The Dauphin Kings earned their first win of the young Manitoba Junior Hockey League season on the weekend.
After the Swan Valley Stampeders scored four power-play goals en route to a 6-2 win, Friday in Dauphin, Collin Freidrich continued his hot start as his fifth goal of the season midway through the second period stood up as the winner in a 3-2 Kings victory, Saturday, in Swan River.
Kings head coach and general manager Bryan Kromm was pleased with the team for finding some success together.
“I think it brought them all on the same page and helped them understand what kind of group we have in the locker room. So it was kind of nice,” he said.
Dauphin’s lineup was bolstered by the return of Aidan Malone, Kale Pratte and Noah Smigelsky from injury, as well as Dylan Miko from a suspension.
“Having some of those guys that were injured back in kind of helped tighten the ship quite a bit. So I was pleased with all the guys that came back in and what they brought to the table,” Kromm said.
After the Stampeders scored four times on the man advantage, Friday, the Kings made some structural adjustments that they hadn’t quite dived into in Saturday morning’s skate prior to heading north. It resulted in Swan Valley going 0-2 on the power play.
“We’ve been focused more on five-on-five. I wanted to give them some more pieces to the PK, so I did that with them on Saturday morning and it helped,” he said.
Bryson Yaschyshyn had quite the bounce back game, Saturday.
He was pulled from Friday’s game after allowed four goals on 16 shots in 20:57 of action. On Saturday, he stopped 54 of 56 shots.
“He knew that he was off on Friday. He came and chatted with me after that game. I trust him. He’s been in the league, he’s got experience, so I knew he was going to bounce back and have a good game and he did (Saturday) night,” Kromm said.
Kromm added to his staff with Tyler Carefoot joining the team as an assistant coach.
Kromm felt he needed someone from the community to add a veteran presence on the bench.
“His name came across my desk, so I asked around, asked Scotty (McCallum) and a couple other guys and everything checked out,” he said.
“So I reached out to Tyler and he was able to make it work within his schedule. So that’s how that happened.”
The Kings are back on the road, Wednesday, against the Wolverines in Waywayseecappo at 7:30 p.m.
On Friday, Dauphin will host the Winnipeg Blues at 7 p.m., before heading to Portage, Sunday, for a game at 6:30 p.m.
Kromm said the focus this week will be rest and recovery, noting the schedule will be a bit busier in the coming weeks.
“Trying to work out our schedule and what works best for us is going to be imperative to keep us healthy and going on the right track,” he said.
Sunday’s game in Portage will be the first of six straight on the road for the Kings. That, Kromm said, will help with the team’s bonding.
“It’s been fun for them. When we played in Selkirk, it was a good atmosphere there and (Saturday) night in Swan, it was another good atmosphere,” he said.
“I think our guys actually relish when our backs are against the wall on the road. So I’m really excited to show what we can do coming up here.”
Kings court: With five goals in his first four games, forward Collin Freidrich is tied with three other players for the league lead and is 10th in scoring. Sam Swanton leads all defencemen in scoring with six points, all assists.