Kings swept by Flyers

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

Another year, another feeling of disappointment emitted from the Strathmore Wheatland Kings dressing room Feb. 17 following another first-round exit from the Heritage Junior Hockey League playoffs.
Last year, it was the lower-seeded Banff Academy Bears that upset the Kings, sweeping them in the best-of-three series.
This year, it was the higher-ranked High River Flyers that sent them packing after picking up a 4-1 decision at the Strathmore Family Centre.
Not even captain Keenan Ogle shaving his beard, or goaltender Calum Humble switching up his pads, or the Kings starting three affiliated players was enough to find a spark in Game 2.
“I thought we battled pretty hard. We ran into a hot goaltender, and one of the top scorers in the league had a great game,” said Kings Head Coach Shadoe Stoodley. “I thought our guys played one hell of a series. We took a couple shifts off and they capitalized. We still need to be proud about the way we battled and there’s nothing to hang our heads about.”
Entering the series, both sides of the equation were excited about their opponent, believing it was a perfect matchup of styles and game play, and expected a hard-fought series.
With their backs against the wall returning to home ice in Game 2, the Kings came out swinging, looking to extend the series, but the Flyers had different plans.
On paper, the special teams were clearly the difference, as all five goals came with one player in the box.
“Coming in, we stressed the importance of special teams in the playoffs. Opportunities don’t come up that often and they can be the deciding factor in close games and I thought they were tonight,” said Flyers Head Coach Tyson Avery.
The HJHL’s leading scorer was quieted in Game 1, but Davis Sheldon took centre stage in Strathmore and opened things up on the power play in the first when he walked the line, used Cole Busslinger as a screen at the top of the zone and ripped one past Humble.
Again on the power play in the second, Devan Barlow roofed one over Humble in front of a strong High River fan base to jump in front 2-0.
The Kings got one back in the middle frame on the power play when rookie Chayse Hnatowich tipped in a point shot from Dennis Asham Jr.
“On the power play, I was just trying to go hard to the front of the net and put my stick out there and hope for the best. Obviously it worked out,” said Hnatowich.
Looking for a spark, Stoodley dressed three of Hnatowich’s former teammates from the Wheatland Chiefs in the elimination game.
Jayden Hendricks, A.J. Kusu and Zach Suntjens filled in for Grady White, George Montour and Ethan Allen less than one hour after playing their regularly scheduled league game.
“With those guys, I just told them that the pace of play is a little quicker and a lot more physical coming from the league they play in. It was still going to take them a period or so to figure out, but I thought they looked great playing in their second game of the day,” said Hnatowich.
The Flyers knew the Kings would not go down without a fight. That all came bubbling up to the surface in the second period when Logan MacLean went barreling into Humble who was trying to freeze the puck, which set off a chain reaction of skirmishes.
Kings alternate captain Brenden Moore got into it with Chase Groeneveld, as they both picked up five, 10 and a game misconduct.
“We knew that Strathmore wasn’t going to go away that easy. They are a tough team to play against and they battled hard tonight,” said Avery. “We just told our guys before the game that emotions will be running high but try your best to not get sucked into something that will cost the team in the long run; and I think they did a great job of that tonight.”
The Flyers did open the door for the Kings in the third, however slightly. A pair of minors midway through the final frame offered an opportunity to not only even the score but to take the lead.
Sheldon and the Flyers had other thoughts, though.
With Quade Kormos in the box for boarding, Michael McTighe took off on a breakaway. Keeping and shooting, he roofed one past Humble to take away any wind in the Kings sails.
The Flyers put the final nail in the coffin two minutes later, once again short-handed.
Sheldon was off with Josh Younker on a two-on-one rush. Younker hit the league’s top scorer by the side of the net, past a sprawling Hayden Vander Ploeg, as Sheldon shelved one, crushing any King dreams about a potential comeback.
“They capitalized on our mistakes,” said Stoodley. “We’ve been making the same mistakes all year. It caught up to us once again.”
Another loss, another 40-plus save performance for Humble, who stopped 48 shots in the elimination game.
That followed up his solid performance in Game 1, when he backstopped 41 saves in a 5-1 loss Feb. 16 at the Bob Snodgrass Recreation Centre.
“We had a good effort tonight, but we couldn’t solve their goaltender. Hats off to their team and their goalie. They outplayed us this series,” said Ogle, shortly after he took the pads off for the final time in his junior career.
The Kings took Game 1 on the chin after White netted the opening goal from Ogle and Busslinger on the power play. The Flyers scored five unanswered goals to take the commanding lead in the series.
Now, with the Kings dressing room cleaned out, it’s back to the drawing board this summer. The franchise is searching for its first series win since the 2015-16 season, when they were eliminated in the second round by the Cochrane Generals.
The Flyers advanced to take on the top-seeded Coaldale Copperheads in the best-of-five second round.