The Dauphin Kings are one day away from beginning a busy weekend outside of town. They begin a three-in-three tomorrow night against the Selkirk Steelers.
After 20 games, the Kings have 21 points with an 8-7-3-2 record. Although the team has just eight wins compared to the Portage Terriers who have 15, the Kings are in a much better position than they were early last month.
They were 1-5-0-1 after a 6-5 shootout loss against Neepawa on October 8. Dauphin went on to beat Winnipeg and Waywayseecappo in back-to-back games. After suffering another loss against Neepawa on October 19, the Kings caught fire.
They had points in nine straight games. That included four straight wins from October 22-29. From October 30 to November 8, the Kings were still getting points, but mostly singles. In four of their five games in that span, the club earned a single point. They earned two in an 8-3 win against the OCN Blizzard on November 3.
"I think the biggest thing is consistency for us. Our compete level is something we have to stress throughout the lineup," said Doug Hedley, head coach, and general manager. "
"When we're winning stick battles and playing on the right side of pucks, we're tough to beat," he continued. "When we're not, we're not a very tough team to beat."
Dauphin suffered its toughest loss of the season five days ago. They fell against the Steinbach Pistons, 6-1. The loss snapped the team's nine-game point streak.
"Even after our poor play in the second, it was only 2-1," continued Hedley.
Moving pieces has been a thing Dauphin has gone through lately. Baron Thompson joined the Spokane Chiefs on a two-week tryout. Koby Morrisseau didn't play late in the team's game against Winkler and he didn't play on Saturday.
Mattie Boonstra was called-up and he played on the first line with Nakodan Greyeyes and Grady Hobbs. Zach Grouette started in net and he was solid, making 38 saves.
"There's a lot of things that have taken place in the last week with losing some players and we're not certain of Morrisseau's future," continued Hedley. "We also played a lot of games in a small-time. There's going to be times when you don't play well and that happens. We're a better team than what we showed on Saturday against Steinbach."
"It gives other players a chance to step up and show what they can do," he continued.
After a couple of days off, the Kings hit the ice once again. They practiced on Tuesday, yesterday, and they will practice today before departing for the city tomorrow. The six-day break the team has had from game action is their longest of the regular season so far.
"It was great for us to get this break. This was the first time we've had back-to-back-to-back solid practices for the last month," said Hedley. "When you're having success, it's sometimes hard to convince the guys to do the little things well. It's a lot easier to convince the guys after Saturday. Once we do the little things well, we'll be good."
Dauphin's first three-in-three begins against the Selkirk Steelers. A team Dauphin beat 11-2 earlier last month. Selkirk has since caught fire. They're 13-7-2 which has them with 28 points, good enough for fifth in the league. But, thanks to the competitiveness of the league this year, the Steelers are just three points behind the first-place Terriers.
Darnell Duff will have the broadcast between Dauphin and Selkirk. The Parkland Source for Sports pregame show begins at 7:15 right here on 730CKDM.
