Kings eye top spot in south

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Firmly being into the second half of the regular season, the Agra Risk Wheatland Kings are looking for a solid finish heading into the post season. 

Currently sitting second in the South Division, the Kings have earned 31 league points after 25 games, recently claiming another pair of wins on home ice last weekend. 

“We played Coaldale on Friday night, who is right there at the top of the league with us, and that was a hard fought 2-0 victory for us. Evan McNair was in (net), and he played spectacularly and got the shutout,” said Head Coach, Doug Raycroft. “Then Saturday, we did our Christmas with the Kings event; I think the group that runs it, they got $17,000 in donations, and then our players met with families, and they walked around and bought Christmas gifts … and we had a few hours before our game against Airdrie.”

Saturday’s game concluded as an 8-4 victory for the Kings, despite being outshot by the Techmation Thunder all game. 

At this point in the season, Raycroft explained he is adamant to simply continue improving each week and secure a position in the playoffs.

In the South Division, there remains only a six-point difference between the Medicine Hat Cubs at the top (35 league points) and the Cochrane Generals (29 league points) in fifth place.

The North Division has cemented its standings more firmly, with the Sylvan Lake Wranglers at the peak boasting 39 league points, followed by the Red Deer Vipers with 36.

“I think as we get into January here, (there) will be a little more separation. It’s started to separate a little bit, and then in January it will separate even more until we get to the playoffs,” said Raycroft. “It’s one of those things where I think every team is trying to position themselves in the best spot so they have the best chance to win the playoffs.”

Come start of playoff season, the teams in fourth and fifth positions will play a best-of-three decider to lock in the Top 4 for the playoffs. The top seed will take on the resulting Rank 4, while the second and third place teams square off in the first round.

“Defensively, that is kind of our weakness, so we are always working on trying to get better defensively and so that is our theme,” said Raycroft. “We want to play really defensively and if we were to end our perfect season going forward here, we would really get into a great defensive zone where we could shut teams down. I think that would be the difference with us turning the tide and maybe pulling away and seeing some success.”

He added his team has not found the level of consistency he would like to see from them yet, and hopes to improve their cohesion.

The next games scheduled for the Kings are both away, taking on High River, followed by Sylvan Lake, Dec. 19 and Dec. 21 respectively.