The Dauphin Kings are back on the ice and are just one day away from resuming their regular season as they welcome the Selkirk Steelers to town tomorrow night.
"The guys were definitely more than ready for our first practice in the New Year yesterday," said Mitch Giguere, Interim Head Coach and GM of the Kings. "It wasn't our best practice of the year, but that's expected with the holidays. The guys were ready, and the mood was really good."
The Kings and Steelers have hooked up just twice this season, with the Steelers earning wins in both games, one of which was a shootout win in which the Kings led late.
The Kings will enter play tomorrow with lots of work to do if they want to make a playoff push. Entering tonight the Kings are 15 points behind Neepawa, who hold the final playoff spot, and are 14 points back of Swan Valley who are in ninth, and both teams play tonight.
What will be a 9-27-1-1 record entering play tomorrow, could have been better if it weren't for third-period struggles for the Kings, but, as Giguere notes, those struggles didn't occur as often in the last month of 2017.
"We showed that we can close games out," said Giguere. "We just need to show on a consistent basis that if we have a lead after 40 minutes, we need to keep pushing in the final 60."
Perhaps their biggest statement win was closing out the Winkler Flyers on December 2 in a 4-1 win.
Tomorrow's game will be the first of three straight for the Kings on home ice as they welcome Winkler to town on Saturday, and Swan Valley next Tuesday.
Puck drop tomorrow night is set for 7:30.