Kings extend win streak

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Agra Risk Wheatland Kings extended their winning streak to six games with a pair of wins over Northern Division opponents Nov. 1-2.

The local Junior B team opened the weekend with a 5-2 road win versus the Airdrie Techmation Thunder on Friday night, before defeating the Ponoka Stampeders 4-2 at the Strathmore Family Centre the following night.

Head Coach Doug Raycroft explained though he was excited to see his team continue their impressive track record this season, he would like to see them bring their best to every game instead of letting their wins get to their heads. 

“We had two wins which is always nice, but I did not really like the way we played (at home). We were a little flat – we did not really get going until the last 10 minutes of the game,” he said. “We still got the win, so that is good. 

“I think in Airdrie, we had a slow start but a really good second period and we played pretty well defensively. Overall, it is nice to get two wins.”

The Kings will now prepare for a pair of home games against the Three Hills Thrashers and the Carstar Okotoks Bisons respectively Nov. 8-9. Both games start at 8 p.m.

At the moment, the Kings sit firmly in third in the Southern Division, boasting 10 wins and three losses over their 13 games, netting them 20 league points to date, two points behind the division-leading Bisons.

Okotoks and Medicine Hat, which have each played 14 games so far this season, each sit at 11 wins and three losses, tying them for first in the league with 22 points each.

“Ponoka is one of the lower teams in the league and I think our guys just thought it was going to be easy. I think what happened was they came in ready to go and our guys were a little bit lacklustre, or the effort was not there or what we wanted for the first couple periods,” said Raycroft. “They got going in the third period. What we want from our guys is consistency. No matter who we are playing, we are playing the same game all the time. We were a little disappointed that we did not play our game.”

Raycroft echoed his previous sentiments of wanting to see his team playing a full 60 minutes of hockey with their best.

He added despite being a deeper team this year, he is hoping to avoid many of the injury problems which saw many of his players consistently off the ice recovering instead of being on the ice participating. 

“Last year, I have never, ever been around a team that had so many injuries. Maybe it was a little bit of an anomaly last year, but we are saying that we want to stay healthy this year. We have already had some substantial injuries this year too,” said Raycroft. “We have been able to fight through them … (but) Kyle Provencher hurt his shoulder in the first game and has not played since. He is one of our best defensemen. He is going back in a couple of weeks – and Chase Berg, another really good defenseman, he broke a foot bone on Friday so he is out for a while.”

Phillip Raycroft, who has been off the ice due to a concussion, will be returning to play for the upcoming weekend.