Kings grab three of four points
By Brady Grove, Times Reporter
Doug Taylor Photo
The Kings picked up three out of four possible points over the weekend and only have six regular season games remaining in the year.
“We came out and played another solid game of hockey (vs Wranglers),” said Kings head coach Joel Robinson. “The boys really had a team win tonight.”
The Kings struck early against the Wranglers when Isaac Benoit broke into the opposition zone and found Lucas Muenchrath with a pass that he deflected past Wranglers goalie Jared Elliot. It was the lone goal of a first period which saw many tight battles, even shots and no easy lines.
The second period was all Kings. Five minutes in, Mitch Desserre, a Kings call-up, got things going for his club when he spotted Rylee Hebert behind the Wranglers defense. Desserre’s pass landed on Hebert’s stick and he skated in all alone and squeaked a shot through. Captain Cole Busslinger tipped a point shot past the Wranglers goalie five minutes later, and five minutes after that, Benoit fired a rocket of a shot that missed the net and hit the glass. The shot was so hard it bounced out front to a waiting Cody Caron who swatted it out of the air and into the net to give the Kings a 4-0 lead after two periods. The Wranglers struggled to stay out of the box and took five penalties in the second.
“It killed us for sure. We ran into penalty problems and it came back and haunted us,” said Wranglers head coach Brian Lenz.
“I think we had that good 10, 15 minutes in the second period where it was just shift after shift of momentum (gains),” said Robinson.
The third period started positively for the Kings when Busslinger got his second of the night on a breakaway three minutes in. However, despite the Kings lead, the Wranglers took over the third and began hitting the Kings everywhere. The Wranglers greased one in on the power play and then things started to get a little ugly in the last five minutes.
Busslinger was slammed against the boards by Dylan Scheunert of the Wranglers and didn’t appear to want to drop the gloves with the bigger opponent. But Scheunert didn’t give him much choice and once the gloves hit the ice, Busslinger threw jab after jab which caught Scheunert off guard and down he went.
Kings goalie Brett Willan was nearly perfect in the victory and made 31 saves in the contest.
Despite the Kings success against the Wranglers, the Lakers managed to beat them the next night but needed extra time to do it. The first period featured seven of the game’s 11 goals with both clubs lighting the lamp. Rob Butterwick led the Kings in scoring with a goal and two assists, and Kings goalie Riley Stovka made 31 saves in the loss.
The Kings now have a record of 15-14-3 and are tied with the Medicine Hat Cubs with 33 points for fourth place in the southern division.
The Kings have arguably their most important weekend of the season coming up. First, they face division rival Cochrane Generals in Cochrane on Jan. 25. Afterwards they have a home-and-home series against the Cubs which could determine the final placement in the standings.
The Cubs travel to Strathmore on Jan. 26 for an 8 p.m. game. The Kings then head to Medicine Hat on Jan. 27.