Kings take two of three
By Mario Prusina Times Editor
Doug Taylor Photo
The local junior-B team recently completed three games in four days, earning four out of possible six points – which included sweeping a home-and-home series with the Medicine Hat Cubs.
“We were able to piece four games together, which was nice,” said Assistant Coach Chris Williams. “We just had the mentality of keeping it simple. Sticking to our game, which is getting pucks low, getting pucks deep… not giving teams time and space. We were doing a really good job of that.”
The Kings opened the opened the weekend with a 3-2 home ice win over Medicine Hat on Oct. 27.
Hayden Vander Ploeg connected a feed from his brother Garret Vander Ploeg and Kody Hammond for a first period power play goal. The Kings carried that lead until 17:15 of the second period, when Medicine Hat tied the game at one.
However, the proverbial “TSN Turning Point” occurred late in the second period – with one second left, in fact – giving the Kings a lead they would not give up. Adrian Kusu fired a goal after connecting on a feed from Rylee Hebert and Bailey Filkohazy.
Robert Butterwick supplied the insurance tally 4:49 into the third period, when he converted a play from Brenden Moore and Thomas Tyson.
The Kings then travelled to Medicine Hat the following day where they stormed out to a three-goal first period lead en route to a 5-2 win.
Cole Busslinger, Tyler Wirth and Kusu each scored in the first period, before Garret Vander Ploeg tallied late in the second period.
The Kings added to their lead early in the third period, when Filkohazy capped the Kings scoring, giving them a 5-0 lead. The Cubs would tally twice in the third, but it wasn’t enough, as the Kings swept the home-and-home series.
The locals completed the three games in four days with a date against the southern division-leading Okotoks Bisons on Oct. 30.
After falling behind early, Isaac Benoit scored twice in under a minute to give the Kings a 2-1 lead. The Bisons kept up the pressure, eventually tying the game.
Okotoks scored 11 seconds into the second period, before the Kings settled into playing their brand of hockey. Unfortunately the teams traded goals, including Cole Busslinger’s tally 7:46 into the third.
Despite the solid effort, the Kings fell to 7-5-1 on the season.
“That first period really damaged us; I think we let in two goals that could have been prevented for sure,” said Williams. “Obviously it didn’t work out for us in the end, but I thought we pieced together a solid 40 minutes with the last two periods there, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net. We had our chances and we just weren’t executing, so it’s definitely a stinger.”
The Kings will now prepare to face another stiff test, when they host the 8-1-2 Coaldale Copperheads on Sunday, Nov. 4 (2 p.m.) at the Strathmore Family Centre in their lone game of the week.