They are going to need a great eight to remain in the playoff picture.
The Sherwood Park Midget AAA J. Ennis Kings are in crunch time at the moment, clinging to one of the six playoff spots available in the Alberta Midget Hockey League’s North Division with just eight games remaining in the regular season.
The Kings enter this weekend’s play sitting in a tie for fifth place with the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers in the hotly-contested North with a record of 10-8-8.
That record puts them just one point up on the seventh-place Grande Prairie Storm for the final playoff spot.
Conversely, they are also only three points back of two teams tied for third place — Lloydminster and Edmonton’s Southside Athletic Club.
Kings head coach Leo Reagan said it is definitely time to knuckle down to solidify a postseason spot.
“We’re right in the mix,” he said. “Playoff hockey pretty much started after Christmas, because it is the final push and everyone is jockeying for positions. It’s hard to get points right now. Every time you can get two or someone in your conference doesn’t, it is a good day. We feel good. Our goal has just been to get in, because once you are it is a whole new season.
“It doesn’t matter if you are second or sixth then. We have a position right now, so we still control our destiny. We just have to control what we can and have a strong push towards the end.”
The Kings put themselves in a tougher position with their play last weekend, suffering a pair of losses.
The first one was a bit of a shellacking, as the Sherwood squad was blasted 8-1 on the road by the Calgary Royals.
The Kings were a little better in their second game of the weekend set last Sunday, but still ended up on the losing end of a 3-2 result against the Red Deer Chiefs.
As a result of the recent losses, points will be at a premium this weekend when they host the league-leading Edmonton Canadian Athletic Club (18-6-4) on Saturday at 5:45 p.m. at the Sherwood Park Arena before a quick trip to Leduc on Sunday to face the Oil Kings (9-13-5).
“We didn’t have a good weekend last weekend, so it will be interesting to see what kind of response we have these next two games,” Reagan said.
“CAC are the frontrunners right now. They have come back down to earth a little bit, but they are still a dangerous team to play. Leduc is below us and is a team we haven’t seen all year. They are fighting to get into the playoffs, so they are going to play a desperate game. It is a good test in both games this weekend, and we’ll have to see how our players respond after having an unfavorable weekend last weekend.”
The Kings have had a bit of roster reshuffling to do this last week in a case of good news, bad news, as 16-year-old defenceman Ryan Krushen left the team to spend the remainder of the season with the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats.
“There were a bunch of trades in the WHL and the Pats found themselves with room on their roster and wanted to get Ryan into the lineup to get some experience,” Reagan said. “As much as it hurts to lose a player like Ryan who was playing his best hockey the last month and chewing up lots of minutes, it is bittersweet because we are a development league and our job is to get guys ready for the next level. We got to put a bit of a polish on his game and Regina thought he was ready to jump into the next level now and start chasing his dreams.”
In an effort not to disrupt other Kings Club rosters, the flagship Midget AAA team cast a wide net to find a replacement, eventually settling on local blueliner Jordan Boulton.
“He played all of his hockey in Sherwood Park before ending up with the Edmonton Maple Leafs last year,” Reagan said. “He was a late cut in Vernon and came back and it was hard for him to find a place to play at that point. It is a unique situation, but we didn’t want to mess with the Midget AAs or the Midget 15s and steal a player from there this late in a season. It was a tough process, but we got it done and now our task is to get him up and ready and able to help us in the next eight games. We are hoping it is a new lease on life for Jordan and that he can bring us some energy and that by playoff time, if we are able to get in there, that he will be a strong asset to our team.”
Dandy December
Kings assistant captain Nolan Krewusik was recently named the North Division’s Source for Sports Player of the Month for December.
“He deserves it,” Reagan said. “He is a second-year guy on our team who got off to a slow start. He had an injury in the summer that hampered his training and hurt him in a push to land a spot with the Sherwood Park Crusaders. It took him a while to get going even in our league. But he is there now. He is a leader and plays a huge role on our team. He had a really good month.”
shane.jones@sunmedia.ca
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