Kings swept out of playoffs
By Brady Grove, Times Reporter
Doug Taylor Photo
The Cubs beat the Kings 2-0 on Feb. 12 in Strathmore and completed the sweep with a 5-2 win on Feb. 14 in Medicine Hat.
“I think we just came up against an older, veteran Medicine Hat team,” said Kings head coach Joel Robinson. “I give kudos to Medicine Hat. They really dug deep and came out and really wanted to show us that they were willing to play with us in the series.”
In Game 1 of the series, the Kings had home advantage and Kings goalie Brett Willan made 37 saves to give his team a chance to win. But they struggled to get any offense going and didn’t really find their game until the final frame of the period.
The Kings outshot the Cubs 13-5 in the third and had two quality chances to tie it. Star centre Lucas Muenchrath fired a laser beam of a wrist shot that rang off the crossbar from the top circle, and leading scorer Isaac Benoit was robbed by Cubs goalie Brett Vanderveer with a couple minutes remaining.
The series shifted back to Medicine Hat for Game 2 and the Kings struggled to get going early. The Cubs scored a single goal in the first and added two more halfway through the second. The Kings made it 4-2 by the end of the second, but they just couldn’t find a way to get the puck past Vanderveer in the third who took the first star of the game.
“All series we just couldn’t get any bounces,” said Muenchrath. “We’d hit crossbars and get our opportunities, but the puck just wouldn’t go in.”
“They’d get an odd man rush and put it in,” said Kings Captain Cole Busslinger. “Whereas us we’d hit the post, or their goalie would make a really good save.”
The Kings ended the regular season with an 18-17-3 record, finishing fourth in the southern division. They were ninth in goals for with 154, and seventh in goals against with 148. According to Muenchrath, a local player, playing in front of the home crowd was a big plus this year.
“Our crowd every night is just crazy. Best crowd by far in the league and it just makes it so fun because you know everyone and it’s just a great atmosphere,” said Muenchrath.
Several of the Kings leadership group played in their final junior B game against the Cubs, including Busslinger.
“You get this sort of pit in your stomach because you know you’re never going to go through that again,” said Busslinger. “I wanted to play competitive hockey for as long as I can, and I’ve always played all of my hockey in Strathmore.”
The Kings are now taking some time to decompress and evaluate their season. According to Robinson, it’s still too early to say for sure who will be back next year because the players and staff need to make decisions on multiple things, such as school schedules and job opportunities.
However, Robinson stressed to his players at the end of the year that they were a young team and they could build on this season. Strathmore also has a plethora of AA players coming up which can be used by the Kings.
“You give it two or three years and I think we’ll have a championship in Strathmore,” said Robinson. “We are going to be a force to be reckoned with.”