Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
Souris’s Tanner Butler of the Dauphin Kings was the MJHL’s top blue-liner. (CHARLES TWEED/BRANDON SUN)
Former Brandon Wheat Kings defenceman Ryley Miller was a big mid-season addition for the Dauphin Kings. (CHARLES TWEED/BRANDON SUN)
The Dauphin Kings finished the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s regular season with 20 straight wins and a league-leading 96 points.
The Waywayseecappo Wolverines lost their last five games to end up at 55 points.
As far apart as their seasons were, the coaches of the first-round playoff combatants have one thing in common; they’re both ready to put the past behind them.
For Kings head coach/general manager Marlin Murray, that means not only putting the club’s superb 47-11-2 regular season in the rearview mirror but also their 2011-12 campaign when Dauphin also won the Sher-Wood Division pennant only to fall in the first round of the playoffs to the Winnipeg Saints.
"It’s all about us moving forward as a hockey club and the only thing we revert to last year that happened in the playoffs is that we treat the officials with the utmost respect and be very good with those guys," said Murray, whose team hosts the Wolverines in Game 1 of the best-of-seven Sher-Wood Division semifinal on Friday at 7:30 p.m. "… There’s only seven players on the hockey club that were here last season that took part in that playoff run. We have a whole new group, we have a better leadership group and our drive is excellent."
Likewise, Wolverines head coach/GM Barry Butler believes the best thing the Wolverines can do is start the playoffs with a clean slate.
"It’s a new season and whatever happened 60 games ago or for the first 60 games doesn’t really matter now," said Butler, whose team was 25-30-5 in the regular season. "It matters that we achieved our first goal and got to the playoffs and now we’ve just got to take it day by day."
Unfortunately for the Wolverines, there will be some carryovers from the regular season that will make their mountain even steeper to climb. Drake Bodie, who finished eighth in team scoring, has been lost to a broken jaw, while their third-leading scorer, Curtis Veitch is also injured and considered "very questionable" to return. Throw in the absence of top scorer Russell Turner for the opener as he wraps up a two-game suspension for checking from behind and the Wolverines are not likely to outscore the Kings in any run-and-gun battles.
"We’ve gotta be a grinder-type team," Butler said. "We’ve got to take that and hopefully that works for us and go from there."
The Kings, on the other hand, boast plenty of firepower with the trio of Jesse Sinatynski (93 points), Jon Gaudet (90) and MVP Guillaume Naud (88) having finished 1-2-3 in league scoring.
They’ll also have to deal with pressure on their shoulders, but that’s nothing new according to Murray.
"It doesn’t matter if you’re a player or a coach, the fans demand a winner here in Dauphin," he said. "It’s not an easy place to play as a player and it’s not an easy place to coach as a coach. But it’s an excellent place to surround yourself with people that care, and there’s a lot of pressure that goes along with putting that team’s jersey on, that’s for sure."
ONE-TIMERS: The Wolverines host Game 2 on Sunday … In Friday’s other games, the Steinbach Pistons host the Portage Terriers, while the Winnipeg Blues entertain the Winkler Flyers …The OCN Blizzard and Swan Valley Stampeders open their series in The Pas on Saturday … The Terriers have called up twins Bradley and Shawn Bowles of the Midget AAA Yellowhead Chiefs for the playoffs.
» rhenders@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition March 7, 2013
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The Dauphin Kings finished the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s regular season with 20 straight wins and a league-leading 96 points.
The Waywayseecappo Wolverines lost their last five games to end up at 55 points.
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The Dauphin Kings finished the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s regular season with 20 straight wins and a league-leading 96 points.
The Waywayseecappo Wolverines lost their last five games to end up at 55 points.
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