Kings back to .500 after pair of losses

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Notions of a hat trick to open the new season died on Friday (Sept. 26) with the Agra Risk Wheatland Kings suffering a 5-2 defeat on home ice to the Red Deer Vipers. 

The following night, the Kings were also defeated by the Cochrane Generals during their away game, 4-1. 

Head Coach, Doug Raycroft, explained despite what is reflected by the final scores, the games which took place were for the most part, very close contests. 

“We were hoping to get the victory, but they (Red Deer) are a good team … to be honest, it was a really close game; we pulled the goalie, they were up one goal, and unfortunately they scored – we couldn’t get the equalizer, and then they got an extra one late,” he said. “It was basically a one goal game. And then, we went to Cochrane, and it was the same kind of thing. We got up on them, but we had a ton of scoring chances; we just couldn’t beat their goalie and then they got ahead of us.”

Raycroft added, once again, the Kings pulled their goalie, to no avail, leaving them further behind as they surrendered a goal through their empty net.

Not being one to wallow in the defeats, Raycroft said they would serve as learning experiences, particularly this early into the new season.

Following the second weekend of play, the Sylvan Lake Wranglers lead the league with a perfect record. Red Deer, Coaldale, and Cochrane trail immediately behind, each having taken one loss thus far. 

The Kings currently sit tied with Airdrie, Mountainview, and Medicine Hat, each sporting two wins a piece. 

“It is so early in the year, we are still learning (on) some of the weaknesses we have. We have been working on them … we have not had a chance to actually work on them a ton yet,” said Raycroft. “It is a process. I think after two weekends, we are two and two. It could be worse, and I think there is a lot of parity in the league right now.”

Okotoks, the team which has for the last several years dominated the regular seasons, is currently sitting last in the league, having yet to achieve a win.

“Every game, we are thinking about the next practice and what we have to do, and I have got a long list of things to work on for sure. I have made a list of things and mostly our defensive zone stuff – there is a lot of things we need to improve,” said Raycroft. “We lost a lot of really good players that were defensive-minded last year. We got a lot of good players back, but maybe not quite as defensive minded as the other guys were.”

The Kings will now play a trio of road games – facing off against Okotoks, Coaldale and Rocky Mountain House – between Oct. 3-5. Their next home game is slated for Oct. 11 (7:45 p.m.) when they host Sylvan Lake.