Wheatland Kings remain in third place

By Brady Grove, Times Reporter

The Wheatland Kings picked up two wins out of three games played on the road last week, starting with a 6-2 bounce-back victory against the Three Hills Thrashers on Nov. 13 before beating the Lomond Lakers in tight battle 6-4 on Nov. 17.
The Kings were looking for redemption against the Coaldale Copperheads on Nov. 18 but came up short, losing 4-0.
“We made positive steps in the right direction,” said Wheatland Kings head coach Joel Robinson. “We got better in the defensive zone and we got more shots.”
In Three Hills, the Kings fell behind 1-0 about five minutes into play before scoring three by the end of the first period. They never looked back and never let up, outshooting the Thrashers 68-29 with two goals coming on the power play along with a perfect four-for-four on the penalty kill. Rookie and Kings top scorer Isaac Benoit scored a hat trick to help lead the Kings to victory.
Robinson had nothing but praise for Thrashers goaltender Devon Carroll who made 62 saves in the loss.
“Their goaltender made some amazing saves and definitely kept them within the range of a four-goal game when it could have been way more open,” said Robinson. “Sometimes when you see goalies make saves, all you want to say is he has no business making that save, but kudos to their goaltender.”
After their strong performance in Three Hills, the Kings faced the Lakers in a much closer game but they again found themselves down early. The Lakers potted two goals before the 10-minute mark of the first period. The Lakers led on the scoreboard until the last four minutes of the second when the gates opened. The Kings scored two goals in 40 seconds to head into the third period tied at three. A short-handed goal in the third period from Kings forward Cole Busslinger shifted the score in favour of the Kings and they never let go again.
“We came out and thought it was going to be the same Lomond team when we beat them 9-1 in exhibition,” said Robinson. “We kind of took them lightly off the hop and we definitely had to fight back.”
After winning two straight the Kings wanted to beat the Copperheads – one of the Top 3 teams in the league. But the second place Copperheads weren’t giving any ground in the standings to the third place Wheatland Kings.
“It was a close game until two minutes left in the second (period), it was 0-0 and we were playing really well, and we just had a mistake and the puck ended up in the back of the net,” said Robinson.
The Copperheads snuck in a shorthanded goal after a failed Kings pinch to grab the lead. The Copperheads would add three goals in the third period, ending the Kings chance at revenge. But Robinson believes in his team and thinks they will be able to use the bigger Strathmore Family Centre’s Olympic-sized ice to their advantage in the next contest on Dec. 2 and even up the season series, which Coaldale leads 2-1.
The Wheatland Kings now sit with a 10-7-1 record and will finally return home in what has been an away game-filled November schedule to play against the Mountainview Colts on Saturday, Nov. 24 at 8 p.m. The Kings then head back on the road to play the Ponoka Stampeders on Nov. 25.