After suffering three losses last week, the Dauphin Kings have resigned themselves to a third-place finish in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division.
Dauphin’s week began with a 4-0 setback at the hands of the first-place Virden Oil Capitals, Tuesday in Virden, followed by a 3-2 overtime loss to the Neepawa Titans, a game in which the Kings led 2-1 until Neepawa tied it with 14 seconds left in regulation, then won it on a power play with two seconds left in overtime.
Saturday, the Kings hoped to make up some ground when they hosted the Blizzard Jr. A Hockey Club, but they were set back on their heels almost right off the start in what turned into a 5-3 Blizzard victory, the team’s 12th win in a row.
Defenceman Aiden Murray was assessed a high sticking penalty 53 seconds into the game and 37 seconds later, defenceman Trey Gnetz was given what was initially called an interference penalty, but was later changed to a cross checking penalty, putting the Kings two men short.
The Blizzard took advantage, scoring twice to build an early 2-0 lead, 3:21 into the contest and they never looked back, building a 5-1 lead less than six minutes into the third period.
The Kings scored two goals 34 seconds apart, but that was as close as they would get.
As a result, the Kings enter the final week of the season with a 34-17-2-1 record for 71 points, seven behind the Blizzard.
Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley felt the second penalty was unwarranted as it was a play which occurs several times a game.
“We do it all year. Everybody does it. Every PK unit does it. The guy has the puck, he dumps it in, he gets hit. And all of a sudden we’re down five-on-three. I didn’t agree with the call. It is what it is. It was a tough start,” he said.
Hedley felt the Kings were better the rest of the period, but gave up a goal just 1:13 into the second period to fall behind 3-1.
“And then, for some reason, the start of every period, we’re back on our heels,” he said.
To the Kings credit, they didn’t give up and scored twice to make a game of it.
“We wanted to send a message that they have to go through us. If you have a bad shift, it’s the guys on the bench that are responsible for having a better shift. They’ve got to get out and work with five guys on the ice,” Hedley said.
The Kings started throwing pucks at the net and creating opportunities, but failed to close the gap.
Now the Kings will end the season with four games this week, beginning with the final home game of the season, tonight, against the Portage Terriers at 7:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, the Kings travel north for a rematch with the Blizzard at 7:30 p.m.
On Friday, Dauphin is in Winnipeg to face the Blues, before ending the season in Selkirk against the Steelers on Saturday.
Hedley plans to give some players some rest to make sure everyone is healthy and ready to go for the playoffs.
