Kings pick up historical win in opener

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

Over the past five years, the Cochrane Generals rivalry with the Strathmore Wheatland Kings has symbolized the relationship between a hammer and a nail, with the Generals playing the role of the hammer.
That all changed during the Kings home opener when they smoked the Generals 6-2 Sept. 22 in front of a few hundred fans at the Strathmore Family Centre.
To say that the Kings were due is an understatement.
The Kings last win against the Generals came Nov. 9 of the 2012-2013 Heritage Junior Hockey League season, when the Kings cooked the Generals 4-1, again on home ice.
That covers a span of four pre-season games, 16 regular season contests and a brief three-game sweep during the 2015-2016 playoffs.
Snapchat filters weren’t even invented yet.
“We told the boys how proud we were after the game. They’re in there yelling and screaming, having some fun,” said Kings head coach Shadoe Stoodley.
“It’s electric in there right now,” said George Montour.
“It’s pretty crazy in there right now, I’m not going to lie,” said the winning goaltender Indiana Kelly.
“That was a long time coming,” stated Kings captain Keenan Ogle.
The special evening began with a ceremonial puck drop by Mayor Michael Ell and Strathmore Minor Hockey Association president Natalie Haslund, to open the new season as the Kings take over as top dogs in the building.
The seats, steps, floor and ice surface all received a fresh coat of paint throughout the off-season, and some mint white mesh replaced the old dirty nets.
And for the first time in franchise history, the Kings (1-0-1) took the ice in the north end of the arena, as they take over the midget AAA Bisons former locker room.
It was in that north end of the rink where the Kings took the lead for good, when they banged in a pair of loose rebound goals mere seconds apart.
“We noticed on the first couple of shifts that their goalie wasn’t handling the puck too well, so we said we needed to get to the net as often as possible,” said Ogle.
The Generals (0-2-0) were prime for the picking, following their 10-3 shelling by the Okotoks Bisons a night earlier.
The HJHL’s leading scorer, Slate Ransom, returned for his final season, but the Generals skated 10 rookies against the Kings and were without four players who aged out last year.
Playing in his second year, Kelly knew about the Generals and their level of destruction against the Kings over the past few years.
Last year, in his third start of the season, the Generals ventilated him for six goals. He was making his third start of the season, as he was buried in the Kings’ depth chart. That season, he took in opening night from the stands in his street clothes.
This year, in his second career game against the division champs, he was active, stopping 36 shots for the win.
“Our defence dominated the game in front of me tonight. They opened the lanes, let me see the puck and allowed me to do my job from there,” said Kelly.
With Brady Hoover graduating from the league and Pierre Wiederhold not even back in camp this fall, the Kings’ staff gave Kelly a full vote of confidence heading into the season.
“Nobody works harder on or off the ice than Kelly. When he goes home in the summer, he is in goalie camps and working out, always trying to get better,” said Stoodley.
His work ethic hasn’t gone unnoticed by his teammates either.
“We had two pretty solid goalies to start last year making it tough for him to squeeze in. But he prepares more than anyone, even just for practice. We are glad we have him back there,” said Ogle.
To a man, following their second-straight home opening win, they mentioned that this monumental win over the Generals would be diminished if they found themselves Monday morning with only two points in the standings following their tilt with the Blackfalds Wranglers (1-1-0) the next evening.
They were less than one second away from reaching that goal at the Blackfalds Multi-Plex Arena.
Ryan Chambers jammed his first goal of the season in at the 19:59 mark of the third period, saving the Wranglers’ bacon and forcing overtime.
After a five-minute session of four-on-four hockey solved nothing, teams headed to a shootout, where again, Chambers sank the Kings.
Matt Thomson tied the shootout at 1-1, when Chambers came down two shooters later, ending the affair.
The Kings answered a pair of Wrangler goals in the second, when rookie Jeremy Brigham picked up his first tally at the 4:12 mark from Brenden Moore and Thomson. Five minutes later, Hayden Vander Ploeg buried his first from Montour.
Kelly made 42 saves in his second start of the season and stopped 3-of-5 shootout attempts.
For Montour, his two goals and four points in two games leads the Kings early in the season. The 6-foot-3 slender, pass-first forward is halfway to reaching his goal total from last season.
“We were fired up to play a couple rivals this weekend. We have the chemistry this year, great teamwork, a lot of fight and power in this lineup,” said Montour. “We want to win every time we step on the ice.”
The Kings next chance to satisfy Montour’s desire to win every game takes place Sept. 30, when they host the Airdrie Techmation Thunder (2-0-0) at the Strathmore Family Centre. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m.