The Dauphin Kings started the new year with a pair of home ice wins.
Cole Sheffield stopped 24 shots to lead the Kings to a 3-0 win over the Winnipeg Freeze, Friday.
On Sunday, Anthony Bax scored twice in a 5-2 victory over the Selkirk Steelers.
Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley felt the team got back to playing the way they did at the start of the season when they built a 14-4-0-0 record.
“Guys were skating. That’s what separated us early in the season, was our speed, playing fast and how hard we worked,” he said.
Dauphin product Kyan Grouette made his debut after he was reassigned to the Kings by the Western Hockey League’s Everett Silvertips.
Hedley was impressed with what he saw from the young forward.
“It’s unbelievable the way he works. And he’s made Zali (Carter Zalischuk) better player and he’s made (Madden) Murray a better player. He’s got a positive attitude. He’s come in here and he’s working hard. So it’s a great center-hole to fill.”
While recognizing the offence isn’t where the Kings want it to be, they created opportunities in both games.
“And our speed tonight on our back end was outstanding,” Hedley said.
With the trade deadline coming on Wednesday, Hedley has a lot of irons in the fire trying to work out some deals. But he is also willing to stay the course, stating he doesn’t have to do much at the deadline.
“I think we’re as good as any team in this division if we’re playing hard. And with the goaltending we have and the back end that we have, like our back end tonight was really good,” he said. “So we’ll see what happens in the next couple days. We’ve got a lot of things going on. If we can add a couple of guys on offence, we will.”
Regardless of what happens at the deadline, Hedley said the important thing is just to make the playoffs.
“As long as you get to the dance, if you get hot goaltending at the right time, guys coming up with big goals at the right time,” he said. “Our bottom six, with Kyan Grouette and Zalischuk and Murray, and then you’ve got (Rylan) Gage, (Joshua) Schmidt and (Sheldon) Shyiak, playing outstanding. And those guys can win a playoff game, because they’re heavy, they provide energy and they get the other guys going. They’re buying into exactly what we want to do as a team and how we forecheck. They get it. They pay attention to detail and they figured it out. It’s contagious.”
It was the play of the bottom six forwards that helped the Kings win the Turnbull Trophy in 2022, with players such as Garrett Hrechka and Cordell Coleman scoring key goals in the playoffs.
“Hrechka got the game winner in game six here, didn’t play in game seven and was one of the first guys on the ice to celebrate, because he understood. He was a teammate,” Hedley said.
Dauphin plays three games this week, beginning tonight in Neepawa against the Titans.
On Saturday, they host the Portage Terriers at 7:30 p.m., and on Sunday, they hit the road to OCN to battle the Blizzard.
