Kings ousted in first round

By Mario Prusina, Times Editor

A poor first period in Game 1 and a “close to embarrassing” loss in Game 2 was too much of a hill for the Wheatland Kings to climb.
Despite winning Game 3 and going toe to toe with the Medicine Hat Cubs at home in Game 4, the Kings ultimately fell 3-1 in the best of five series.
“I saw a (Kings) team that wanted to win, I saw a team that battled, competed and listened to everything we needed to do system wise,” said head coach Ron West after the Game 4 loss. “They did the job taking a team like this and just losing 2-1 today. We pushed them to the limit and that was our job after the effort we had the other night at home in Strathmore.”
The local Junior B club opened the Heritage Junior Hockey League playoffs with a 3-0 road loss in Medicine Hat for Game 1 on Feb. 13.
Unfortunately, things got worse in Game 2 on home ice the following day as the Kings fell 6-0 at the Strathmore Family Centre.
“That was 60 minutes of zero effort,” said a fuming West immediately after the game. “Zero effort … bottom line tonight we had nothing, no engagement, no battle, no compete, no dump and chase, no system. Nothing. They didn’t play nowhere the way (they needed to).”
However, the Kings responded with their best battle of the series, winning 6-4 in Game 3 on Feb. 15 in Medicine Hat.
“The bottom line is hard work,” said West of Game 3. “Forecheck, we took away the walls on the breakout and we made it tough on them. That was our job – forecheck, forecheck, forecheck and that’s what we did.”
Game 4, back at the Strathmore Family Centre on Feb. 17, the Kings fell 1-0 midway through the first period, before tying the game on the power play in the second period. The Kings and Cubs went toe to toe the rest of the way, before the Cubs clinched the series with a marker with half a dozen minutes left in the third.
Despite the loss, West was pleased with how the Kings responded in the series after trailing 2-0.
As the Cubs move on to face the Cochrane Generals in the second round, the Kings will review the 2019-20 season and start preparing for next season.
According to West, the goal is to keep the high-end local players from joining other Junior B teams, particularly in B.C., and try to keep them in town.
Despite those obstacles, he is confident in this team moving forward.
“We have a lot of guys coming back,” said West. “We’ll have three or four guys that will be 21, so we’ll be all right. It’s a great shopping program (with the Wheatland Athletic Association players) if we can get them. We just have to push them away from the KI (Kootenay International Junior (B) Hockey League). If we can get them to stay here, you’ll see some good hockey and we can compete if we get the right crew here.”