Kings open new season with win streak

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Agra Risk Wheatland Kings opened the new Heritage Junior Hockey League with a three-game winning streak.

The Kings most recent win was an 11-0 drubbing of the Ponoka Stampeders on the road on Sept. 28, after starting their season with a pair of wins on the opening weekend.

The local Junior-B team opened the season with a road win versus the Mountainview Colts and a home win over the High River Flyers Sept. 20-21.

Taking on the Colts on their home ice in Didsbury, the Kings secured a 2-0 win, locking the Colts out of the net, and scoring a goal in each of the second and third periods. 

During their debut on home ice, the Kings lost a pair of goals in the first period, followed by a third goal in the second. This was made up in the third period as they tied the game and forced the Flyers into overtime. The Kings closed it out with a final score of 4-3. 

“We are happy we got the two wins – we did not play amazing; it is the beginning of the year so we are still working on a bunch of stuff, but the boys competed hard, especially on the (home) game,” said Doug Raycroft, head coach for the Kings. “It took a big effort from the guys to come back and it was exciting – it is always nice to get a comeback win in the beginning of the year so you start to believe in yourselves as a team.”

Raycroft added the Kings have yet to see their full roster of players available to them, due to their captain, Joel Romano, as well as Tegan Skehar and Adam Moore serving suspensions. 

Romano earned a three-game suspension from a play during an exhibition game against Okotoks. He is allowed to return to the ice following the Sept. 28 game against the Ponoka Stampeders.

Additionally, Phillip Raycroft made his season debut versus Ponoka.

“We are going to get stronger as we keep going here. It is nice to have a good start, get the kinks out, get a couple of wins and move forward,” said coach Raycroft. “For us, it is a process … we want to get better all the time. There were lots of things we could have done better on (opening) weekend, so as we go into practices … we want to make sure that we are moving the puck really well and we are working on some of our systems so that when we go into (future games) we are not as rusty as we were (the) first weekend.”

Cody Holdaway, general manager for the Agra Risk Wheatland Kings, explained this marks the first time the Kings have won back-to-back on their opening weekend since 2014, as well as the first home opener win since 2021. 

“Doug is a very decorated coach, Doug is a national champion coach, and I think Doug’s coaching style has remained tried and true through his years,” added Holdaway.  “This is only Doug’s second full season with the Kings, so he is still getting settled in and learning the way we run as an organization, but I think as he gets fully settled in here this year, I think there might be some changes that might help out the team for sure.”

The Kings will now host a pair of home games Oct. 4-5 when they square off against the Red Deer Vipers and the Cochrane Generals, respectively. Game time for both contests is 8 p.m.