The Dauphin Kings have started the new year red hot, having won six games in a row to move to within three points of second place.
Newcomer Ashton Paul paid immediate dividends in his first game, scoring the game winner on a power play with less than two minutes remaining in a 4-2 win over the Swan Valley Stampeders, Jan. 16 in Dauphin.
Then, after scoring in regulation, Paul netted the winner in the shootout, lifting the Kings to a 4-3 win over the MGEU West Division-leading Virden Oil Capitals, Friday in Virden.
On Saturday in Dauphin, Madden Murray scored twice including the game winner just 2:44 into the game as the Kings beat the Niverville Nighthawks, 6-0, with Cole Sheffield making 28 saves for his third shutout in the new year.
Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the team is positive and working hard during the current win streak.
“I don’t think we’ve had any better back-to-back efforts. The game in Virden was outstanding. The puck pressure, our forecheck, our back pressure coming back in the D zone, guys are on their toes and they’re working hard. The dressing room is really good right now,” he said.
The game against Swan Valley saw Dauphin outshoot the Stampeders, 69-33.
“We had the puck a lot. A lot of shots at the net. And that’s what we’re starting to do is we’re driving the net. We’re getting second shots, we’re going low to high, we’re getting some pucks through from the point. Yeah, we put a lot of pucks through on the net,” Hedley said, adding the Kings used their speed to create a lot of opportunities against Virden on Friday.
Hedley thinks the struggles the team experienced in December may be attributed to the Christmas break.
“Maybe with the Christmas break, guys were thinking about Christmas. The focus, the attention to detail wasn’t there. You just see the difference now,” he said. “In December, some of our players, they didn’t know if we had the team. We were trying to get better. But when that doubt enters the room it’s tough and you really have to battle hard. And it takes a special group to battle through it. The group we have in the room now, they believe in each other, they work for each other and go to war. That’s the difference.”
As well as they are playing now, Hedley would like to see things tighten up in the defensive zone.
“Sometimes we break down and give up real good chances. Sheff made some good saves when he had to tonight. In tight, there were a couple guys all alone a couple times. We’ve just got to clean up the D zone a little bit,” he said. “I really like our neutral zone right now. We’re controlling team’s speed, we’re getting pressure on the forecheck and we’re making some smart reads. But the D zone is going to have to get a little bit cleaner and getting tougher on pucks.”
Dauphin trails the second-place OCN Blizzard by three points with four games in hand.
The Kings are in Swan Valley tonight at 7 p.m.
On Friday, they host the Blizzard at 7:30 p.m., while Saturday is Ukrainian Night with the Steinbach Pistons in town for a 7:30 p.m. game.
Kings court: For the second straight week, Kings goalie Cole Sheffield was named one of the Original 16 Stars of the Week, after posting a 3-0 record with a .1.62 GAA and .950 save percentage . . . The British Columbia Hockey League announced over the weekend that five teams from Alberta - the Blackfaulds Bulldogs, Brooks Bandits, Okotoks Oilers, Sherwood Park Crusaders and Spruce Grove Saints - will join that league next season. As a result, the Alberta Junior Hockey League cancelled this weekend’s games involving those teams.
