Above: The puck dropped Wednesday night on the first game of the first series of North Central Senior AA Hockey League playoffs. The opening round sees the Morinville Kings take on the Devon Barons in a best-of-five series. – Stephen Dafoe Photo
by Stephen Dafoe
The Morinville Kings, who ended the North Central Hockey League (NCHL) regular season in third place, are in a best-of-five series with the Devon Barons and have a home-ice advantage.
But Game one on Wednesday night was not the start to the series the Kings hoped for after dropping a 5-1 decision to the visiting Devon Barons. In that outing, the Kings were down 2-0 after one and 4-1 after two, before falling 5-1 by the game’s end.
Kings President Wayne Gaza said his club’s chances are good, but they’ll have to work every minute to achieve victory.
“They [Devon] work hard. They’ve got a great goalie in Jordan Cook. The last time we played them, we had 55 shots, and he only gave up three goals,” Gatza said. “So, we’re going to have to work hard and keep it simple, and just outwork them.”
Although the Kings outshot the Barons by a margin of 34-27, the Baron’s goaltender managed to stop all but one of those shots.
Gatza said he felt the regular season was a solid one for the Kings. “Overall, it was probably a better year than in the past,” he said. “I think we have a better team than when we won it all a couple of years ago. We’ve got lots of talent. The talent just has to work. If the talent doesn’t work, we don’t win.”
Game two takes place Saturday, Feb. 4, at 8 p.m. at the Landrex Arena. Game three will take place on the road Sunday, Feb. 5 at 5:15 p.m. Game four, if needed, will be on the road on Feb. 11 and game five in Morinville on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m.
The Kings lost game one 5-1 and played game two Saturday and game three on Sunday. Games four and five, if needed, will be on Feb. 11 on the road and Sunday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. at home. – Stephen Dafoe Photo
