The Dauphin Kings upped their lead over the Northern Manitoba Blizzard for first place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division to four points with a pair of wins last week.
After spotting the Swan Valley Stampeders a 2-0 lead after the first period, the Kings stormed back with five unanswered goals in a 5-2 victory, Jan. 14.
Ty Pratte, Naaman Hofer, Cayden Glover, Gavin Nemis and newly acquired Nolan Masson scored for Dauphin, while Dobie Unrau and Ben Groome staked Swan Valley to their early lead.
Cole Sheffield made 33 saves for Dauphin, while Rowan White stopped 44 shots for the Stampeders.
After Friday’s game in Winkler against the Flyers was postponed due to adverse weather conditions, the Kings made the trek to Winnipeg on Saturday to face the Blues, scoring a 7-1 victory.
Glover hit the 30-goal mark with his 10th two-goal game of the season.
Madden Murray, Joshua Schmidt, Gabriel Bugeaud, Pratte and Matthew Haun had Dauphin’s other goals, while Adam Matar replied for Winnipeg.
Sheffield picked up his league-leading 21st win of the season, making 25 saves. Davis Penner made 40 saves in taking the loss.
Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the Kings got off to a slow start against Swan Valley in the first period.
“But the last 40 minutes of the game we started playing like we could. We started using our speed and made some good plays in small spaces and really used our speed to create some opportunities,” he said.
Hedley told the team in practice they have to get ion a position where they are not chasing the game in the first 10 minutes. That led to a good start in Saturday’s game.
“Part of our identity is that we’re one of the teams that skates hard and works hard. But it starts right from the drop of the puck. And I thought we did that in Winnipeg against the Blues,” he said.
Glover leads the league with 30 goals and has had chances to get the third on numerous occasions, but just can’t seem to pull the trigger.
“It’s on his mind a little bit. But you can’t go wrong having 10 two-goal games, that’s for sure. He’s been one of our best players game in and game out all season,” Hedley said.
The Kings face the Stampeders again this week this time in Swan River, tonight at 7 p.m.
Hedley knows the Stampeders will be tough as they have crawled their way back into the playoff hunt, trailing the Virden Oil Capitals by eight points.
“We know they’re going to come at us hard. It’s a small barn and they have some good speed,” Hedley said, adding two players - Lance Gulutzan and Will Brown - were selected to play in the MJHL-SJHL Showcase, Jan. 28 and 29.
“They’re both very good players. So we have to be aware of those two guys when they’re on the ice. They need points as much as they can get them. So we have to be prepared, for sure.”
The Kings will host Virden, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. It is the team’s annual Ukrainian Night, celebrating Ukrainian culture and heritage.
Kings court: Five players from the Kings were selected to play in the MJHL-SJHL Showcase. Representing the Kings will be goaltender Cole Sheffield, defencemen Naaman Hofer and Matthew Thomas and forwards Cayden Glover and Gavin Nemis.
