Kings struggle near end of the season

Posted on: Staff Writer

From edition: February 1 2019 Strathmore Times

By Brady Grove, Times Reporter

It was a tough weekend for the Wheatland Kings, who lost three games, including a 6-3 defeat to the Medicine Hat Cubs on Jan. 26 at the Strathmore Family Centre. The Kings will now travel to High River on Feb. 1, before returning home the following weekend versus Cochrane (Feb. 8, 8 p.m.) and Lomond (Feb. 9, 8 p.m.) to close out the regular season. Doug Taylor Photo

It was a tough weekend for the Wheatland Kings, who lost three games, including a 6-3 defeat to the Medicine Hat Cubs on Jan. 26 at the Strathmore Family Centre. The Kings will now travel to High River on Feb. 1, before returning home the following weekend versus Cochrane (Feb. 8, 8 p.m.) and Lomond (Feb. 9, 8 p.m.) to close out the regular season.
Doug Taylor Photo
The Strathmore Wheatland Kings lost three in a row on the weekend against some close divisional rivals.
The Cochrane Generals bested the Kings 5-3 on Jan. 25 in Cochrane, and the Kings then dropped a home-and-home series against the Medicine Hat Cubs 6-3 on Jan. 26 in Strathmore and 4-3 on Jan. 27 in Medicine Hat.
With the losses the Kings extended their losing streak to four games.
“It’s a competitive league and guys want to win,” said Kings assistant coach Chris Williams. “When things aren’t going your way, obviously it’s frustrating; but when they are going your way you’re a happy camper.”
The Kings best chance for victory came at home in their first matchup against the Cubs. The Kings fell behind 2-0 in the first eight minutes of the first period. Kings forward Rylee Hebert cut the deficit in half when he banged home a rebound off a point shot from Kings defenceman A.J. Kusu.
The second period was a tight checking defensive chess match between the two clubs. The only shot that found its way behind a goalie was a bomb from the blueline, from Kings defender Chase Clayton whose shot was tipped into the five-hole by Kings forward Benjamin Kruse.
It was Kruse’s first goal as a King and it tied the game up at two.
Despite the close game, the train went off the track for the Kings late in the third period. It was 3-3 with just over four minutes left to go when a couple of controversial hits got the emotions going for both clubs. The Kings couldn’t recover as they took 11 penalties and handed the Cubs three power play goals to limp towards the end of the game.
“Normally we can battle through that kind of stuff,” said Williams. “Tonight I felt it was taken a little overboard.”
The Kings went into the next game with revenge on their minds but lost in Medicine Hat while the fans got a preview of a potential playoff matchup between the clubs. The Kings are in fifth place with 33 points and the Cubs are in fourth place with 37 points.
“Strathmore is a hard-working team and we have to match that,” said Cubs head coach JD Gaetan. “I think over the last few years we’ve created a nice rivalry with these guys.”
The Generals beat the Kings for the third time this season to remain perfect in the season series and outscored their opponents 17-11 in those games.
It will be a quieter weekend for the Kings with only one game on Feb. 1 against the High River Flyers in High River.