by Stephen Dafoe
Saturday night’s 4-2 home-ice loss to Red Deer did not make a difference for the Morinville Kings, who were assured a first-place finish heading into the game.
Tied 11-4-1 with Fort Saskatchewan after 16 games, it came down to goals for with Morinville edging out the Chiefs 93-88 over the season.
Although the Kings did not trail anyone this season, they did Trail Red Deer Saturday night 1-0 after one, and 4-2 after two. The third period was scoreless for both sides.
With the regular season over, the Kings will add a third banner to the Morinville Leisure Centre’s Landrex Arena.
Morinville also held three of the top 10 scoring leaders this season with Kyle Harris and Adam Wilson holding the top two spots and Blake Grainger holding the fourth spot. Jordan Thomas held 13th place in the top 25.
The Kings head now to North Central Hockey League playoffs taking on the eighth-ranked team for the first round. All three NCHL rounds will be best-of-five series.
Just who Morinville plays in the first round will be decided Sunday night after Bonnyville and Blackfalds wrap up their final games.
UPDATE – The Kings will play the Bonnyville Pontiacs in round one.
Congratulations.