Kings open new year with win streak, eyeing home ice playoff spot

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Agra Risk Wheatland Kings have opened the new year with a three-game winning streak and are poised to earn themselves a spot in the HJHL playoffs.

After opening 2026 with a 5-2 win over the Cochrane Generals on Jan. 3, they earned a pair of home wins over the Medicine Hat Cubs (3-2), as well as the Coaldale Copperheads (4-3) on Jan. 9-10 at the Strathmore Family Centre. 

“There’s always a worry, I think, for everybody coming off the holiday break where you take a couple weeks off and … you’ll perform (poorly), and we have quite a few injuries still,” said Doug Raycroft, head coach of the Wheatland Kings. “We were able to come out of the holidays and get three wins against three really good teams in the south. We went into Cochrane and beat them and I think they had a 10-game win streak and we were able to knock them off. And then, Medicine Hat I think had a 14-game win streak and we were able to beat them.”

With six regular season games remaining, Raycroft is eyeing a playoff spot, hoping to see the Kings get home ice advantage for their first round series. 

The Kings are currently tied for second place in the South Division with the Generals, each team boasting 39 league points. For both teams, this is represented by 19 wins, 10 losses, and one overtime loss.

The current top seed in the south division is held by the Cubs, sitting with 44 points earned from 21 wins, seven losses and two overtime losses.

“I think for us, we know what our weaknesses are, so we are just continuing to work on them and we are getting better. We are just continuing to work on our defensive side of the game,” said Raycroft. “One of our goalies, Connor White, he’s been playing really well for us and it’s been really solid the last little while here. Evan McNair, he is also really strong. We feel like we are good in the net and if we keep improving defensively with our play, we have got a good chance to beat anybody.”

Raycroft added if the Kings remain tied with the Generals, it may come down to which team has the greater win percentage against the other to decide which achieves the second seed in the playoffs. With one more game remaining scheduled to be against the Generals, he added it’s going to be a potentially significant deciding factor.

“We would like to get first place in the league too, but there are not many games left, so it’s starting to look like we will be second or third,” he said. 

Last year, the Kings were defeated by the Cubs in the second round of the playoff season after receiving a first-round bye. 

The Kings are scheduled next to face off against the Mountainview Colts, followed by the Medicine Hat Cubs, both on home ice, Jan. 16 and 17.