organization have been able to secure some really good coaching from within our larger local organization and they are locals who grew up playing and coaching here. They have come from our local AA program where they have been for years. And while that is a loss for the WAA, it will give an opportunity to other coaches at the AA Midget program to see what they can do.”
The coaches – Shadoe Stoodley, Keenan Desmet and Braden Desmet – bring the experience of playing hockey at higher levels to behind the Kings bench.
“This is a new experience for me and that’s why I brought my coaches with me. I trust them and they take care of the work on the ice,” said Busslinger.
The new-faced organization was in tough against the former South division champs.
“We are looking forward to the opportunity, it’s new to us,” said Stoodley. “We didn’t have the greatest preseason, but we got some good looking guys and we are going to get into the swing of things now.”
The Generals were simply faster, livelier and resembled a Junior A squad Sunday night. They controlled the play early with several short, crisp passes, cycled through the neutral zone efficiently and fired a lot of heavy shots at the net. The Kings didn’t manage a shot on net until 11:26 in the first frame.
The Kings best couple of shifts came five minutes into the third period on a cross-ice pass, only to be robbed by the Generals’ netminder. The pressure continued into the next shift when, after the face off, the puck was bouncing around behind the net and squirted out front to a player who banged in the loose garbage.
Brooker Pretty Youngman is entering his final Junior B season and realizes that there is a long way to go from where the Kings stand now.
“Well, Cochrane is a good team, no doubt about that, but I think we got a lot of room for improvement,” said Pretty Youngman, who sniped 15 goals and 28 points for the Kings last season. “We have some young guys who are still trying to get their feet underneath them, so once we figure it out I think we can take off.”
The Kings finished 13-23-2 under the old regime last season and are looking to crawl out from fifth place and have a record over 500 for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign.
The Kings began their exhibition season with a 5-2 win over the High River Flyers back on Sept. 3, and lost 7-1 to the Generals on Sept. 10.
With the roster set, the Kings practiced all week in preparation for their season opener with the Okotoks Bisons set for 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the Strathmore Family Centre.