The Dauphin Kings are two wins away from returning to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League final for the first time since winning the Turnbull Memorial Trophy in 2022.
The Kings lead the Portage Terriers two-games-to-none in their best-of-seven semifinal series.
Dauphin opened the series with a 3-1 win in Portage, Friday, before scoring a 4-2 win, Sunday in Dauphin.
Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said goaltender Cole Sheffield has played well in the first two games.
“He made some key saves when he had to. And (Portage goalie Mitchell) Kathler is a real good goaltender and you have to get to the paint. We’re starting to do that better,” he said.
“We’re getting second shots and we’re getting people in front of his eyes and a few deflections and a few good sticks in front of the net. The biggest thing is we’re getting pucks to the paint. We’re getting pucks to the net from the point. We’re getting them through. They’re not blocking them. And the power play was good tonight.”
The Kings scored three times on four tries with the man advantage, while killing off three of Portage’s four power plays.
Hedley said the power play has had good puck movement, but no success.
“But tonight pucks got through and it was good to see,” he said.
Portage controlled the play for much of the first period and had a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes in both games.
Dauphin rebounded in the second of each game to take the lead. In both games, the Terriers pressed to make a game of it, but Sheffield shut the door.
Its when the Kings are struggling that Sheffield comes up with some big saves until the team can turned its play around.
“You’re always going to get tested on your resilience. You’re aways going to get tested on trust in teammates. You’re always going to get tested on your belief. You’re always going to get tested on your work ethic. Right now we rebound, we push back. When teams come at us hard, we push back and have good efforts and the next line that’s coming on the ice have good shifts,” Hedley said, adding the line of Joshua Schmidt, Rylan Gage and Sheldon Shyiak played a big role in turning the team’s play around based on their forecheck and work ethic.
Hedley feels the team can play better defensively, noting they tend to stand and watch when they get in trouble.
“The good thing about it is we kept them to the perimeter for the most part. So at times, we’ve got to be more aggressive and get there faster for support,” he said.
Game three is tonight in Portage and Hedley expects the Terriers to come out hard.
“This will be their biggest push. For sure, they’re going to come at us hard, we know that. They’re a good hockey team and they’re well coached. You don’t win 40 games in this league and not be a good hockey club,” he said.
“We’ve got to stay the course. We’ve got to just make sure we’re tough on pucks, hard on pucks and separate guys. Be first to races a lot of the time. When we’re doing real well, we’re creating speed through the neutral zone from behind the puck. And we have to continue to do it. We know this will be Portage’s biggest push, for sure.”
Game four will be in Dauphin, Friday, at 7:30 p.m.
Kings court: Forward Ethan Stewart remains day-to-day and might be ready to return to the lineup for tonight’s game after going through the seven day protocol.
