Kings keyed by new crew

Tyler Lowey
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore Wheatland Kings injected two new players acquired just before the roster deadline Jan. 11 and received immediate impact.
The Kings inked local product Blair Roszell, and Christian Halman from Brooklin, Ont., giving their lineup some much needed depth.
Roszell came up through the Wheatland Athletic Association ranks, but wasn’t able to play for the Kings while he was attending the University of Lethbridge. Now back home with a good job, Roszell is ready to rock.
“We have been chatting with him throughout the year. Now that he got his work all sorted out, we are happy to have him,” said Kings assistant coach Keenan Desmet. “He is a big presence on the blue line at 6-foot-4 and that will be key against some of the better goal-scoring teams.”
Roszell has one assist in his first two games as he is paired with alternate captain Hayden Vanderploeg.
Halman is a bit of a different story.
He came out from Ontario to try out with the Golden Rockets of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League this fall, but broke his hand in camp. He returned to Ontario, but has since made his way back out west. Arriving via word of mouth, Halman was put in contact with the Kings through defensemen Josh Smith.
“We didn’t know too much about him, we kind of took a chance on him,” said Desmet. “It’s a good thing we did; he has impacted our games right away.”
Halman netted the game-tying goal in his debut Jan. 10 against the Banff Academy Bears (9-19-2) and another against the High River Flyers (6-24-2) Jan. 13.
“Christian is a smaller guy, but very physical and a great skater. Both additions have great shots and have helped us out offensively,” said Desmet.
Halman netted four goals and eight points this season as a member of the Tottenham Steam of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League. He also scored the fourth goal of the first period as the Kings out-gunned the Flyers 6-4 at the Bob Snodgrass Recreation Complex.
Three of the Kings four first period goals came from their strong cycling line of Kristian Ayoungman, Brooker Pretty Youngman and George Montour.
Ayoungman scored the first two, followed by Ryan Grasdahl registering his fourth of the season.
For Kelly it was his fourth straight appearance between the pipes with regular number one Brady Hoover still recovering from a lower-body injury.
“Kelly has been working hard at practice and it’s finally paying off,” said Kings captain Keenan Ogle.
Kelly was buried in the depth chart early in the year, often in the stands watching Hoover and backup Pierre Wiederhold.
Seizing his opportunity in net, Kelly has gone 2-1 with a .882 save percentage in his first chunk of regular ice time.
“That’s the way hockey goes sometimes. It was unfortunate that Hoover got hurt, but we needed someone to step up and he has certainly earned his spot in the lineup,” said Desmet.
Ogle is experiencing his most productive year in his final year with the Kings (12-15-4). With 22 points, the captain has come up clutch lately.
With their backs against the wall in a shootout last week against the Medicine Hat Cubs, he scored to extend it, leading to a win.
Tied at four with 4:55 remaining in the third, he scored the winner against the Flyers from Kody Hammond.
“I couldn’t tell you,” Ogle said, when asked about what he has been doing to come up in the clutch lately. “I just try to bear down when I get my chances and hope they go in.”
Ogle narrowly missed in the shootout against the Banff Academy Bears, failing to extend the game, as the Bears brushed back the Kings 4-3 Jan. 10 at the Strathmore Family Centre.
Veterans Matt Thomson and Brenden Moore were forced to watch helplessly from the stands as they each served a one-game suspension for picking up their third fight of the season.
Vanderploeg opened the scoring on a bomb from the point at the 8:30 mark of the first period. The Bears added a pair of goals; the Kings responded with Pretty Youngman’s 20th of the season with 4:40 to go in the first.
Jake Huculak got an unassisted shorthanded snipe for the Bears in the second and Halman made a good first impression by tying the game with 2:48 to go in the third.
Shooting second in the shootout, Ogle was leaned on to tie the game once again, but missed. Daniel Nikiforov came down the ice and popped in the winner (3-2) for the Bears third shootout win of the season.
This weekend, the Kings travel to Medicine Hat Jan. 20 to take on the Cubs, and return to the Strathmore Family Centre to host the Ponoka Stampeders (8-21-3) Jan. 21 at 8 p.m.